“WELCOME, EVERYTHING IS FINE.” With these reassuring words, we are ushered into the premise of the television show The Good Place. The main character, Eleanor Shellstrop, is dead. Now, being received in a business office by an executive in a suit, she’s told, “In the afterlife, there’s a Good Place… and there’s a Bad Place. You’re in […]
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keepin’ me awake. I think of what the world could be, a vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it’s gonna take. A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make.” As P.T. Barnum sings […]
THE BEAUTY OF COMMUNITY & THE BEAST OF ISOLATION
Have you ever felt like you wanted so much more than your provincial life has to offer? We are all searching for happiness and for significance in life. The feeling of happiness alone is not ultimately satisfying, as we know that it will fade or flee amidst our ever-changing circumstances. And why would we spend […]
The Vide Noir of Death or The Gratitude of Life?
Everybody dies. We can try to delay it, but in a world of anxiety about the future, a world of uncertainty about what may or may not come to pass, our own death is one thing that is absolutely coming for us. But what comes next? If you think about it, your answer to that […]
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
The Blade Runner films are a fascinating philosophical journey into a world where humans coexist with “replicants”: androids so realistically designed that it is hard to tell whether or not they are actually human. And each of the protagonists ends up reflecting on this question: What does it mean to be human? In 2049, we […]