Conscientious Objections? December 20, 2009

I feel like I broken machine, my cogs clicking, slipping and failing to engage. I’m just so tired… I want to lay down and wake up again an entire day later. Maybe then I’d feel like myself again.
Right now, I’m in the house where I grew up, hiding in the computer room as a group [...]

Porcupine Man August 18, 2009

So…
Feelings…
I’ve spent a fair amount of time reflecting on emotions and relationships in the last few weeks, in large part due to the fact that I’ve been in a few situations that I’ve needed to evaluate on both moral and emotional grounds. Word of warning: I very much doubt that the present post will be [...]

Decompression Sickness August 13, 2009

Well, it’s now been five days since the conclusion of the 2009 Fringe Festival and, as was the case last year, I am currently enmired in a bit of an existential crisis because of it.  It’s kind of neat how quickly humans (and by “humans,” I mean “me”) can adapt to novel stimulus and situations, [...]

Falling Mainly in the Plains June 22, 2009

I’m currently up north visiting my folks.
I made a pretty delicious supper for my Dad yesterday (butter chicken, spicy red curry rice, coconut rice, and a potato, cauliflower and pea curry). Since I missed Mother’s Day, I’m going to be cooking for my Mom today… Meal plan: mulligatawny soup, fresh naan bread, and my patented [...]

But What Does It Mean? June 5, 2009

I had an interesting experience as I was waking up this morning.
In my dream, I had been sitting in a darkened berth in a yacht, which happened to be owned by one of my family’s oldest friends, an old gentleman named Ralph (who is now deceased and who never owned a yacht). All of the [...]

God is a nothing-master May 26, 2009

The Escapist, a neat online magazine dedicated to video-game journalism, published an interesting piece a few months ago entitled “Heathens By Design.” In brief, it puts forward the thesis that video games – from Super Mario Brothers to God of War – are inherently anti-theistic, albeit in a less than overt fashion. In (theologically) simpler [...]

Life Decisions: Module 1 (incl. case study) May 5, 2009

At a recent faculty meeting, it became apparent that I might not be doing a lot of teaching this coming year, things being as  they are (economic downturn, reduction of sessional budgets, blah-blah-blah). As part of this conversation, the acting department head asked about my plans for the future, wondering specifically about whether/when I saw [...]

Moral by default? April 24, 2009

So, I’ve been thinking about morality a bit lately and wondering about whether I’m actually a good person or not… Sure, I manifest a number of seemingly laudable traits; for instance, I tend to be trust-worthy, dependable and empathetic. However, my motives are often at least somewhat self-serving… I hate disappointing people, so I will [...]

More on the nice/kind dichotomy April 6, 2009

I received a well-reasoned email from a friend of mine in response to my last blog-post. Since it offers a potential corrective to the views posted therein, I’ll reproduce part of it here (with her permission, of course):
I agree with the distinction but not the example. Aren’t hints how we get by? I know (gosh, [...]

Wednesday Was Word Day! April 2, 2009

[Concerning the title of this post: I was meaning to put it up yesterday... Oops!]
In evaluating the moral qualities of specific situations, Mr. Keith often makes the distinction between “kind” and “nice” – wherein “kind” refers to actual interest in the well-being of the other individual and “nice” describes the attempt to follow social conventions [...]