Nature or nurture? Are we empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge and virtues or is there at least some stuff we might already have inside us that could be accessed? A seam of gold? A mother lode of … Continue reading
Dr. Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery. She and her organisation – Prajwala – have rescued and helped to educate, train and reintegrate thousands of victims of this form of slavery. She … Continue reading
Humans are social beings. We’re not the only ones on the planet but we most definitely belong to that group. Our interactions with other people do more than just shape our manners and our view of the world, these interactions … Continue reading
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Bertrand Russell Dear Anders Behring Breivik, A lot of the friends I met at Utoya are dead … Continue reading
We have become so result oriented that we have moved away from doing what we believe is right towards doing only what we believe will succeed. This move has defined us by our successes and failures rather than our actions. … Continue reading
If you take each tiny ethical action and add it to the next tiny ethical action and continue to do this across the board – eventually you’ll have a huge tsunami of moral behaviour which has the power to effect … Continue reading
Philip Zimbardo, the psychiatrist in charge of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment has a new venture – he’s studying the components of heroism. Zimbardo and his associates believe that instead of looking at heroes as the exception, we should create … Continue reading
Being patient is an active state. It isn’t resignation or admission of defeat. It isn’t giving up on the things you hope to change. It is a condition of sure and certain knowledge that the only inevitability in life is … Continue reading
Courage is not the opposite of fear – it is the defiance of fear. Looking fear in the eye, we gird up our loins and act anyway. However, to be courageous doesn’t mean to be reckless. Recklessness is thoughtless. Courage is … Continue reading
Now here’s a misunderstood virtue. Courtesy. It has come to be synonymous with pointless protocol or manipulative patter designed to delude. It isn’t any of these things. Courtesy is simply showing respect for others – even small children and … Continue reading