21st Century Spirituality

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The Jagged Paradoxes of Aghori Babarazzi

In both form and content, the work curated by Aghori Babarrazi presents a jagged paradox, true to his pseudonym, that defibrillates the limping heart of yoga philosophy. His crew consistently speaks for yoga-as-egoic-dissolution—through the most singular and eccentric voice of modern yoga literature. They repeatedly invoke the austerity of complete personal responsibility, while delighting in trash-talk from behind the scrim of anonymity. Aghori’s editorial paradox mirrors... Read More

Philosophy

The Contortionist: Science, Morality and Extreme Relativism

A debate has raged since the publication of Sam Harris’ book, The Moral Landscape, as to whether or not moral questions can be approached using the scientific method. Even among Harris’ readers there has been a lot of skepticism, and the academic philosophy community has widely criticized his contention that science has a role to play in [...]

Our Brain

Can Science Tell Us What is Morally Right and Wrong?

This article is a response to Julian Walker’s recent blog, The Contortionist: Science, Morality, and Extreme Relativism    Julian Walker recently argued that “moral questions have to do with human well-being, and human well-being is something that we can look at through the lens of science.” I agree with his assertion that the scientific method can help [...]

Society

Life Lessons From Kareem: Do More Yoga

Growing up, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson were the reasons I became the basketball fanatic I was and remain today. I spent countless hours shooting at my driveway hoop to perfect my sky hook. (Ok, perfecting is not the word I’d use.) In fact, while it’s weird that a Jersey boy grew up a [...]

Politics

“Islamophobia,” Terrorism, and Liberal Confusion

There is a recent fashion of labeling people who point out the link between radical Islam and terrorism as being “Islamophobes” or simply racist. Sam Harris in particular has fallen prey to this kind of criticism. This is well-meaning but incorrect. It is based on a confusion that happens a lot in our liberal demographic: [...]