Lives on Earth

meaning of life

  • Finding Spirituality in Science

    I presented this lecture at the college and community Science Seminar at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey in January 2016. My thanks to Dr. Paul Scheuler, organizer of the series. The talk focuses on three questions about life… Continue reading

  • Finding Meaning at Auschwitz

    Austrian psychiatrist Victor Frankl endured five months of slave labor at Auschwitz towards the end of the war. In his powerful classic about that experience, Man’s Search for Meaning, he stresses how a prisoner’s sense of purpose and meaning helped… Continue reading

  • Reverence for (Some) Life

    Here is a tug-of-war. At one end of the rope is our common conviction that life—our life, other lives, life in general—is a good thing. For many, this conviction is little more than a cliche, a toast, an instinct for… Continue reading

  • Living As Meaning

    “What is The Meaning of Life”—people either ignore or embrace the question depending on how hard it grabs them by the shoulders and shakes them.  My own answer is that being alive is, in itself, in ways we are rarely… Continue reading

    Living As Meaning

  • “Hello, Science. Can You Tell Me How to Live a Moral Life?”

    A non-religious young man–we’ll label him “NR”–has asked Science about any moral guidance that it can offer. NR has explained that he is hoping for some moral guidelines that are grounded in the scientific view of the world. But the… Continue reading

    “Hello, Science. Can You Tell Me How to Live a Moral Life?”