Authenticity
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The Friendship Recession: Part 1 – Learned Loneliness
We have learned ourselves out of covenant relationships, and this is the core of learned loneliness. Covenants seem archaic because so many are not willing to say: I will do my part, even if, for a time, you aren’t doing your part. 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
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Technocratic Rationality, Value, and How Accounting Undercuts HR
“Instead of being framed by accounting practices, a company’s vision has to inform its accounting practices.” Continue reading
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God’s Will and Vocation
“…a job is a way of fulfilling a vocation, and particular jobs – if we are reflectively learning through them, may generate an evolution in our vocation. A key to making this important point real is being aware of God working in you through a particular job.” Continue reading
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A Meaning of Otherness: Colossians 3
Whether it is Bible reading or living in a home, we metaphorically translate what is foreign into familiarity and move what is to what ought to be. That is, overcoming otherness is bringing our uniqueness to a situation not originally intended to accept it, and then translating and transforming the situation so the uniqueness can… Continue reading
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2022 in Review: Part 3 – The Year in Art
We may need again to become local and to direct our gaze to humans and particular scales and scopes. Continue reading
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2022 in Review: Part 1 – The Year in Health
. But one of the most significant areas of rethink was in our newly interwoven understanding of health. We understood that mental and emotional health was inseparable from physical health. Continue reading
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Inarticulate Authenticity
Thirty-six years ago, Robert Bellah and others, in their seminal book “Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life” identified a problem and prophesied its social consequences – that of political and social polarization. We live in those prophesied consequences today. The problem, as Bellah and his co-authors identified it, was the tendency… 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 