Author Archives: Kephen
Choose To Live
Choose To Live Do something that scares you. Go places you’ve never been before. Become the person you wish other people would be. Ever since my mom died almost two years ago, I have constantly faced the mortality of my … Continue reading
Posted in All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Awareness, Death, Life, Live, Mindfulness, Mortality, Thrive
The Power of Belief
The Power of Belief I was born into and raised within a Christian community, more specifically a Catholic parish. This article will discuss how I went from attending a private Catholic school and Catholic Mass every weekend, to feeling a … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, God
Tagged *See All Posts, Atheism, Atheist, Buddhism, Buddhist, Catholic, Christianity, Church, Confirmation, Doubt, Easter, Eucharist, Faith, Holy Bible, Inspiration, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, Mind, Nature, Ordained Minister, Ordination, Parish, Power of Belief, Priest, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Sacraments, Sam Harris, Sin, Transubstantiation, Youth Pastor
The Inexplicable
The Inexplicable Have you ever stopped to think for a moment how incredibly rare your existence actually is? The odds that you would ever come into being are literally on average a million to one. That’s literally a 0.000001% chance … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Existence, Inspiration, Mindfulness, Rarity of Life, Truth, Value of Life
How To Research Your Family Ancestry
How To Research Your Family Ancestry So you’ve decided that you want to research your family ancestry, but you don’t know where to begin. Genealogy, the study of family ancestry, is both immensely rewarding and incredibly time consuming. For most … Continue reading
Ben Tre: Keep the Loneliness Warm
Ben Tre: Keep The Loneliness Warm I hold my face in my two hands. No, I am not crying. I hold my face in my two hands to keep the loneliness warm two hands protecting, two hands nourishing, two hands … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Ben Tre, Bombing of Ben Tre, Buddhism, Buddhist Monk, Da Nang, Destruction of Ben Tre, Facts, Ho Chi Minh City, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, PBS, Politics, Public Broadcasting Service, Saigon, Self-Immolation, Southern Vietnam, The Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thich Quang Duc, Viet Cong, Vietnam War
Genetics: The Basics of How You’ve Come To Be
Genetics: The Basics of How You’ve Come To Be Genetics are a fascinating thing. Most of us have forty-six chromosomes in every one of the some fifty-trillion cells that are in our body at any given moment. Each of those … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Adenine, Allele, Autosomes, Cells, Chromosome, Cytosine, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, DNA, Dominant, Double Helix, Expressed Genes, Genes, Genetics, Genotype, Guanine, Heterozygous, Homozygous, Hydrogen Bond, Inheritable Traits, Inheritance, Mutation, Non-Recombination, Nucleotide, Phenotype, Phosphate, Proteins, Punnett Square, Recessive, Recombination, Sex Chromosomes, Thymine, XX, XY
What the Story of Hiro-Kala Teaches Us
What the Story of Hiro-Kala Teaches Us If you’re not familiar with Hiro-Kala, I’ll give you a brief glimpse. He is a Marvel Comic Universe fictional character created by Greg Pak and Ron Garney, appearing from 2008 through 2011 in … Continue reading
Prajnaparamita Part I: The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion
Prajnaparamita Part I: The Diamond Sutra There is much to learn from all of the Buddhist scriptures and each of the three main branches of Buddhism have their own interpretations of the texts. For those who follow the Theravada tradition, the … Continue reading
The Passenger
The Passenger: Commentaries on the Nature of Consciousness What is consciousness? It is defined as a subjective experience, an awareness of self or one’s surroundings and the ability to react to it. Right now, as you are reading this, there … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Buddhism, Callosotomy, Christof Koch, Corpus Callosum, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Emergent Property, Gregory Matloff, John Wheeler, Left Hemisphere, Multiple Personality Disorder, Nature of Consciousness, Neuroscience, Panpsychism, Philosophy, Physics, Right Hemisphere, Roger Penrose, Sam Harris, Split-Brain Theory
His Light Carries On
“The mind withers and the soul may fade, but the heart will always beat in sync with the one who carries it.” – Colin Madsen February 18, 1991 – April 04, 2016 His Light Carries On: The Life, the Loss, … Continue reading
Posted in All, In Loving Memory, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Adventurer, American Medical Examiners, Arshan, Buryatia, Cerebral Wayfarer, Closure, Colin Madsen, Compassion, Death, Evidence, Facts, His Light Carries On, In Loving Memory, In Memoriam, Inspiration, Irkutsk, Justice, Loss, Loss of Loved Ones, Loving Kindness, Murder Case, Nature, Peace, Remembering, Russia, Russian Investigation, Siberia, Truth, Tunka National Park, Unsolved Murder
From Samanera to Bhikkhu: The Life of a Traditional Theravada Monk
From Samanera to Bhikkhu: The Life of a Traditional Theravada Monk In this article we will explore the life of a traditional Buddhist monk, as seen through the eyes of a Theravada practitioner. If you don’t know anything about Buddhism, … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality
Tagged *See All Posts, Anagarika, Bhukkhu, Buddhism, Buddhist Monk, Dharma Talk, Ego, Faith, Five Precepts, Inspiration, Mahayana, Monastery, Monastic Life, Monk, Pacittiya, Pali Canon, Religion, Ritual, Samanera, Sangha, Sutra, Sutta, Ten Precepts, Theravada, Vajrayana, Vinaya Pitaka
The American Opium Crisis
The American Opium Crisis The below is a very raw and personal look at heroin addiction, a part of this country’s opioid epidemic. Listen in as Jennifer, the widow of 31 year old assistant bank manager Daniel, talks about her … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, Miscellaneous, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Addiction, Alprazolam, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Benzodiazepines, Cocaine, Codeine, DEA, Facts, Fentanyl, Health, Heroin, Heroin Addiction, Heroin Overdose, Hip Hop Artist NF, Hydrocodone, Lorazepam, Methadone, Methamphetamine, Morphine, Nathan Feuerstein, Opioid Epidemic, Opioid Overdose, Opium, Opium Poppy, Oxycodone, Oxycontin, Politics, Reveal, Science, The American Opioid Epidemic, Truth, Vicodin, Xanax
The Macrocosm Perspective
The Macrocosm Perspective Siddhartha Gautama taught that in order to see what matters we must first remove the ego from the equation. Nothing rips apart my ego or sense of self more than the Universe. The above photo is a … Continue reading
Posted in All, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, Technology
Tagged *See All Posts, Andromeda Galaxy, Betelgeuse, Black Holes, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Dark Energy, Density, Earth, Ego, Eta Carinae, Event Horizon, Facts, Fun, Gravity, Hubble Space Telescope, IK Pegasi, Interstellar, Laws of Physics, Light Years, Mass, Matter, Milky Way Galaxy, Proxima Centauri, Red Dwarf, Science, Singularity, Sirius, Space, Spitzer Space Telescope, Stars, Sun, Supermassive, Supernova, Universe, Virgo Supercluster, Void
Human Sexuality Defined
Human Sexuality Defined Ever since I started writing about human sexuality I realized that a lot of people really don’t even know what sexuality and orientation mean and how to use those terms. I think that one of the biggest … Continue reading
Posted in All, LGBT
Tagged *See All Posts, Choice, Conversion Therapy, Equality, Gay, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Lesbian, LGBT, Love, No Choice, Parenting Advice, Sex, Transgender
Alone In The Dark
Alone In The Dark: Why Children Commit Suicide and How to Prevent It According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, more than 530,000 Americans committed suicide. In the year 2014 … Continue reading
Nationalism and Police Brutality: The Deafening Sound of Ignorance
“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established… It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The … Continue reading
Posted in All, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, America, Confirmation Bias, Constitution, Continental Congress, Divided States, Facts, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identity Politics, National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, Nationalism, Oath of Enlistment, Opinion, Police Brutality, Politics, Roland Fryer Jr., Silo Effect, The Washington Post, Truth, United States Marine Corps
The Middle Way and the Turning of the Wheel
The Middle Way and the Turning of the Wheel: A Brief Examination of Buddhism I began reading about Buddhism and its three main branches of traditions and the many lineages and schools of thought within each, when I was only … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality
Tagged *See All Posts, 14th Dalai Lama, Ashtamangala, Auspicious, Buddha, Buddhism, Dharma Wheel, Diamond Sutra, Ego, Eight-Fold Path, Four Noble Truths, Heart Sutra, Inspiration, Koan, Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Mala, Mantra, Meditation, Nichiren, Pali Canon, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Samsara, School of the Elders, Shambhala, Siddhartha Gautama, Spirituality, Tenzin Gyatso, The Great Vehicle, Theravada, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tibetan, Truth, Vajrayana, Zen
Identity Politics and the Slow Death of the American Moral Landscape
Identity Politics and the Slow Death of the American Moral Landscape I used to watch Fox News, and then I switched to CNN, and then I stopped watching network channels for daily news and commentary because they are all so … Continue reading
Posted in All, Kephen's Commentary, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Abortion, America, American Dream, Belief, Compromise, Confirmation Bias, Conservative, Counter-Evidence, Democrat, Divided States, Division, Donald Trump, Ego, Emotions, Evidence, Facts, FMRI, Identity Politics, Immigration, In-Group, Left, Left-Wing, Liberal, Moral Landscape, Neurology, News Media, Opinion, Out-Group, Political Duality, Political Party, Politically Bias, Politics, Republican, Right, Right-Wing, Selfish, Silo Effect, Social Media, Tribalism, Truth
The Thousand Year Journey Jedidiah Jenkins offers up some inspiring wisdom for those of us seeking deeper meaning in life: Follow Jedidiah on Instagram
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August 22, 2017
Tagged *See All Posts, Awareness, Courage, Explore, Fun, Happiness, Healing, Health, Inspiration, Introspective, Joy, Learn, Lessons on Living, Meaning, Mindfulness, Nature, Travel, Wander, Wisdom
His Empty Soul
His Empty Soul: How to Heal a Broken Man There are only a few things every man needs in his life to feel as though he’s living the most fulfilled life that he can. The first critical … Continue reading
Posted in All, Depression and Suicide, Fitness, Human Condition, Miscellaneous
Tagged *See All Posts, Broken, Brotherhood, Emptiness, Empty, Fellowship, Fitness, Healing, Health, Inspiration, Male Bonding, Meaning, Mental Health, Pack Mentality, Philosophy, Purpose, Truth
To be Acknowledged as Existing
To be Acknowledged as Existing 7,432 Americans will wake up today to what will be their last day alive, most of whom will not know this ahead of time. According to the American mortality rate published in 2016 by the … Continue reading →