Category Archives: Human Condition
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 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
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
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
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
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
No Arrival, No Destination, Just Being
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition
Tagged *See All Posts, Alone, Awareness, Buddhism, Explore, Inspiration, Learn, Lonely, Meditation, Mindfulness, Nature, Peace, Philosophy, Spirituality, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Wander, Zen
Abortion, Abstinence, Abuse, Birth Control, Teen Sex, and Unwanted Pregnancy
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Miscellaneous, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Abortion, Abstinence, Abuse, America, Data, Opportunity, Poverty, Pregnancy, Sex, Sources, Statistics, Teen, United States
The Darkest Corners of the Cyber World: Sexual Predation and Exploitation
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, Technology
Tagged *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
Everywhere You Go, There You Are
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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April 16, 2017
Tagged *See All Posts, Hope, Inspiration, Lessons on Living, Philosophy, Travel, Truth, Wisdom
The Wall, Illegal Immigration, and the U.S. – Mexican Border
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Politics
Tagged *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
Abortion
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Abortion, Ethics, Human Rights, Morals, Pro-Choice, Pro-Life
Never Fall Silent
Never Fall Silent As we are graced with a new leader who believes members of the LGBT should not be treated equally and has promised to do whatever he can to undo the progress we have made, I think back … Continue reading
Posted in All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, LGBT, Politics
Tagged Courage, Donald Trump, Equal Rights, Equality, Hope, LGBT, Make Your Voice Heard, Presidential Election, Unity
Lotus in a Lake of Fire
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 … Continue reading
How Climate Change Affects Our Lives
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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Environment, Human Condition, Miscellaneous, Politics
Tagged Activism, Climate Change, Environment, Environmentalism, Leonardo DiCaprio, Science
Muslim Refugees, Christianity and the Future of Freedom
Muslim Refugees, Christianity, and the Future of Freedom Vetting, the process of reviewing refugee candidates before they come into the U.S., should be a concern for all of us. In this essay I will discuss why, but above all … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, LGBT, Politics
Tagged *See All Posts, Atheism, Christianity, Courage, Ethics, Faith, God, Honesty, Hope, Human Rights, Islam, LGBT, Morals, Peace, Refugees, Religion, Truth, Unity, Wisdom
In Search of Self
In Search of Self Over the years I’ve learned that the most potent of personal feelings can be the most consoling and relatable to other people who are going through their own hardships. So without even knowing it, you can … Continue reading
Posted in All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition
Tagged *See All Posts, Courage, Depression, Faith, Guilt, Honesty, Hope, Hopelessness, Inspiration, Introspective, Lessons on Living, Mental Illness, Peace, Philosophy, Sadness, Spirituality, Suicide, Truth, Wisdom
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 →