Tribal Intelligence

Experiencing or even witnessing a patdown may be disturbing to healthy members of a community for good reason -- because this behavior is defined as sexual abuse by the legal and psychological professions; the "Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine" lists as sexual abuse "fondling of breasts and genital areas."

Did Virginia Thomas call Anita Hilll out of political opportunism to protect her husband? Doubtful. Because this was the dumbest, least strategic move she could have possibly made. Why is Virginia Thomas's doubting her husband worth our attention? 

Spirituality

The Day of Atonement is Nigh

Alison Rose Levy on September 18, 2010

Does that make you feel better? Good, good. Because God forbid you should feel the least bit uncomfortable while atoning. Don't shoot the messenger because you felt a twinge of something. If you want to feel bliss all the time, go find yourself another religion.

Does that make you feel better? Good, good. Because God forbid you should feel the least bit uncomfortable while atoning. Don't shoot the messenger because you felt a twinge of something. If you want to feel bliss all the time, go find yourself another religion.

It's great to trust the power of minds and lifestyles to protect  individual health, but that doesn't confer immunity from societal choices. But with all the media attention on insurance reform and all the shared enthusiasm for lifestyle options, there's scant attention paid to near inescapable health risk factors that affect every single one of us. 

Can we take in the humility of a deeper scientific view and allow it to shape our science and our lives? Instead of trying to erase uncertainty, what would happen if we were to accept it? Can we let go of proving what's right? 

Biochemically, psychologically, and spiritually, each one of us has to make our own peace with sleep. But why the epidemic of sleeplessness? Is unrest merely your or my personal problem? Or is it a pervasive societal symptom?

When your sole surviving parent is in her eighties, you think about thanks in an entirely different way --one day, one holiday, one small blessing at a time.

Fear

Smiling at Fear: Pema Chodron

Alison Rose Levy on November 17, 2009

Instead of banishing fear, or making ourselves wrong for feeling fearful--allowing ourselves to go into fear and deeply feel it is the way to become spiritual warriors.

Instead of banishing fear, or making ourselves wrong for feeling fearful--allowing ourselves to go into fear and deeply feel it is the way to become spiritual warriors.

Anxiety

Fort Hood Exit Strategy: The Cognitive Dissonance of a Military Psychiatrist

Alison Rose Levy on November 6, 2009

By definition, a military psychiatrist is under military authority-- is that a conducive environment for building therapeutic trust? Couldn't being a military psychiatrist readily induce outsized cognitive dissonance in just about anyone? 

By definition, a military psychiatrist is under military authority-- is that a conducive environment for building therapeutic trust? Couldn't being a military psychiatrist readily induce outsized cognitive dissonance in just about anyone? 

Self-Help

The Lost Symbol: Intention Goes Mainstream, Part One

Alison Rose Levy on October 12, 2009

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol has brought Noetic Science and the use of intention into the homes of millions of readers. Here's more about the frontier science of mind over matter.

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol has brought Noetic Science and the use of intention into the homes of millions of readers. Here's more about the frontier science of mind over matter.

Craving the sense of belonging that most people, and certainly all children feel, a child like Mackenzie was inducted early on into a unique family culture, one that was inherently isolating and further increased the dependency on powerful parents since neither their values, lifestyle, nor behavior were shared by other people.

Why did the Roman people get distracted by a mean-spirited and meaningless circus? At what stage of a civilization do cheap thrills become the best option? Unfortunately, nowadays, I don't have to crack a history book to get that lesson.

In his new book Dr. Andrew Weil has the diagnosis and cure for the ills of our health care system.

Americans have poorer health outcomes than any other developed nation. That must be coming from how we approach health care. Where are the blindspots that prevent us from recognizing and getting the health care we need?

Marketing junk to the masses: Where's the tipping point between individual choice and societal health burden?