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Politics NOT Partisanship: an Arendtian Model
For Arendt, politics was the back-and-forth interplay between regular people in a democracy. Politics is the realm of freedom (The Human Condition) and will not only combat hyper-partisanship and raw power plays, but may even help us thrive even in the face of great collective challenges. Continue reading
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My Three Religious Conversions
Now I sometimes say that I’m religiously bisexual because when I found Buddhist meditation, I felt more Christian than ever. Continue reading
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Windshield Reflections #2
Little did she know that reading would be her competitor, my new mistress. Continue reading
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Moral Ideals and the Pathology of “Doing Your Best”
“… Development itself constantly changes the self’s possibilities such that what would count as one’s ‘best’ transforms in ways that are at once real and out of view.” Continue reading
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Contrasting Forms of Independence
In fact, one should understand that Sweden’s guiding ideology is not so much collectivism as it is statist individualism; the goal is to make citizens as independent from each other as much as possible. Continue reading
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Divorce and the Pursuit of Happiness
Rather than leading us to a deeper, more meaningful life, this so-called happiness may be one more thing we don’t really need. Continue reading
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EDI, ESG and Nurturing Leadership Without Judgment
ESG and EDI initiatives remind me of the various English tests we used as a representation of one’s English skills: I could get any student to pass the test, but it was really hard to give them the skills to get out of the airport. Continue reading
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Invitation to Guest Authors
Are you looking for a place to write? Do you care about the topics of Authenticity, Personal Identity, Mass Society, Freedom, Faith, and Community? If you are a new writer looking for exposure, please feel free to write for Ideals and Identities. Other topics will be considered as well. Our site will, beginning August 1, Continue reading
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Ideals and Identities is Restructuring – Some articles will be disappearing
Announcement of changes to idealsandidentities.com Continue reading
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Authenticity in the Wreckage of Honor and Dignity
The isolated individual is entirely unsatisfactory. Precisely because of a person’s social character, stable identities can only emerge in relationships with stable social contexts. Therefore, there is deep uncertainty about contemporary identity; it’s an identity crisis if you will. 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 