World historian William McNeill argued that humans had evolved for synchronous ritual: dancing, chanting, marching in time. The anthropological data seem to support this. For example, researchers recently found that Sufis engaged in the dhikr, […]
Tag: love
(Curiosity) We call them our best friends
Seems to me that’s not quite right. My best friend lives with his wife halfway around the world. I’m not responsible for feeding him or providing for his welfare. I don’t cradle his head when […]
art by Lizzy John
(Feature) Nations of experience
No matter how long I make a study of it, I cannot stop marveling at the slippery imprecision of English. It is not the most poetic language, but it is the most poetical in that […]
(Curiosity) How to Think About: Monogamy (and not be an idiot)
When we complain that people are generally bad at something, often we’re not saying they don’t understand it, as in they don’t understand it at all. What we’re saying is that they have missed (what […]
