Check out my latest book!
Why I wrote the book (3 mins)
Death & compassion (4 mins)
Three Kraters Podcast (2 hrs)
Posts I Liked
Author Archives: N.S. Palmer
Not Hard To See It Coming
Viewed from 2018, the world of pre-9/11 America looks like a model of peace and sanity. It wasn’t, of course, but compared to what we’ve had since then, it seems that way. As of now, America’s crisis du jour is … Continue reading
Posted in Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged Caravan, Globalism, Globalization, Migrants, Nationalism, Open borders, Soros
Leave a comment
Challenge Makes Us Stronger
I just finished reading The Coddling of the American Mind, an excellent book by lawyer Greg Lukianoff and psychologist Jonathan Haidt. The subtitle is How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. The book’s main thesis … Continue reading
We Can Have Unity Without Unanimity
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was Prime Minister of England during World War II. He rallied his people to fight back against Nazi Germany even though some of them advocated surrender. Faced with such disagreement, Churchill said something that’s still relevant in … Continue reading
Give Thanks for Thankfulness
On the American holiday of Thanksgiving, we give thanks for a lot of things. In developed countries, we’ve got food. We’ve got shelter. Even the poorest among us have access to resources and luxuries that were unimaginable only a hundred … Continue reading
It’s What You Don’t See That Misleads You
Often, it’s not what you see that misleads you. It’s what you don’t see. In economics, it’s called “the broken window fallacy.” Broken windows create jobs for people who replace windows. Therefore, the fallacy concludes that broken windows are a … Continue reading
Is the Bible Worth Reading?
Is the Bible worth reading? I think it is, but you can find intelligent, moral people on both sides of that question. American novelist Mark Twain, best known for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, had a low opinion of the … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Christianity, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism
Tagged Bible, Biblical literacy, Binding of Isaac, Cultural literacy, Genesis 22, Mark Twain, Moral dilemma, Moral reasoning
2 Comments
Understanding Control and Perspective
It helps a lot if we understand two principles: control and perspective. First, there are some things we can control and other things we can’t control. When we get upset, it’s often because we mistake one kind of thing for … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Psychology, Society
Tagged Mindfulness, Perspective, Positive attitude, Reframing, Serenity, Stoicism
Leave a comment
The Way to Go
“To every man there openeth A Way, and Ways, and a Way. And the High Soul climbs the High way, And the Low Soul gropes the Low, And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro. … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Judaism, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged Concepts, Generalization, Justice, Number, Poetry, Us versus Them, Wisdom
Leave a comment
Job and Culture
In yesterday’s blog post, I referred to “automatic pilot.” And as often happens when I write, I wondered if I needed to explain what it was. Any readers who didn’t understand “automatic pilot” would have missed my point. Suppose that … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Judaism, Political Science, Society
Tagged Book of Job, Communication, Community, Cooperation, Culture, Diversity, Heritage, Social Conflict, Trust
1 Comment
Get Help from Your Automatic Pilot
We spend a lot of our lives on automatic pilot. We act out of habit, without thinking about what we’re doing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If we had to think our way through everything we did, we couldn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Christianity, Human Relations, Judaism, Psychology, Society
Tagged Bible Study, Habit, Learning, Observance, Practice, Prayer, Religion, Skill, Virtue
Leave a comment
The Thousand-Year View 