The etymology of the word religion comes from the Latin: re ligare, again connect or reconnect. But connect to what? Our God, society, nature, humankind? For rom, it is about reconnecting with the universe. But also to recognize we were never separate anyway. Every bit of material or allegedly immaterial rom came from elsewhere and … Continue reading rom’s Religion
Author: rom
Islam has two major branches, Sunni being the predominant one. Shia is by far the next largest branch. The split was not theological but was initially hierarchical. This occurred at the outset of Islam. Sunnis favoured an elected leadership model from the wider tribe. And Shias thought leadership should remain in the Muhammad line. Within … Continue reading Islam
My overall take on the concept of natural is: Natural is a null concept I have been mulling over a post about nature versus nurture for a while now, and, having just read Alan Levinovitz's book, Natural: The Seductive Myth of Nature's Goodness, I have been led to put fingers to keyboard. Now, of course, … Continue reading Natural
I started writing this as the judgement for Vickrum Digwa for the murder of Henry Nowak reverberates around the UK. Digwa murdered Nowak without justification with a traditional dagger. I had been looking into the core tenets of Sikhism before this. Anyway, below in italics are the core tenets of the Sikh religion; if there … Continue reading Sikhism
I struggle with the concept of ontology. So, I am having a crack at it. Having said that, I am not sure that I believe in metaphysics1. But moving on: the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. a set of concepts and categories in a subject area or domain that shows their properties and … Continue reading Ontology
This somehow came across my internet today. It is a lecturer's experience, as told by Paul Finlayson in the third person and in the first person in part two. If we believe it, it makes for sad reading. His crime? To say he stands with Israel against Hamas in a post to some anonymous guy … Continue reading Offend
I had the opportunity to listen in and ask a question on a Zoom call on a discussion/debate between Robert Sapolsky and Eddy Nahmias. It was hosted by the Agency and Responsibility Research group and moderated by Thomas Nadelhoffer. We can get their bios off the actual discussion itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2uSJbW3RUw I won't go through the … Continue reading Nahmias
I thought I would have a crack at Hinduism. I asked ChatGPT to summarize the core aspects of Hinduism, and it gave the ten sections (in italics), which I reordered. Overall, it is not a tradition or set of traditions I can buy into. There are about 1.2 billion Hindus worldwide, with many traditions and … Continue reading Hinduism
I asked ChatGPT to give eight headings to structure my thoughts around how I might approach this topic. It volunteered eight with a whole bunch of subheadings. Obviously, these are interrelated and might be reorganized differently and supplemented. Also, it might make for a long post, and my post will touch on much that I … Continue reading My Politics
I was going to write a longish screed about the equality-equity debate. The meme typically shows some version of the first two panels. And of course, other versions depict rich people with many boxes, and the rest are dug into pits. Anyway, this is my version. Hope it speaks for itself.
rom's corner 