Madness, Psychology, and Deconstruction

Just came from class (spirituality and mental health) where we read selected chapters from Foucault’s Mental Illness and Psychology. I found the discussion to be very meaningful for my own personal growth and reflection, listening to various thoughtful perspectives. At the end of the conversation we reflected on a quote by Foucault “Psychology can never [...]

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Snakes, Dreams, and Interpretations

I was in a room with a number of people and there was a brown poisonous snake. And I was the designated person to remove the snake. When I tried, the snake wrapped itself around my hand and he bit me on my palm. I tried really hard to shake it off. I was somewhat [...]

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Emptiness, Nothingness, and Silence

What if most of what we have been told about life, what we have worked so hard for, isn’t true?That people who do well in schools are smart. That smart people become successful. That successful people are happy. That happy people are those who are respected by the society. That to step beyond the societal [...]

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Feeling, Rhythm, and Healing

A couple of days ago I was sitting next to a retired professor from Emory University during breakfast (I was attending a conference in Puerto Rico, what a beautiful place, especially for a conference). I asked what he is doing now that he is retired (since I’ve known him to be such a [...]

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More on Globalization and Poverty

According to the economist David Korten, in the past fifty years the economic growth has increased fivefold, international trade twelve times, and foreign direct investment two to three times.  He went on to state, “The world has more poor people today than ever before.”  Reporting on the UN report on development Pamela Brubaker points out [...]

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Globalization, Economy, and Poverty

I have seen many villagers who used to have many buffalos, cows, and chickens living on five acres of land. They were once satisfied with life and were named successful. And then there were motorcycles, pickup trucks, mobile phones, and processed food in the market. Then they were told what they really [...]

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Depression, God, and the Feminine

It was 1993 when I came to know, experientially, the meaning of depression…a major episode…the darkness, the sense of hopelessness, the emptiness, the grayness, the inability to sleep and those haunting dreams. It was most frightening and I had no clue how I could deal with or overcome it. I was living in [...]

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Kierkegaard, God, and Melancholia

In ‘Sickness Unto Death’ Kierkegaard writes:
“So to be sick unto death is, not to be able to die-yet not as though there were hope of life; no, the hopelessness in this case is that even the last hope, death, is not available. When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life; but when one [...]

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How many children go to bed hungry every night?

According to Associated Press, 600 million children in Asia live in poverty and are deprived of one of the basic necessities such as food, safe drinking water, health care,  or shelter.  Approximately 300 million children below the age of 18 lack more then one of these basic needs.   Globalization and economic growth in Asia have not profited this [...]

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Orphans

About 18 years ago my wife and I visited Phayathai Orphanage in Bangkok.  We came across two little girls (twins).  They were about three months old.  Noticing that we were observing these little girls with curiosity the caretaker told us that someone walked pass the phone booth across from the orphange and heard voices of infants [...]

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