Leadership and Business
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Mimetic Desire and the Battle for Authenticity
“Our desires make us imitate and compete with others, but what we ultimately seek is recognition and approval from them.” Rene Girard I used to teach a course called The Architecture of Human Identity. I was very interested in the fact that by knowing who we are, we take some authorship in who we become. Certain people believe… Continue reading
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Mass Society and Pop Science
Everything that is delivered on the platforms of the mass market hides such erosion from view. Many have argued that such an opacity in global finance and large tech companies has been an essential component in the widening gap between rich and poor. Continue reading
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Work: The Technocratic Perversion of Human Life
Technocratic capitalism can either overrun humanity or it needs to be forced back into its lane. Continue reading
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Better Capitalism and the Constitutive Value of Work
The production of capital is perhaps a necessary condition of work, but a hyper-focus on capital production will miss its sufficient conditions. Continue reading
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Stories, Experience, and Why David Letterman Held Our Attention
There is a sudden realization that our narrative understanding of ourselves, perhaps wrongly occupies a central place in our attention. Continue reading
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My Departed Gift
… every “good morning!” needed a response. Every action engendered an obligation… Continue reading
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The Friendship Recession: Part 2 – Friendship as Both Needed and Discovered
is transformed into something much more important, something vital to the life of the world, when the people who share the table are engaging in the practices of love and of thinking. Continue reading
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Authenticity and Humility in the Noise of Greatness
It does not take courage to be authentically yourself; it takes humility. Continue reading
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The Liberal Education of Freedom: A Critical Review of Matthew Rose’s “Liberal Education for Freedom”
The non-violent, but argumentative, ideal of liberal education is not the suddenly arrived-at point of a nonpolarized liberal society. Instead, the purpose of liberal education is the iterative practice of a non-violent but argumentative society. Continue reading
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Changing Habits and Impacting Freedom
Imagine you are waiting at a train station. You are waiting to try to get on the train of thought that leads to the destination of effective freedom and the path of virtuous moral development. Continue reading
About me: I am a career educator and traveler at heart. My written work includes academic writing in philosophy and linguistics, English acquisition, and most intently in the areas of spiritual engagement with reality and what that means for our public lives.
My education is a mixture of formal study in philosophy, political theory, Biblical studies, and history, along with professional teaching certification in TESOL and in cognitive testing, and international teaching.
My travel experiences include a range of countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I have lived in Canada, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. From those places I have traveled to many others besides.
I am a child of the 70’s and a “family man.” That means I have two wonderful kids who have been round the world with me.
Lastly, I am married to a wonderful woman since 2004. She is my partner, my friend, and my muse.
Thanks again for stopping by,
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 