Category: Human Condition
Essays about the human endurement.
Posted on September 22, 2018
by Kephen
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In the Twilight of Memory Calling to me in the distance, I can hear them all say my name. Reaching out from the past, from moments that used to be. I drift beyond the precipice of wakefulness, I let go of my consciousness and…
Posted on September 20, 2018
by Kephen
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My name is Kephen Merancis and there’s really no easy way to start the conversation that we need to have. It takes a lot of courage to break the wall of silence that stigma builds. It takes at least a little bit of hope…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, MCRD, Mental Health, Mental Illness, San Diego, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, USMC
Posted on September 20, 2018
by Kephen
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According to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, employees with depression miss on average 31.4 days per year and an additional 27.9 days of unproductivity when they report for work, but are unable to focus due to the symptoms of depression. Various studies show that…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, ScienceTags: *See All Posts, Addiction, Anxiety, Behavioral Health, Depression, Loneliness, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Workplace
Posted on August 7, 2018
by Kephen
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Moments in Time A moment is more than a measurement and more than a memory, it is a place in time. A static point in the timeline of the Universe, never lost and never changing. Every moment that has ever come to be and…
Category: All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, ScienceTags: *See All Posts, Albert Einstein, Andromeda Galaxy, Astronomy, Brian Greene, Cerebral Wayfarer, Colin Madsen, Dealing With Loss, Death, Dying, Earth, His Light Carries On, In Loving Memory, In Memoriam, Interstellar, Light Years, Loss, Loss of Loved Ones, Loved Ones, Milky Way Galaxy, Physics, Proxima Centauri, Space, Stars, Sun, Universe, When A Parent Dies
Posted on June 9, 2018
by Kephen
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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 National Center for Health…
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Appreciation, Awareness, Friends, Friendship, Gratitude, Lessons on Living, Love, Loved Ones, Positive Influence, Thich Nhat Hanh, What Matters
Posted on April 6, 2018
by Kephen
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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 own existence. Too many…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Awareness, Death, Life, Live, Mindfulness, Mortality, Thrive
Posted on March 19, 2018
by Kephen
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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 that you would be…
Category: All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Existence, Inspiration, Mindfulness, Rarity of Life, Truth, Value of Life
Posted on March 19, 2018
by Kephen
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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 people, the time required…
Category: All, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Advice For Beginners, Building A Family Tree, Family History, Family Research, Genealogy, How To, Inspiration, Learn About Your Ancestors
Posted on February 7, 2018
by Kephen
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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 preventing my soul from…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, PoliticsTags: *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
Posted on February 2, 2018
by Kephen
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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 chromosomes is paired up…
Category: All, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *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
Posted on January 30, 2018
by Kephen
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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 such series as Skaar:…
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Axeman Bone, Bruce Banner, Caiera, Galactus, Hiro-Kala, Hulk's Dark Son, Incredible Hulk, Marvel Comics, Sakaar, Skaar, Skaar's Evil Twin, The Story of Hiro-Kala, Who is Hiro-Kala?
Posted on December 24, 2017
by Kephen
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When A Parent Dies Sometimes we avoid things we don’t want to accept or acknowledge as true, a futile attempt to hold onto the bliss of unknowing. Days after my mom passed away last year, I sat down and wrote about what I was…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, In Loving Memory, Kephen's CommentaryTags: *See All Posts, Closure, Dealing With Loss, Death, Dying, In Loving Memory, In Memoriam, Loss, Loss of Loved Ones, Remembering, When A Parent Dies, When Mom Died
Posted on December 13, 2017
by Kephen
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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 is someone inside your…
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *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
Posted on September 12, 2017
by Kephen
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An Educational Report by Kephen Merancis Introduction This report is intended to educate the public on the risk of suicide in those under the age of fifteen. It is my hope and my intention that through education and awareness, we can stem the rise…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, ADD, ADHD, Awareness, Child Suicide, Depression, Facts, Health, Healthcare, Kids Who Commit Suicide, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Pre-Teen Suicide, Suicide, Suicide Prevention
Posted on August 22, 2017
by Kephen
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The Thousand Year Journey Jedidiah Jenkins offers up some inspiring wisdom for those of us seeking deeper meaning in life: Follow Jedidiah on Instagram
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Awareness, Courage, Explore, Fun, Happiness, Healing, Health, Inspiration, Introspective, Joy, Learn, Lessons on Living, Meaning, Mindfulness, Nature, Travel, Wander, Wisdom
Posted on August 1, 2017
by Kephen
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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 thing every man needs…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Fitness, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Broken, Brotherhood, Emptiness, Empty, Fellowship, Fitness, Healing, Health, Inspiration, Male Bonding, Meaning, Mental Health, Pack Mentality, Philosophy, Purpose, Truth
Posted on July 4, 2017
by Kephen
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No Arrival, No Destination, Just Being From Thich Nhat Hanh, the venerable Vietnamese monk who strives to live and spread the teachings of Siddartha Gautama, I’ve learned this simple lesson: There should be no coming, no going, just being. More than anything else, these…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, Alone, Awareness, Buddhism, Explore, Inspiration, Learn, Lonely, Meditation, Mindfulness, Nature, Peace, Philosophy, Spirituality, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Wander, Zen
Posted on June 4, 2017
by Kephen
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Abortion, Abstinence, Abuse, Birth Control, Teen Sex, and Unwanted Pregnancy One in every five American teens lives in poverty. Abuse, poverty and a lack of opportunity plays an important role in not only teen pregnancy, but also unwanted pregnancies in general. Later in this…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Miscellaneous, PoliticsTags: *See All Posts, Abortion, Abstinence, Abuse, America, Data, Opportunity, Poverty, Pregnancy, Sex, Sources, Statistics, Teen, United States
Posted on May 12, 2017
by Kephen
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The Darkest Corners of the Cyber World:Sexual Predation and Exploitation Sexual predation and exploitation is the topic of this article, more specifically it’s about catfish who use social media and social apps to seduce and trick young men and women into sending naked photos…
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, TechnologyTags: *See All Posts, Apps, Baiting, Catfish, Facebook, FaceTime, Instagram, Kik, MeetMe, Omegle, Online Safety, Parenting Advice, Sextortion, Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Predation, Sexual Predator, Snapchat, Social Applications, Social Media Sites, Straight Baiting
Posted on April 18, 2017
by Kephen
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Everywhere You Go, There You Are A decade ago my mind was in a very dark place. In this darkness I looked for the light, even the tiniest little bit of hope that my suffering had an ending and perhaps a meaning. I sought…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Depression and Suicide, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, Buddhism, Compassion, Happiness, Inspiration, Joy, Marcus Aurelius, Philosophy, Sadness, Samsara, Spirituality, Suffering, Taoism, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Viktor Frankl, Wisdom
Posted on April 16, 2017
by Kephen
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Words To Live By I’m sharing this video because as a 4 minute reflection, it may very well be the most profound thing you listen to this month, for the next six months, or perhaps even this whole year. In fact, if you’re like…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Hope, Inspiration, Lessons on Living, Philosophy, Travel, Truth, Wisdom
Posted on February 13, 2017
by Kephen
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Photo credit: Mike Blake/Reuters The Wall, Illegal Immigration, and the U.S. – Mexican Border The U.S. and Mexican border is 1,954 miles long. As of last year the U.S. only had enough border patrol agents to securely patrol half the border. In 2004, then…
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, PoliticsTags: *See All Posts, Arizona, Asylum, Bluebird Pass, Brooks County, Central America, Colombia, Customs and Border Protection, Darien Gap, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Detention Centers, Donald Trump, El Salvador, FARC, Green Card, Guatemala, Gulf Cartel, Honduras, Human Rights, Illegal Immigrants, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Immigration Court, Immigration Reform, Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, Mexico, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Panama, Pima County, Politics, President Trump, Rio Grande, Secure Fence Act, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca, Sonoran Desert, South America, Texas, The Devil's Highway, The Wall, Truth, Tuscon, U.S. and Mexican Border, U.S. Border Patrol, Visa, Yuma
Posted on January 30, 2017
by Kephen
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January 30, 2017 Abortion A touchy subject, I used to be against it. Then I supported it. Then I stopped listening to everyone else’s opinions and listened to science. We still know so little about the human brain… what we do know is that…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, PoliticsTags: *See All Posts, Abortion, Ethics, Human Rights, Morals, Pro-Choice, Pro-Life
Posted on November 7, 2016
by Kephen
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Photo credit: Kelvin Cheuk Lotus in a Lake of Fire: Honoring Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh, pronounced Tik-N’yat-Hawn, is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. I stumbled across him when studying Buddhism about ten or so years ago. Over time I collected 15 of…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: Buddhism, Humanism, Meditation, Mindfulness, Peace is Every Step, Spiritual Leader, Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen, Zen Buddhist Monk, Zen Master
Posted on October 30, 2016
by Kephen
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Leonardo DiCaprio’s film on climate change: Before the Flood “We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world, his inner life molds the…
Kephen
Out of the Darkness
Posted on September 20, 2018 by Kephen
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My name is Kephen Merancis and there’s really no easy way to start the conversation that we need to have. It takes a lot of courage to break the wall of silence that stigma builds. It takes at least a little bit of hope…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, MCRD, Mental Health, Mental Illness, San Diego, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, USMC