Nonjudgment

We all see how we are becoming more polarized and isolated. We tend to think others are doing it and don't notice when we do it ourselves. One way is to dehumanize people we disagree with. We see it when others do it and criticize them for it. We don't notice when we do it ourselves. We just think we're being astute and calling them out. If you say any of the following, you're doing the same thing. You may say you're being accurate, they're calling names, but however the words differ, they're coming from similar psychological processes responding to similar situations. You call them ideologues You say it's like a religion for them You say they've abandoned reason You say they're psychopathic You say…

I keep hearing people refer to Christianity and Judaism as European religions, or religions that Europe spread to the world. People also refer to diseases like smallpox and mumps as European. If we're talking about continents, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were born and lived in Asia. So did Jesus and Muhammad. Moses was born in Africa. The first known cases of smallpox were in Egypt. Mumps seems to have come from China. When Americans talk about Native Americans displaced westward, they describe them as victims of European imperialism. But people in Europe were once indigenous. People as far north as England were enslaved by Romans. Roman culture came from Greek, which came from Anatolia (Turkey), the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Egypt which are in Asia and…

I read a lot of books I disagree with or am skeptical of. How else would I expect to learn? How else can I expect to develop compassion or empathy?

To clarify up front, I'm not taking a political position here, just pointing out what looks like groups doing what they criticize others for. They seem to be living by their values when they like the outcomes, but other times violating their values. I'm following up my post from a few months ago Heritage Foundation promoting socialism, as usual. Charlie Kirk did too. I've had a few guests on my podcast from the Manhattan Institute and I've attended a few of their events. I found this article last week from them: Want More Babies? We Need More Friends, whose subtitle tells what the article is about: "If Americans are to revive our sagging national birthrate, we must rebuild the ordinary social structures that made children…

I rated Eger's book The Choice as one of My favorite books and movies of 2025 as well as my life, comparable to Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. I listened to The Choice and I don't remember another book that led me to tears so much. I was outright bawling. I can't recommend it enough. I found her through Philip Zimbardo's work. They were friends and colleagues. She knew Frankl too. She died on April 27. I recommend starting with The Choice, then watching videos of her, of which there are plenty. Her book became an international bestseller. Oprah featured her. She was covered globally. Here are some articles, followed by some quotes from them. Forced to dance for Mengele at Auschwitz, she was…