“This… is what it means to live in a secular age: we are inescapably aware that to believe in God is a choice. This puts a great deal more responsibility on the shoulder of the individual believer than in ages past. As a general matter, it is much more difficult to accept authority on the basis of its mere assertion. If religious authority is to have binding moral force over those under it, it must be experienced as convincing on a personal, subjective level.”

Jantelagen FTW!

“…the 21st century career is more like a broad rock face that we are all free-climbing … lucky people take advantage of chance occurrences that come their way … the single most important motivator: palpable progress on meaningful work.”

Interesting pre-9/11 essay about forgetting the horrors of WWII.

“…increasing the number of choices we have … actually increases our negative emotions because our sense of opportunity cost increases. …our brains can only handle about seven options before we’re overwhelmed.”

“In a mere nineteen lines, there is both explicit drama and great mystery. Thoughts, feelings, motives, meanings, even dialog lay between the lines, unexpressed. We know what people do, but not why. We ask questions about the relationship between God and men, parents and children, self and sacrifice, authority and disobedience, fear and love, reason and faith.”