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Walt McLaughlin
Walt McLaughlin

16.8K Followers

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Published in The Philosophy Hub

·2 days ago

How Could I Not Exist?

Ego, the will to live, and the fear of death — Fifty years have gone by since that cold December morning when I plotted my own murder. One could say that I was contemplating suicide at the time, but it was much more than that. I had a plan — a foolproof plan — to kill myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending…

Philosophy

6 min read

How Could I Not Exist?
How Could I Not Exist?
Philosophy

6 min read


Mar 17

An Inordinate Faith in Tools

The rise and fall of Homo faber — Without technology, we are only frustrated monkeys staring at earthen mounds, unable to extract termites from them. …

Nature

5 min read

An Inordinate Faith in Tools
An Inordinate Faith in Tools
Nature

5 min read


Feb 24

The Devil Is Out To Get You

Good, evil, and the ultimate misdirection Philosophers and theologians alike have been scratching their heads for thousands of years over the problem of evil. If the natural world is inherently good, as is the Supreme Being that created it, then how did evil come to be? That human beings are…

Philosophy

6 min read

The Devil Is Out To Get You
The Devil Is Out To Get You
Philosophy

6 min read


Feb 10

Permutations of the Unknown

An excursion into the nature of Nature Itself — When it comes to nature, what are the possibilities? Does it follow a single, inevitable path through space-time, or are there an infinite number of ways for the universe to be organized? Worldviews differ regarding this: one way, many ways, and various interpretations of the two. We use the words…

Nature

7 min read

Permutations of the Unknown
Permutations of the Unknown
Nature

7 min read


Published in The Philosophy Hub

·Jan 20

What Is Worth Doing?

The most important question we can ask ourselves All philosophy and religion, all value systems, every guide to living comes down to this: What is worth doing? The answer to this question is what gets us out of bed in the morning. If we conclude while lying there that nothing…

Philosophy

5 min read

What Is Worth Doing?
What Is Worth Doing?
Philosophy

5 min read


Jan 8

Go For A Thought Drive
51
1

Adesh Acharya

A thought drive — what a magnificent metaphor for opening the mind!

A thought drive — what a magnificent metaphor for opening the mind!

1 min read

1 min read


Jan 5

A Lost Affinity Regained

Love, being human, and our relationship to the natural world — On a calm, overcast day thirty years ago, I emerged from the Alaskan wilderness happy to be alive yet apprehensive about going back to the developed places. I had only been in the bush a litte over two weeks. What of any real significance can happen to a person during…

Nature

7 min read

A Lost Affinity Regained
A Lost Affinity Regained
Nature

7 min read


Published in ILLUMINATION

·Dec 10, 2022

Global Dysfunction

Why can’t humankind get its act together? — The human condition is hopeless, or so it seems. A long, hard look at how the world functions these days and all prospects of humanity living in peace and prosperity suddenly evaporate. The daily news is full of conflict, corruption, and chaos. One group of people is always benefitting at…

Philosophy

6 min read

Global Dysfunction
Global Dysfunction
Philosophy

6 min read


Nov 23, 2022

How Physical Objects Submit to the Apparent Miracle of Human Consciousness
250
7

Benjamin Cain

An interesting meditation on consciousness and objectification, but your take on nature is off the…

An interesting meditation on consciousness and objectification, but your take on nature is off the mark, I think. You say "the universe doesn't care how we live," but that's presumptuous. We don't know if the universe (i.e. nature as a whole) cares or doesn't care. We don't know what the universe is thinking –– assuming, of course, that the universe has some kind of consciousness to it. We simply don't know.

1 min read

1 min read


Published in The Philosophy Hub

·Nov 23, 2022

Beyond Reason or Belief

Taking an entirely different approach to what is real — We are flawed in our perception of reality — all of us, all the time. Secular thinkers and true believers alike, we muddle through life, pretending that we have a good bead on things. But we do not. The few truly humble people among us know this and accept it…

Philosophy

6 min read

Beyond Reason or Belief
Beyond Reason or Belief
Philosophy

6 min read

Walt McLaughlin

Walt McLaughlin

16.8K Followers

Philosopher of wildness, writing about the divine in nature, being human, and backcountry excursions.

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