Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, and his acceptance speech, a forum in which legendary statements are often made, was a bit of a dud—at least that’s the impression I got from the media. “War President Accepts Peace Prize” said the headlines…or “President Accepts Peace Prize, Defends War.” Even the Huffington Post headline was [...]
Evolution, Evolution, Where Art Thou?
July 5th, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 9 Comments · Evolutionary Biology, Science
The hot new field of evolutionary psychology is coming under attack from all sides. Let’s just make sure we don’t throw the baby of evolutionary thinking out with the bathwater of questionable science.
The war over evolutionary psychology seems to be escalating these days. And from the pages of the Nation to a recent [...]
Tags:Biology·cavemen·david sloan wilson·Evolution·evolutionary psychology·Freud·human behavior·Massimo Pigliucci·newsweek·psychology·sharon begley·The Nation
Courage Under Fire in Iran
June 20th, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 6 Comments · Culture, Politics
As we watch events in Iran unfold, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that we may be seeing the beginning of the end of the current regime. I’m not saying that an overthrow or coup is imminent. But the general sense of popular legitimacy that the regime in Iran has had over [...]
The Good, the Bad, & the Mediated
May 31st, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 2 Comments · Cultural Evolution, Culture, Pop Culture, Postmodernism
A few years ago, sometime in 2003, friend and colleague Dr. Don Beck, cofounder of Spiral Dynamics, turned the editors of EnlightenNext on to an article he had recently read in Harper’s magazine. The article, which he felt was indicative of a change in cultural values and attitudes, was by media theorist and scholar Thomas [...]
Tags:Consciousness·Culture·Evolution·harpers·marshall mccluhan·media·mediated·mediation·narcissism·norman mailer·Pop Culture·Postmodernism·postmodernity·thomas de zengotita
My Mind Is Like My Mother
May 16th, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 3 Comments · Consciousness, Spirituality
I recently finished a ten-day meditation retreat, a deeply enriching experience and one full of all kinds of insights and breakthroughs. But of all the many things that struck me during those powerful days of silence and stillness, one in particular really hit home … and left me privately chuckling behind my meditative mask. My [...]
Tags:Andrew Cohen·carter phipps·Consciousness·meditation·mind·mother·retreat·spiritual practice
Life Coaching for Dummies?
May 8th, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 3 Comments · Cultural Evolution, Culture, Humor, Pop Culture
Today I’m flying back from London, 30,000 miles above the Atlantic, and as I delicately explore my vegetarian meal on American Airlines, I’m reflecting on a book I happened to notice a few hours ago in an airport bookstore. Even though I’m fairly conditioned by now to expect bizarre new permutations of purported postmodern wisdom [...]
Sri Aurobindo: Man or Messiah?
May 1st, 2009 by Carter Phipps· 6 Comments · Culture, Evolutionaries, Evolutionary Spirituality, Hinduism, News, Spirituality
Readers of this blog may have heard of the great Indian sage Sri Aurobindo. We have often acknowledged him in the pages of EnlightenNext magazine as one of the pioneers of evolutionary spirituality. Recently, we reviewed a fascinating new book by long-time Aurobindian scholar Peter Heehs called The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, published last year [...]
Tags:controversy·Evolutionaries·fundamentalism·gurus·mythology·Peter Heehs·Sri Aurobindo·The Mother
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