Wondering freely

Reflections on philosophy, science, religion, art and other stuff that matters to me, by Helen De Cruz

Finding strength in vulnerability

The collective reaction to this pandemic worries me because what it centrally involves is a denial of vulnerability. We’ve doubled down into denying that we’re vulnerable. After World War II, many social institutions came into being because our vulnerability became so salient. Our vulnerability to political manipulation, to death by violence, to disability and sickness.…

Joyful sorrow: reflections on Lent and the beauty of limitations

Image: Caspar David Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea, 1808, now newly restored In the Eastern Orthodox tradition Lent is called “bright sadness” or “joyful sorrow” (Greek: χαρμολύπη). We can see it in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, where he writes (2 Cor 6): Christians are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing,…


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