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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

8/30/2015

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What would you do if you only had three weeks to live? Everyone has toyed with answers to this question, but few wrestle with their answers as seriously as writer/director Lorene Scafaria in the 2012 film, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Don’t let the casting fool you. Comedian Steve Carrell (Michael Scott in the Office) plays the lead, across from Keira Knightley, but if this is a comedy, it still leaves you sober. I don't remember laughing, but I definitely cried.

With just weeks to live, some people would be checking off their bucket list, traveling to exotic locations and chasing final adventures. Others might opt out of the whole experience with a simple suicide note. Surely at least a few would pull out sandwich boards and megaphones to proclaim "The end is near!" All of these responses appear in this movie, but Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is about something more, something timeless. The haunting hollowness that so many feel, but few admit except in the face of death: Loneliness.

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Islam and the West, Part 2 (and why you really don't need to be afraid)

8/22/2015

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Muslims linking arms to protect a Christian worship service in Pakistan, 2013.
Islam has been forging its way into our thinking since September 11, 2001, but as we reach another anniversary of that terrible day, I'm not convinced we understand this religion any better than we did fourteen years ago. Before the terrorist attacks, our national concept of Islam came from Hollywood films like Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones. Islam seemed far away, mysterious and exotic when people thought about it at all, and most didn't think about it. Today, our perception of Islam is filtered by a media more likely to report the body count after a bloody explosion than a joint declaration from Muslim leaders condemning violence.

If headlines and book titles are to be believed, Islam is Daesh, Al Quaeda, radical terrorism, and the end of civilization. To be a Muslim is to be a suspect, a potential threat, a person set on destroying the West either by force or by a less violent (but no less sinister) immigration strategy. But is this the real Islam, the one that exists outside the parameters drawn by a nostalgic Hollywood, a partisan media, and popular understanding? With 1.5 billion adherents (according to PEW Research), the Muslim religion is the second largest religion in the world (Christianity is the largest). If it is a religion of violence, as many claim, why is violence and war on a steady global decline?

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How Mindfulness Can Change The Way You Email

8/10/2015

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Oops, did it again! Clicked "send" on an email and immediately wished I could take it back. It's so easy to give the wrong message, especially when you are preoccupied or in a rush. You came off as snide, obnoxious, rude or demanding, when really you just weren't paying attention. Now that business associate you've never met, the college admissions adviser you are hoping to win over, or the craigslist seller you're trying to negotiate with is set on edge and dis-inclined to help you. Nothing ruins relationships faster than miscommunication, and it all could have been prevented with a nearly effortless practice Mirabai Bush calls "Mindful Emailing."

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Islam and the West

8/4/2015

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It's been fourteen years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but tragically, many Americans are no closer to understanding Islam and the forces behind radicalization than they were before. Turn on the news, or check social media, and it often seems like the rhetoric is getting worse. Recently, critics of Islam garnered widespread popular support in the U.S. by advocating that we close our borders to all of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. Others use polarizing language to call for fast military action to destroy all traces of radical Islam around the globe. 

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    -Radhanath Swami

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