Tag Archives: love

Why Gay Marriage Is Really Winning

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

Ed Feser’s Thesis. On gay marriage’s advance to date, the Thomist philosopher Ed Feser writes the following: “How have we descended into such Orwellian insanity?…Part of it has to do with the fact that what is at issue here concerns … Continue reading →

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The Separation of Church and Sex

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

Masturbation is liberation. In light of the fact that God appears to be hidden and silent, what could be the (non-question begging) foundations for proscribing sexual behavior? Sex seeks to hijack the mind and body to a very particular agenda … Continue reading →

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The Evolution of Kindness and Sympathy

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

A really good evolution education video via the University of California at Berkeley. We’ve evolved to be more like bonobos than sharks, and it’s one reason why I’m not worried that the decline of religion will lead to deteriorating moral … Continue reading →

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Who Thinks Your Thoughts, Weird Kangaroo?

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

Who are you, really? Neuroscientists tell us our gut microbiome consists of 100 trillion organism with different DNA from what we inherited from our parents, and that those microbes are connected to our brains via the vagus nerve. Thus those … Continue reading →

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Arguing about Gay Marriage with Thomists: Love vs. Reproduction

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

The premises underlying Thomistic arguments against gay marriage are four: sex’s goal should be directed ultimately to reproduction; marriage is for the rearing of children and the union of man and woman; marriage is naturally a social institution for promoting … Continue reading →

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What Love Is (A Definition)

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

What is love? I’d basically put it among the very broad family of “the better angels of our nature,” and in the genus of “seeking connection, harmony, and cooperation in a non-zero sum way.” As to the species of this … Continue reading →

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Love, Thomism, Jews, and Gay Marriage

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

Love is what you bring into your circle of concern. You value it for your own happiness and the happiness of the other. It’s what you’ve found a way to work with rather than wall yourself off from, marginalize, and … Continue reading →

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Who Is Your Neighbor?

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

Sharing with a stranger–one of the better angels of our nature–is on display in this YouTube: __________ The video is moving, but why is it moving? Why don’t we have similar responses, say, to adult alcoholics who are homeless, cold, … Continue reading →

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Female Elephants Rescue a Baby Elephant from Drowning

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

Pretty life affirming. Watching this works your nerves, but they do manage to get the baby out. Absent hands and tools, these adult elephants use their trunks, their bodies, and a willingness to run risks to their own lives to … Continue reading →

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Men Are From Africa, Women Are From Africa

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

In Christopher Ryan’s TED talk on human sexuality and evolutionary psychology, I like his closing quip: “It’s time we moved beyond Mars and Venus, because the truth is that men are from Africa and women are from Africa.” __________ Ryan’s … Continue reading →

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The Great Question of Religion: Who’s on First?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

No, I’m not joking. True religion boils down to this one question. But before I demonstrate this, I’d like to point to something the literary critic Adam Kirsch recently wrote. He has been reading one page a day from the Talmud, … Continue reading →

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Want to Get Out of a Depressive Funk?

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

Pick a card. Imagine each of the following as a card, pick one, and move toward it: courage; mastery; discipline; desire; productivity; acceptance; laughter; imagination; assertion; reason; beauty; silence; hope; organization; truth; efficiency; meaning; wholeness; love; justice; travel; home. In other words, … Continue reading →

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I Am the Sun (and You are Too)

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

This morning while riding my bike, I stopped to admire the morning sun breaking through clouds and thought, “How spontaneous the sun is in the streaming of its own life! I wish I could do that.” Then it occurred to … Continue reading →

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Guitarist in Blue

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ Your country is vast, But no thing pure. Nothing is. I kiss You, playing both Parts. Off time, A little. Fingers underbug The strings attached. The hole is out front. Wood is at the back. I’m not here, here. … Continue reading →

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The Lowdown

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

If you’re like me, you don’t want to die. And if you’re also like me, you’ve got things you tell yourself and things you do to divert your attention away from the fact that you will die. But even Ray Kurzweil will die. That’s … Continue reading →

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God is Immanent Through the Internet?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

That’s Jim Gilliam’s thesis. The ghost of love has infected the global machine. A rather robust form of religious humanism, I’d say. To whom much is given, etc.

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Same-Sex Bi-National Couples and Immigration Reform

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

A same-sex bi-national couple is a homosexual American married to a homosexual foreigner, and President Obama means for such a couple to be included in immigration reform. In the below clip, John McCain is clearly broadsided by a question about … Continue reading →

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A Documentary on the Life of Artist Damien Hirst Worth Seeing

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ This web page at the Tate on Hirst is also good.

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Huell Howser Impersonator

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Comedian James Adomian parodies Huell Howser perfectly here (but you’ll have to click over to YouTube to watch it): __________ Howser was an institution on public television in California, going around the state interviewing people. Homosexual and originally from Tennessee, … Continue reading →

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An Atheist Speaks From The Heart About Aging

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Try not to cry. __________ One of Maurice Sendak’s books is here.

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