On the Skillfulness of Refined Taste

On the first day of a course in wine appreciation I was presented with two samples and asked to describe their aromas. They both smelled like wine. There was nothing else I could say about them. I remember thinking that that would change, and that by the end of the course I would be able to…

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Episode 225 :: Paul Verhaeghen :: Secular Buddhist Ethics

Paul Verhaeghen Paul Verhaeghen joins us to speak about secular Buddhist ethics. One of the common criticisms us atheists and sometimes us Buddhists receive is that we have no morals without a deeply religious conviction to guide us. And yet, many of us secular Buddhists manage to curb our murderous tendencies, and fit right in…

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Cultivating Wisdom in an Era of Technological Change

My grandmother grew up in the era of the horse and buggy, but lived to see a man set foot on the Moon. When I was a kid growing up in New York we had rotary dial telephones. Personal computers were just being introduced, with green phosphorescent screens and weird command-line interfaces. The first office Xerox…

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