The Admissions Scandal Parents: Guilty But Innocent

All parents want their children to have access to a solid education as well as a social and professional network to ensure a good start to their adult lives.  But how can otherwise intelligent individuals justify breaking legal and moral boundaries (more…)

Consulting the Conscience

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.1 This advice, given by Polonius to his son in Hamlet, provides a means to harmonize our relationship (more…)

Create the Space to Think

  Introduction The capacity to think, reason, and decide for oneself is the greatest freedom an individual possesses. There is no individual liberty without intellectual liberty. While this freedom is each one’s birthright, it is earned and not simply bestowed. When we fail to (more…)

Avoiding Regret: A Daily Practice

When you act in the world against your own conscience your mind becomes disturbed. The action rebounds and hurts you. You feel sorry for having acted thus. In reaction to your own action you suffer regret and remorse. An action creating (more…)

I, Fanatic

The trouble with most folks ain’t so much their ignorance, it’s their knowing as many things which ain’t so.1 Moral development involves shedding immature, inaccurate beliefs and values, and growing into more mature and accurate ones. Consider an analogy. In elementary school, students (more…)

Change Starts from Within

  When asked how to spread Vedanta, Swami Parthasarathy quoted the words that are said to be written on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in the crypts of Westminster Abbey in London, England. When I was young and free and my imagination had (more…)

Self-control & Self-development

Acquiring the skills necessary for successful emotion regulation constitutes a profound developmental achievement. By adulthood, however, emotion regulation is no longer simply desirable, it is absolutely necessary for daily functioning.1 Discriminate vs Indiscriminate Living Intelligent, healthy self-control is a mark of human maturity. (more…)

Self-respect, Self-confidence

Self-confidence and self-respect are indispensable qualities in human life. Without them life seems dull, oppressive, or threatening; and we lack the initiative and enthusiasm to fulfill our potential. Although different, these two qualities are inextricably linked. Self-respect To understand self-respect we can (more…)

Happiness & Higher Values

Throughout life, humans seek pleasure, peace, satisfaction. All of our activities target an inner sense of completion and contentment, of being in harmony with circumstances and oneself. However, observation of our own experiences reveals that the sense of contentment and harmony (more…)

Trigger Unhappy

Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015, np) Recent articles in (more…)