The only advice I can offer as your journey continues after high school. — Dear Graduate: Psychologists say that the human brain has two major seasons of development. The first is when you are young — the prenatal and early childhood stages. Psychologists frequently discuss the necessity of developing a baby’s brain when they are young and prescribe that you ought to read to them, play…

And three responses for being less so. — Marshall McLuhan used technology to describe our world quite poignantly. He used the phrase media (which became central to his theory of Media Ecology), but the summary is that the human journey is one of experiencing the world, sensing our limitations, and extending our capabilities. A cycle begins. We extend…

On accepting and overcoming psychological asymmetry through community and vulnerability. — Where are the people?” resumed the little prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…” “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake. For the last two years, I have spent New Year’s Eve alone. There are certain occasions where loneliness is acceptable to society…

Finding the benefits of loneliness in a very lonely world. — Introduction — Ubiquitous Loneliness I, often, am lonely. Not alone. Not physically estranged from the world. Lonely. I think there’s a difference between the two. I live in a small home with my spouse and three children. Yet, sometimes I sit amongst clanging toys and endless spectacles of joyous, animated television, and I feel…

Tradition, progress, and two perspectives on time — diminishing and progressive. — Introduction — The Age of Pet Rocks Having grown up in the 1990s, the phenomenon of the pet rock eluded my purview. I’ve also noticed that many owners of the pet rock no longer maintain possession of the previously exuberant hobby. This is because the pet rock was a fad.

A suggestion for roots, growth, and moving forward. — If there is nothing else to be gleaned from the Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg, at least we have a lesson in how to approach progress. Schoenberg’s name is often associated with the theoretical concept within music called atonality and the expressionist movement of the 20th century. …

A concept from Emile Durkheim on why our secular world might be more sociologically religious than we think. — Summary Emile Durkheim had a very broad conception of religion as a central catalyst of society’s function — religion was a means for collective belonging and collective consciousness to manifest in the world. We may want to reconsider how we conceive of religion and see the religious instinct occupying the majority…

Centered-Set parenting and family system leadership. — Should you have rules for your kids or should you let them do whatever they want? While those two extremes don’t convey all of the available options, what should a parent/child relationship be like? What does that require of parents? And how will that affect kids? Taking cues from leadership…

Belonging and the four ingredients of community — from Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide. — Summary: What is the optimal function of society? Emile Durkheim provided a glimpse in his famous work on suicide in which he disclosed two primary factors of social dysfunction — individualism and autonomy. The remedy to this social problem is best understood with a technical definition of community. Overview: