Greg Epstein’s Post

My parents shared some traditional wisdom with me since young, advising caution in discussing sensitive topics like religion and politics openly. This can often be wise to avoid unnecessary conflicts, especially in mixed company where opinions may vary widely. However, as I have noted, the adult-world often still judges right and wrong based on one’s position and interests, even if this is framed in terms of pros and cons or benefits and drawbacks. This complexity reflects the nuances and often the power dynamics at play in many social and professional settings. Viewing conflicts or the concept of war from a perspective free from human biases like religion, personal interests, or social positions can lead to a very different interpretation. Imagining a view from the “universe’s eyes, highest-self” whatever you believed & called it, shifts the focus to the widespread impact of these conflicts. From this vantage point, the primary concerns become the human suffering, societal disruption, and environmental damage that wars cause. This expansive viewpoint emphasizes the interconnectedness of all life and highlights the unnecessary tragedy of conflict. It would likely prioritize long-term global consequences over the immediate objectives of specific groups or nations. We need approach that could sheds light on the deep-rooted causes of conflicts and also paves the way for considering more sustainable paths toward peace and reconciliation. Viewing the world in a way encourages a reflection on the broader implications of our actions and their impacts on humanity and the planet. #WarEnds As we reflect on these thoughts, I invite you, the reader, to make a conscious choice. How will you choose to view the conflicts around you? Your choice has the power to influence not just your own life but also the fabric of our collective future. #KeyTakeaways As always, thank you for reading. I hope the information here helps you maximize your personal & business results. You will be following Darrell by clicking the link 🧲 https://bit.ly/3OZWk1s

***Required reading for all Americans.*** Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

Someone needed to say it. So glad Katelyn Beaty now did! "Obviously the bro code is bad for women because it asks them to deal with sexual harassment on their own — such as through a whisper network, as at CT. But beyond the more obvious harm of harassment, it also asks women to tolerate men who are bad at their jobs. Or to tolerate men who are good at their jobs but are cyclically unprofessional, volatile, have poor interpersonal and/or regulatory skills, and make them feel like crap. And none of this is good for Christian institutions or the church. One, because it often means that unqualified men lead those institutions in unhealthy or unwise ways, setting a low standard for others’ conduct and expectations. Two, because Christian institutions are to be places where all people are ensured dignity, fairness, and physical and emotional safety, and where bro codes are superseded by kingdom codes. If your Christian institution is functionally an old-boy network, there’s probably not much discernibly Christian about it."

In this excerpt from his lecture, “Wake Up Running!”, at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, October 23, 2023, Dr. Fluker highlights the idea of self-transcendence as an essential practice in mindfulness and engaging the multiple challenges of creating and sustaining “democratic space.” As new generations of activists and freedom fighters engage the long and complex history of contested democratic spaces in the US and around the globe, religious scholars and social justice activists must take a long look at the ways in which this new moment calls us, like Thurman, to remember, retell, and relive our stories. Remembering, retelling, and reliving our stories of enslavement, colonization, oppression of all kinds, and of faith, hope, and liberation involves calling forth creative hermeneutical (interpretive) strategies and processes that allow us to return to memory and history; and to reconstruct these defining narratives in respect to futures that can only be imagined. Our imagined futures are necessary because of the ambiguities and contingencies of the present; and they are possible because of the gift of spirit and transcendence which allows us to stand with Thurman on the high tower and overlook the complex and jagged contours of history, while painfully but patiently waiting for the moving finger of the Divine to join us in reimagining, revising, and reconstructing new visions in the contexts of the present. Like Thurman, we must inquire within our own contemporary contexts and seek responses that proceed from “the sound of the genuine” within us. The challenge that Thurman lays before us involves reimagining his work and legacy at this critical impasse in democratic life and practices and to forge new “tools of the spirit” that enable us to not only imagine new possibilities for democratic spaces, but we must also seek practices that ensure that always our speech and actions are rooted in the vitality of life and spirit. View the entire lecture here https://lnkd.in/gvtUqkBm #leadership #ethicalleadership #wefa

Personally I not motivated to opine on this idea. I can imagine that many young people will see value in having the Bible and several foundational documents bound together with the Bill of Rights. As a former scholar and Provost I see a departure from traditional politically secular America. We do sing and cover our heart. Even most Founding Fathers knew in,the 1770s that religion was highly personal and might not bind a nation together. Most colonial families had arrived fleeing overbearing religious control in England or in what's becomes the UK. With these foundations Irish catholics were slowly across a century accepted as fellow Americans. A major benefit was discovering Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960. 😁 This scholar sees a decided tilt toward the T word with this book move by the 46th president: Theocracy. We are a free democracy. The 46th president may sell this volume by his own choice as he seeks the White House in 2024. The book may sell very well. I believe there is a signal to those who don't organize their life through the king James Bible or who prefer to value the our historic and emulated Constitution -- a model document-- and Declaration of Independence as they stand alone for their incredible import. Perhaps as a nation we are changing significantly after almost 250 years. We have never truly approached theocracy. If you appreciate the humbleness of vision of Washington and Adams you know that we cannot predict national mood half a century on. In the 1970s it was perfectly fine to be catholic or Jewish and we wrestled with the idea that Muslims and gay people might be fellow citizens, neighbors, coworkers and university peers. We've moved forward in democracy-- as a democracy should. 😊 Admiral Ron Scott GHW Bush WH Advisor Acting Dean, Yale Law School Read "Trump prods supporters to buy unorthodox bible for $59.99" on SmartNews: https://lnkd.in/dCYqZWPp

The dignity of informed faith that also translates into applied faith in real life. https://lnkd.in/e7BVp2iB

Here are at least three reasons why tone is still so vitally important in public discourse for Christians.

I love “The Man in the Arena” quote and was discussing it with a friend today. I expressed my concern about lacking the ability to make a difference because I stepped out of the “arena” for a season. He encouraged me to read the entire speech. It is such a great read and reminded me of the importance and value of the quality individual citizen. “Today I shall speak to you on the subject of individual citizenship, the one subject of vital importance… The success of a republic … means the glory, and our failure the despair, of mankind; .. the question of the quality of the individual citizen is supreme. Success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues. Such ordinary, every-day qualities include the will and the power to work, to fight at need, and to have plenty of healthy children... In a republic, to be successful we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction. Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth. Bitter internecine hatreds, based on such differences, are signs, not of earnestness of belief, but of that fanaticism which, whether religious or anti-religious, democratic or anti-democratic, is itself but a manifestation of the gloomy bigotry which has been the chief factor in the downfall of so many, many nations.” I may not be in the arena, but I want to be a valuable average woman with conviction to serve and fight for the needs of others. . https://lnkd.in/ghbDKcR4

Random Observations and Thoughts. I find it ironic politicians are often referred to as public servants yet they are the complete opposite. They are in the position for their own self serving ego. Even the nicest or most progressive ones do it for their ego. People are too enamored to see it. Elected officials are a direct reflection of the people who voted for them. When I see certain officials display gross acts of unprofessionalism I blame the people. I don't have an emotional response because the people wanted that person to represent them. Unprofessionalism and blatant ignorance has become the new normal and its accepted. At this point I'm ready to see someone get punched in the face during a congressional hearing or vote. The United States went to war with Britain for being over taxed. Yet I am taxed on everything. Folks dumped tea into the Boston Harbor for being heavily taxed. Yet if you look at just the percentage of the tax rate. I am taxed more now than if I lived in 1774. The Jones Act of today was the same rule King George implemented back then. I've been shaking my head at this for decades. It took a TV show in the 2000s to make me pay attention. I own a Bible from 1869 and it looks extremely different from today's version. Which dismantles everything modern religious zealots have been preaching. Imagine sitting on a truth so explosive that it dismantles modern Christianity. Am I going to share it no I won't. I understand why people prefer to remain ignorant it's comfortable. If I were to share this info I would be painted as crazy or worse. The reality is, people are comfortable with the status quo so it's not worth disrupting my peace. The book only confirmed what I already knew. Israel the settler colonial state never existed in 1869. It never existed prior to 1948. I own books that's older than them. The United States and other western countries can try to erase any and all existence of Palestine off the internet, but analog documents still exist. Knowledge is dangerous to the ignorant.

In January 2020, impeachment dominated headlines amidst confusing claims. Cutting through partisan noise to constitutional clarity proves crucial. This video provides factual constitutional context around impeachment amidst political debates. By understanding the Founders' intent, Americans can thoughtfully analyze for themselves rather than react to news or social media hysteria. Wisdom begins with truth - our Constitution offers foundational answers to anchor civil discourse in times of national tension. Don't settle for distortion or confusion. Instead, return to the enduring guidance of our national charter. https://lnkd.in/gn-_XQmG Do you want to learn more about what you can do to act NOW! and save our Constitution. https://lnkd.in/g5PpPw7m Take your learning to the next level: ✍️Learn about historical events that shape our future. Flashback to a Fabulous Future. https://lnkd.in/d7wwcyy3 ✍️ Join our Bible Study Group. It is called Faith and Freedom – A Recipe for Restoration. Study the Bible through the lens of our Founding Fathers. We use David Barton’s Founder’s Bible when we meet once a week on Sundays at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. There is no charge for this class. https://lnkd.in/gwx9TDSf ✍️ What is Quiet Leadership? Why is it important now more than ever -- couple it with Servant Leadership and Conscious Leadership and you will have principled leaders who can navigate the turbulent waters ahead! Join us for a four-week FREE journey. One to two hours a week! https://lnkd.in/d7zMGqy8 #HomesShool, #History, #UnitedStates, #Consitution, #FoundingFathers, #Travel, #Tour, #Historical, #Family, #Bible, #Biblical, #Faith