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2009 November/December
Patience: Don’t Rush the Rising
Producing food on an industrial scale presupposes a trade-off or two. Unfortunately, nutritional value is one of the first things to be sacrificed when food companies seek to make …
2009 November/December
Injustice in a Group Boosts Willingness to Volunteer
Research from New York University suggests a counter intuitive notion: A sense of unfairness can actually increase volunteerism. Why? It turns out that when people who strongly ide…
2009 November/December
When You Need Something, Talk to the Right Ear!
Here’s an odd fact: The human right ear is typically dominant when it comes to listening to verbal stimuli, probably because the brain’s left hemisphere is better at processing ver…
2009 November/December
Why “The Star-Spangled Banner” Makes Sports More Violent
Over the last decade, one of the most fascinating areas of research in psychological science has been the study of “priming” behavior. Social scientists found, for example, that a …
2009 November/December
How Much of Aging Is in Your Head?
In 1979 a young Harvard psychology professor named Ellen Langer (soon to be played by Jennifer Aniston in Counter Clockwise) realized something astonishing — and true. “Without kno…
2009 November/December
The Ways of the Pilgrim
Actually walking 500 miles to Santiago de Compostela proved “a demented delusion.” But “the Camino” also serves those who sit and those who wait — upon others.
2009 November/December
Shift into Gratitude 17 Tools for Our Times
It takes no great leap of the imagination to say that we are living in tough times. As a priest, professor, and psychologist, I see struggling parishioners, students, and clients w…
2009 November/December
Four Legal Entheogens for the Spiritual Explorer
Throughout human history, spiritual seekers have used sacred plants and fungi for healing, visionary encounters, and mystical experience. Though this history has been largely obfus…
2009 November/December
Lessons from Peak Experiences
About 10 years ago I paddled my white-water kayak onto a wave at “Steamer Lane” in Santa Cruz, California, on a day when the size of the of the waves at the famed surf spot made th…
2009 November/December
Keening: The Power of a Really Good Celtic Cry
For the last ten days of April, I had the great fortune of attending the International Gathering of Shamans in Dunderry, County Meath, Ireland. The purpose of our gathering was to …
