I read an interesting quote the other day, on a church front, which went something like this: "Those who actually seek out 'pleasure' rarely find it." This is a very appropriate slogan for an organization with a religious point of view. Religion, by its nature,...
Psychology & Living
Assisted Suicide: A Moral Right
Conservatives crave to inject religion into the bloodstream of American law, thereby assisting in our own national suicide. However, they cannot succeed without the Supreme Court’s consent. Sooner or later, the Court must confront the main issue, and decide whether an individual’s right to life includes the right to commit suicide.
Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It (Chapter 2, Part 2 of 3)
If we are to establish an objective, fact-based morality, we need to discover a final end–one toward which all of our other goals and values are properly aimed.
Dealing with Rumors
Q: How should one deal with rumors (especially false ones) about oneself? Should one spend her time chasing them down and trying to explain their false nature, or ignore them? Is there some other alternative? A: The first task is psychological: treat the rumors for...
The Michael Jackson Trial
The good thing about the Michael Jackson trial is that it's currently the top headline news. Better this than another 9/11, a school shooting or thousands of soldiers killed in Iraq at one time. The bad thing about the Michael Jackson trial is that it's a sideshow....
Meditations on Meditation
Q: What can meditation do for me? A: People who meditate are generally trying to reduce stress. Reducing stress is fine. However, there's nothing mystical about meditation that can help you. Letting your mind stop can be useful, but it also can be an indication that...
The Philosophical Foundations of Heroism
What, the first question must be, is the distinguishing essence of heroism?
It Takes One to Know One–Or Does It?
Q: What do you think of the old saying, "It takes one to know one"? A: It's a package deal. By package deal I mean the lumping of a true concept with a false one. The evil of a package deal is that the truthful part of the statement motivates one to accept the full...
Self-Interest Trumps Niceness
Q: What's more important, being nice or being self-interested? A: It's good to be nice. Being nice is more often in one's self-interest than not. For example: Are you more willing to spend your money at a business who treats its customers nicely or who treats its...
Olympic Gold All Around Gymnast Paul Hamm: Only Human
After three out of six rotations in the Men's All-around Olympic Gymnastics, American gymnast Paul Hamm was ranked first place in the standings. His next event was the vault. Hamm's vault was to be a Tsukahara--named after Japanese gymnast Mitsuo Tsukahara. It was...
“What Should I Do?”
When stuck with the question, "What should I do?" don't stay stuck. Don't fall prey to the temptation to blindly asking someone else what you should do. Instead, ask yourself -- and answer -- the following questions: What are my options in this situation? (If there is...
The Error of the Self-Esteem Movement
In recent decades, the field of psychology made a mistake. That mistake was treating self-esteem as the root of mental health. The root of mental health is actually personal responsibility. Personal responsibility refers to a core conviction that you are in the...
How to Choose a Career
The basic rule to follow in a process of identification is to choose the career in which you will spend the most time doing the activity you love to do the most.
Forgiveness and Mental Health
A reader writes in, taking issue with Dr. Hurd's contention that forgiving the unforgivable (e.g. snipers, drunk driving) is neither noble nor healthy: Forgiving someone who committed a crime against you after they have served their sentence and you have had time to...
The Joy of Football: The Super Bowl Offers a Too-Rare Celebration of Goal-Achievement
Ultimately, sporting events like football’s Super Bowl offer a microcosmic vision of what “real life” could, and should, be like.
The Psychology of Sexual Arousal
Q: Why do men seem to enjoy viewing women naked (e.g., in photos, real life, etc.) much more than women seem to enjoy looking at naked men? It seems men are much more "turned on" romantically/sexually by the visual aspects of the opposite sex, than the other way...
Roasting Walter Williams
At George Mason University, they are giving a “roast” — that peculiarly American combination of praise and ridicule — to Walter Williams, professor of economics and columnist extraordinaire. Although I cannot be there, let me participate vicariously with a few observations about Walter.
Marilyn Monroe: Through Your Most Grievous Fault
Marilyn Monroe on the screen was an image of pure, innocent, childlike joy in living.
Overwhelmed By Lack of Confidence
Q: I know people who do more than I do yet don't seem to get overwhelmed. I feel overwhelmed most of the time, yet I do less than these people. What's my problem? A: It's not how much you do; it's how you view what you do that determines your overall emotional state...
Trying to Please Everyone
Q: How can I overcome the problem of wanting everybody to like me? A: Imagine for a moment that you were liked by everyone. This would most certainly mean that you're doing something wrong. Why? Because it would be impossible to please everyone. People, first of all,...
The Rational Basis of Sex: Sacrifice and Selflessness Have No Role in Sex (Part 4 of 4)
In the healthiest meaning of love and sex, both involve “compromise,” but not of the kind inherent in any moral code of sacrifice or selflessness.
The Rational Basis of Sex: Psychological Visibility (Part 2 of 4)
Let us take a closer look at what such admiration consist of by grasping the concept of psychological visibility. Every person holds fundamental ideas about himself. Take Tom who thinks "It's important to make healthy, honest choices in my life. I want to feel proud...
The Lure of Baseball
In a world of life-and-death conflicts, spectator sports give us a “time-out”–an opportunity to relax and celebrate human skill, dedication, and success in a spirit of simple joy.
The Rational Basis of Sex: Common Views About Sex (Part 1 of 4)
What is sex? I can picture asking an adolescent boy this question and he’d say “You don’t know…?!”
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