My argument is that religious beliefs are primarily created and generated by four very basic and fundamental “Needs” or “Drives.” From a rather practical and pragmatic approach, in general, religions could be said to involve meaning or purpose, others and relationships, as well as structures and principles for both meaning, relationships, and gro…[Read more]

My argument is that religious beliefs are primarily created and generated by four very basic and fundamental “Needs” or “Drives.” From a rather practical and pragmatic approach, in general, religions could be said to involve meaning or purpose, others and relationships, as well as structures and principles for both meaning, relationships, and gro…[Read more]

Karen Armstrong, In her book, The Case For God, opens with the discussion of the 300 plus caves in Southern France and Northern Spain which have amazingly artistic ‘prehistoric’ cave paintings of prehistoric animals many of whom are now extinct, some dating to 30,000 years ago. “In all there are about six hundred frescoes and fifteen hundred engra…[Read more]

Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir: The British casualties in one day in the battle of the Somme during WWI were 50,000 dead and wounded. 50,000 casualties in one day – patriotism & esprit de corps – is a very solid proof that there is a “psychology of groups.”
Why is the Battle of Chosin Reservoir important?
Preface: Materialist dogma – “…[Read more]

This text consists of the ‘lectio praecursoria’ given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation “The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal”. This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late…[Read more]

article + 6 photographs from the Manuscriptistan Project

Abstract: The causes of suffering are a central topic in Buddhism as well as in Ayurveda. The Pāli Canon and other early Buddhist texts like the Milindapañha mention eight specific causes resulting in disease or suffering at several places. In contrast, early Ayurveda, as presented in the Carakasaṃhitā, knows a threefold causal complex of dise…[Read more]

Abstract: The causes of suffering are a central topic in Buddhism as well as in Ayurveda. The Pāli Canon and other early Buddhist texts like the Milindapañha mention eight specific causes resulting in disease or suffering at several places. In contrast, early Ayurveda, as presented in the Carakasaṃhitā, knows a threefold causal complex of dise…[Read more]