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Children sitting on the sand in Portugal, enjoying ice cream sticks
It always begins with ice cream
On family traditions, quiet healing, and the sweetness that carries us home
A solitary poet sits lost in thought, his face lit by a soft, amber glow — a quiet reflection of Milan Kundera’s vision of the novel as a search for understanding rather than virtue
Milan Kundera and the novel beyond good and evil
When storytelling reveals truth, not morality
Sunlight shining through a leaf, representing love through one's capacity to feel love everywhere if they know how to identify it
The Sun rises every day
Today it dawned again, as always
Silena Santoni ultimately presents My Creature as a story of survival, where writing becomes an act of self-preservation
Silena Santoni and the birth of a monster
Reimagining Mary Shelley’s “year without a summer” in My Creature
A dormant, monumental engine stirs as a single luminous artifact is placed at its core, illuminating forgotten circuitry and revealing a civilization not yet finished, only awaiting its missing source of coherence
The jewel in the engine
Epistemic capital in an age of tactical noise
The living goddess Kumari returns to the Kumari Ghar after attending the Seto Machhindranath parade in Kathmandu, Nepal
The living goddess of Kathmandu
How Nepal’s centuries-old Kumari tradition walks the line between sacred heritage and the rights of a child
An elderly scholar reads intently beside a towering robot, set against a backdrop where a decaying city meets a futuristic skyline, symbolizing the tension between history, human agency, and technological destiny
Asimov’s psychohistory between determinism and freedom
Asimov’s “Foundation” saga explores how history balances destiny and human freedom while testing the power of science to shape the future
Drawing of "Eating my words" by Bruce Naumann, 1966–1967
Graphophagy: the sacred power of ingesting text
Mystical and transformative power of writing in magic, religion, and healing
A Ride for Liberty – The Fugitive Slaves, by Eastman Johnson, 1862
Untold and untaught history: pro-slavery ideology
Slavery remains an underexamined subject in American historical narratives
The little Buddha statue at the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal
Lumbini: the birthplace of Buddha
A sacred sanctuary in Nepal where history, spirituality, and peace converge
The curious mind, sustained by the critical thought of reading, seeks the answers that give shape and purpose to every human endeavor
The salvation of a question
Amin Maalouf on the indispensable role of literature, the convergence of art and business, and the critical path to a hopeful future
Painting of a male figure performing a ritual dance with crows, wearing a cloak
Rituals of survival in human culture
Dancing with death, laughing with life
Young Korean students walking on the street while studying abroad
Two paths of migration in South Korea and Australia
A comparative reflection on migration identity and inclusion
Tet decorations in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Why the Vietnamese New Year doesn’t start on January 1st
A closer look at the lunar calendar and how people in Vietnam experience time in their own way
Carlist rebel militia during the Spanish War
Revolutions from the Enlightenment to Spain
The "longue durée" of American, Spanish and French revolutionary upheavals
The stunning brick warehouse exterior showcasing remarkable architecture
Memories of Yorkshire: a journey through time
Reflecting on life in the west riding and beyond
Pope Pius XI (left) and Pope Pius XII (right): two successive pontificates confronting the rise of Nazi racial ideology, marked by moral denunciation on one side and cautious restraint on the other
The Pope who spoke and the Pope who hesitated
Moral courage, silence, and the Catholic church on the eve of the holocaust
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture, Russia, low-angle view
Life in a Soviet mining town
Memories of Shakhtinsk, childhood freedoms, and the contradictions of promised futures
A young woman studies in a Victorian room, caught between the weight of facts and the quiet stirrings of imagination
Dickens’s critique of reason without imagination
Hard Times exposes the emotional, moral, and social costs of a world built on rigid rationality
"Suudelma" (kiss), 1916, by the Finnish painter William Rosenberg
I’m looking: a nerdy philosophical on coupling
A guide for female philosophers and thinkers whose work resonates with Carl Jung’s depth psychology
Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito
Machiavelli’s conception of power and agency in 'The Prince'
The role of fortune in political success
A surreal image of a man submerged underwater, symbolizing the fight for breath
The hidden circuits of speech
How metaphors encode repression, reveal unconscious truths, and guide us toward self-discovery
A moment of introspection and strength that speaks to the "pride" and "power" that comes from carrying the strength and hope of generations, even when existing feels like "a battle I never asked to fight"
Too black for you, perfect for me
My journey of self-love and resilience as a black woman in America
A female writer resting her head on the table beside a laptop, looking anxious and depressed
Sabotaged by the machine, the crisis of human writing
Why writers and students are being falsely accused and what it means for creativity and trust
As dusk falls over Nagasaki, Japan, the vibrant red and yellow glow of thousands of lanterns transforms the streets into a breathtaking spectacle, inviting all to experience the magic of the Lantern Festival in the city
Radiant revelry: the Nagasaki Lantern Festival
A celebration of Chinese culture illuminating Japan’s history
The Battle at Lanka, from the Ramayana by Sahibdin, portrays Rāma’s vānara army (top left) fighting Rāvaṇa, the demon-king of Lankā, to save the kidnapped Sītā. The scene also depicts Hanumān defeating the three-headed demon general Triṣira, shown at the bottom left
Valmiki Jayanti: celebrating the birth of the Adi Kavi
Honoring the birth of Sage Valmiki, author of the Ramayana, and his enduring cultural, spiritual, and literary influence
One’s point of view, and the points of view of others, do not matter
Dissolved in an unexpected feeling of existence
The infinite multitude of living forms, the cosmos, and the stories that surround us
A futuristic cityscape where modern architecture blends seamlessly with abundant greenery and vegetation
Designing the future of becoming
How civilizations evolve from substitution to enablement
Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (USA), speaking during the session “Close Encounters with Jane Goodall and Skye Meaker” at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2019
Jane Goodall and the silence on population
Remembering an uncomfortable truth
Unknown English artist Armada Portrait (1588)
The allure of strong women: the beauty
The changing shapes of feminine aesthetics
A symbolic still life of Asimov’s legacy, where worn volumes meet futuristic visions of robots and galaxies
Isaac Asimov’s 'History of the Future'
Ethics, psychohistory, and the making of humanity’s tomorrow
Slave auctions were a central mechanism of the domestic slave trade, through which an estimated one million men, women, and children were forcibly sold and transported between 1790 and 1860
Untold and untaught history: a complex bond
The intricate relationship between enslaved people and the slave owners
Human skulls emerging from shadow, representing history’s refusal to remain buried
The Klender experiment and Japan’s forgotten war crime
How a routine injection became a hidden wartime experiment in occupied Indonesia
The Entry of King Otto of Greece into Athens (German: Empfang König Ottos von Griechenland in Athen) is an 1839 oil-on-canvas history painting by the German artist Peter von Hess
Liberty and the human condition
A journey through faith, reason, and conscience
Christmas market beneath an illuminated Ferris wheel in Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland
Religion and spirituality in liquid modernity
How modern societies transform religion, commitment, and meaning
An artistic portrayal of the evolution of the vampire myth—Dracula’s dark, Gothic menace contrasts with the humanized, romantic figures of modern vampire lore, symbolizing the shift from fear to fascination
Monster to muse: the evolution of the vampire
How Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight transformed fear into fascination across centuries of storytelling
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 1545 CE, oil on canvas, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy
Queen Bilqis and the meaning of freedom
Justice, consultation, and female authority in ancient Yemen
An empty military uniform draped over a worn sofa captures the silent weight of war’s aftermath — a haunting reflection of absence, memory, and the unseen wounds of conflict
Joanna Bourke and the unmaking of the hero
Reflections on Joanna Bourke’s "An Intimate History of Killing"
The Ormoc Pier stretching into the sea, symbolising Ormoc’s role as a gateway for people, trade, and opportunity
Ormoc: the city of beautiful people and shared dreams
A city defined by its people, purpose, and promise of education
Pedestrians blur past a still woman standing on the street—embodying the tension between speed and stillness in an accelerated world
The price of speed
Han and Rosa on acceleration and the erosion of the accelerated self
Miami, Florida, USA, nicknamed "the magic city"
Nature in mass marketing of Miami
How the city in Florida went from a "place where nobody lives" to the second most visited metropolitan area
Pope Pius XII visiting Piazza San Giovanni after the bombings of Rome on 13 August 1943
Pius XII: between silence, strategy, and survival
Tracing the life, rise, and complex wartime role of Eugenio Pacelli in an era of global upheaval
An archaeologist gently cleaning a coin, conveying the enduring legacy of the Benin Kingdom’s craftsmanship
Igodomigodo: the heart of the Benin civilization
A glimpse into the ancient Nigerian city that rivalled London in beauty and governance 
A tourist man walking while checking his social media during his trip
The pressure to document every moment
The balance between living in the moment and capturing it for the digital world
A Black woman walks solemnly past a "Whites Only" sign in apartheid-era South Africa, a stark reminder of the daily realities of racial segregation and systemic oppression
The historical origins of Apartheid
In the beginning, man feared everything except for each other; now we fear nothing apart from each other
An abandoned church in ruins, representing the collapse of community life amid rising religious tensions
Tradition, Christianity, and Africa’s rising religious wars
Faith at crossroad: Africa’s search for peace between creed and culture
A reimagined horizontal composition of Norman Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech — the first of his Four Freedoms series, inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. The painting honors the dignity of the individual voice in democracy, portraying an ordinary citizen standing courageously to speak among his peers — a timeless embodiment of civic freedom and moral conviction
Ayn Rand and the ‘moral nation’
What can we learn from her philosophy?
A limestone head of Assyrian King Sargon II, illegally smuggled from Iraq to the United States, recovered in 2015
The OSINT-based NABU project
Investigating the online trade in Iraqi antiquities using computational methods
El Floridita, where daiquiris, chandeliers, and Hemingway’s shadow still linger © Photo by Jane Ammeson
Hemingway's Havana
Exploring the tumultuous life and lasting legend of Ernest Hemingway on the island he called home
A person sits in quiet contemplation, caught between the worlds of science and spirituality
The danger of believing only what comforts us
When it comes to understanding the core of worlds, is it more convenient to believe in science or religions?
A clear symbol of Enver Hoxha’s personality cult: behind him and his closest allies stands a massive stone plaque bearing the coat of arms of communist Albania at the top, along with portraits of Hoxha and Stalin. Throughout his rule, Hoxha remained a staunch Stalinist
Remembering Albania’s communist dictatorship
Uncovering the scars of a regime that silenced a nation
A sky that remembers what we have forgotten: we are made of light
Drinking starlight: on humility, wonder, and our shared fate
Reflections on the cosmos, human vanity, and a new global vision
Susan Stewart pictured against a backdrop of ancient ruins, reflecting her lifelong engagement with memory, materiality, and the traces of the past
An interview with Professor Susan Stewart
The ruins lesson: meaning and material in Western culture
An abstract ink and watercolor illustration depicting the tension between structure and freedom—where rigid architectural forms dissolve into flowing, organic shapes, symbolizing the transformation of obedience into becoming
The architecture of obedience
How civilization learned to worship self-reduction
The Market Place, Tanta, Egypt (Burton, 1874)
Tanta: where faith and power intertwine
A closer look at how Egypt’s largest Sufi festival reveals the tensions between faith, myth, and governance
Sabre duel of German students, around 1900, painting by Georg Mühlberg (1863–1925)
The age of duels and the science of arms
Rapier fencing, aristocratic ideals, and the parallel rise of European and Japanese martial philosophies
A beautifully lit Christmas tree glowing inside a home, representing the warmth and togetherness that defines Christmas across cultures
Christmas around the world
How different nations bring their own style to one of the world’s most cherished holiday
A symbolic tribute to the enslaved men and women who rose in 1811, demanding humanity, dignity, and liberation in the face of unimaginable violence
Untold and untaught history: the 1811 Louisiana revolt
Freedom or death: uncovering the historic 1811 Louisiana slave revolt and the legacy of resistance
A woman standing in a fabric store, mirroring the Baduy’s devotion to handwoven textiles as carriers of ancestral meaning
The simple life of the Baduy in Indonesia
Exploring the sacred customs, nature reverence, and spiritual boundaries that shape daily life in Baduy territory
An empty surface that reflects what we choose to project onto it
Solipsism and repetition in the digital sphere
From Marshall McLuhan to fake news: media, democracy, and the fight for lucidity in the age of algorithms
Studies show statistical evidence linking UAPs, nuclear tests, and historical anomalies
Transient revelations: the science behind UAPs
Dr. Stephen Bruehl on UAPs, nuclear tests, and a whispered briefing to Congress
Love and war intertwined — a soldier’s embrace amidst the ruins of battle
The paradox of protection and violence
On the fragile boundary where devotion, fear, and humanity turn love into both violence and hope
A man writes by candlelight as a shadowed figure whispers over his shoulder — a haunting reflection of temptation and moral struggle from The Screwtape Letters
Lewis’s satire on faith and weakness
A devil’s-eye view of how the soul drifts from grace
A blurry image of a woman holding Post-it notes — yes or no?
Ethical dilemmas: the complexity of moral choices
The challenges of decision-making across personal, professional, and societal contexts
Infantrymen advance during close-quarters combat, one soldier lunging forward with a bayonet as others move in behind him under open daylight, capturing the raw intensity of battlefield fighting
On training soldiers to kill: reading Joanna Bourke
An analysis of Joanna Bourke's 1999 book, 'An intimate history of killing'
How conflict and media amplify each other in real time, shaping perception, policy, and the pace of war
Strategic escalations: image in the postwar period
From Vietnam to videogames: the media-driven abstraction of war and reality
Black-and-white image of feet resting on white fabric, symbolizing a body prepared for burial on marble
Death, the ultimate teacher
Mortality as certainty, equalizer, and source of meaning
A philosopher contemplates the ethical forces that shape society, business, and the stability of human systems
The ethical formula of Fidel Gutierrez Vivanco
Scientific laws honed on transformational philosophy to promote sustainable business
Illustrated folio from a dispersed Ramayana series, created in the late 18th century in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India. This delicate painting, now housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number 1976.15), captures the serene moment when Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana visit the sage Bharadvaja’s forest hermitage. Rendered in the refined Pahari style, the scene reflects the grace, devotion, and lyrical naturalism characteristic of Kangra painting, with its lush landscape and gentle emotional expression
The Mlecchas in Hindu mythology
Outsiders, others, and the guardians of the margins
Tiny figurines of Jesus and Mary grace the Christmas setting, reminding us of the sacred origins of the holiday
A Christmas celebration of three cultures
Blending Hungarian, Polish, and British traditions to create a unique holiday experience for our family
Once a symbol of dominance from the skies, the B-52 now stands silent, prompting questions about power, memory, and the cost of conflict © Photo by Daniel Gauss
Hanoi’s B-52 Victory Museum: a monument to human endurance
The history of the B-52: the big stick and the burden of empire
A person kneeling before a cross on a hill, representing a return to sincere and humble faith
Are there still true Christians?
A closer look at faith in an age of moral decline
An artistic, painting-like scene evoking the gothic mood of Wuthering Heights — a quiet moment of reflection and unspoken turmoil
Reading Wuthering Heights in 2025
What would I send Emily Brontë’s characters to therapy for?
Ottoman Levant in 1893
Spoils, spolia, and sparks of heritage protection
Cultural governance as negotiation between the Ottoman elite and public
A solitary journey into meaning, beyond comfort and certainty
Travel and transformation: a philosophical guide to growth
Why the world's most profound thinkers have always understood that how you travel determines who you become
Theyyam, a vibrant Hindu ritual featuring red-and-white deities, is practiced in the North Malabar region of Kerala and parts of Karnataka
Theyyam: the dance where Gods walk among the people
A sacred ritual from North Kerala that turns inequality into divine equality, reminding us that all blood is the same
Abdelkader saving Christians during the Druze/Christian strife of 1860. Painting by Jan-Baptist Huysmans
Abd al-Qadir and the unheard voices of resistance
Rethinking the role of local leaders and merchants in French Algeria
Bridging the gap between man and machine
Artificial intelligence and human awareness
How intelligence, empathy, and awareness of being converge into a changing world
From a digital precipice, a figure witnesses a radiant, heart-shaped core of light emerging from a dense urban network, suggesting the integration of human meaning within technological complexity
When intelligence forgets itself
On the silent collapse of meaning in an age of synthetic brilliance
Beaudesert circa 1880, Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, England
An interview with Bob Marsh
The origins and future of Beaudesert Hall
A smiling blonde woman enjoys a warm drink while listening to music or language lessons through her headphones
Learning language through music
The power of music in making language learning natural, fun, and effective
Antonio Zucchi Apollo and the Muses (1767)
Life and death of the muse
How women changed their role from object of inspiration to agent of creation
A fresco by Cesare Maccari (1840-1919) depicting Roman senator Cicero (106-43 BCE) denouncing Catiline's conspiracy to overthrow the Republic in the Roman senate. (Palazzo Madama, Rome), Italy
Italy’s forgotten architects of the modern world
How Galileo, Machiavelli, Vico, and Beccaria shaped science, politics, history, and justice
Person sitting and reading George Orwell’s 1984, surrounded by a dim, reflective atmosphere
When great books become dangerous
How banned classics like 1984 and Harry Potter reveal society’s fear of imagination
Job and His Comforters by Luca Giordano c. 1700
Job's faith: lessons on overcoming suffering
How patience, perseverance, and trust in God lead to spiritual growth and redemption
Nat Turner's slave rebellion remains one of the most misunderstood and erased chapters of American history
Untold and untaught history: Nat Turner
How one man’s faith, grief, and conviction ignited a rebellion and challenged a nation’s conscience
Descent into darkness reveals the quiet spaces where clarity begins
I know where the ark of the covenant is
Inside the remote-viewed mystery of the world’s most elusive relic
Jim and Huck drift along the Mississippi at twilight, a journey of survival, freedom, and uneasy companionship
Percival Everett’s James and the voice of freedom
Based on a retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Dr. Shadiya Mohamed S. Baqutayan and Jeffrey Levett
Dr. Shadiya Baqutayan: faith, migration, and dignity
From Yemen to Malaysia and living in Spain
The Museum of Memory (MUME): What was once the house of an authoritarian president has been reclaimed and resignified
Garden of memory: the house of a dictator
Once a playground of tyranny, now a sanctuary of remembrance — how Uruguay turned its dark past into living history
Twelve cards from a tarot deck with French text
Inscribed symbols of society
Investigating the cultural, religious and artistic approaches embedded in tarot imagery
Nāga, Himmapan animal on Royal Crematorium King Rama IX
Mystical subterranean realms of Shiva’s Ganas
The mystical realms where Shiva’s Ganas guard secret wisdom and awaken through sacred rites
On the occasion of the annual spring festival in Vietnam, artists, along with mediums and spirit mediums from various local communities across the country, participated in Hau Dong performance
Hau dong: spirit, stage, and the Mother Goddess in Vietnam
Blending shamanism, magic, and urban religion, this ritual remains a meaningful spiritual experience in Vietnam
Two children stand on snow-covered ground during the daytime, playing on a snowdrift at a farm near Moscow, USSR
Does living mean resilience?
How ordinary Soviet lives survived the collapse of a superpower
Elderly men and children sitting together, reflecting the warmth and traditions of Uzbek culture in Uzbekistan
Uzbek language day celebrating national identity
From ancient roots to global growth, Uzbek unites millions worldwide
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