Tom Butler I prefer to compartmentalize politics away from my writing. However, the current president and his supporting Republican Party is in the process of moving this country so far away from anything resembling a humanitarian nation that it seems a failure on my part for not speaking out. I recently posted this on my Facebook page: … Read more
The Paranormalist Community Think of a community as a collection of people who share an interest in one or more ideas. If you have more than a passing interest in the ideas related to the paranormal, then you are automatically a member of what I refer to as the Paranormalist Community. For sure, skeptics have … Read more
Abstract A community of people cooperating to achieve a common goal is the building block of civilization. From a metaphysical perspective, discussions amongst members of a cooperative community enable them to compose coherent statements of understanding and receive candid feedback. Composing thoughts to express an idea, either to tell or to respond, provides important opportunities … Read more
Abstract An important metaphysical question is whether we have free will. It is seldom directly asked, but free will seems necessary if we are to claim personal responsibility or trust our senses. For instance, if we do not have free will, it would seem to be impossible for us to assure our ethical behavior. This … Read more
Reason This brief essay is my effort to make sense of the gun ownership mentality. If you consider a liberal to be one who believes government is for people, rather than corporations or parties, and that every action must be considered in light of its effect on the wellbeing of people and protection of citizen’s … Read more
Abstract The foundation assumption of this essay is that a person is an etheric personality entangled with a human body for a lifetime. And, that a person enters into a lifetime to gain understanding about the nature of reality through daily living experiences. It is argued here that part of gaining maturity is learning to … Read more