Many of the personal struggles we face are not “psychological problems” of a more or less medical kind, but part and parcel of the confusing and often difficult search for meaning, value and purpose. Gardens, kitchens, literature, philosophy and art can all help in this quest. However, what is of value in them threatens to be lost or perverted if we turn all that is therapeutic into forms of therapy.
ReadIf someone has a terminal condition and the doctor knows how long she has left to live, does the patient have the right to be told? Virtually everyone thinks she does. So why should it be different if that terminal condition is life itself?
ReadHaving a preference that you did not choose is the precondition for a meaningful choice. To put it another way, the basis of free choice is choosing whatever it is you prefer, not choosing your preferences.
ReadIt might seem odd but I, a convinced atheist, have recently completed a 10-day fast based on the Hindu festival of Navratri, which is being celebrated this week. These days, if we limit what we eat, it is almost certainly because we are trying to lose weight, detox or realise some kind of health benefit. The idea that we might seek to forgo certain foods for moral improvement seems bizarrely anachronistic.
ReadRegular readers might have noticed that I often talk about confronting reality as though that were a good thing. Could it not be a philosopher’s bias to assume that it is better to live in the gloomy shadow of dark truths than in the artificial light of pleasing falsehoods?
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