The Human Journey Blog

The Human Journey blog highlights the many aspects of human nature that impact our lives and cultures today, often without us realizing it.

  • Edward T. Hall: Culture Below the Radar

    The late cultural anthropologist Edward T. Hall argued that some of the most important aspects of culture were those that were invisible to its holders, lying below conscious awareness.Read more
  • The Half Brain Method

    The left-hemisphere of our brain does the lion's share of the work when we think analytically. But as Hafeez Diwan tells us, those "Aha! moments" can only come when we give the left brain and its analyses a rest.Read more
  • 'He Who Tastes Knows': Contemporary Sufi Studies and the Work of Idries Shah (II)

    In an era of misunderstanding and confusion the books of Idries Shah offer clarity and lucidity, an antidote to these fraught times, Steven Nightingale tells us.Read more
  • 'He Who Tastes Knows': Contemporary Sufi Studies and the Work of Idries Shah

    Afghan author Idries Shah collected traditional Eastern anecdotes and Teaching Stories and transmitted them in book form to the West. As Steven Nightingale tells us, his work encapsulates centuries of Sufi thought aimed at developing our latent capacities.Read more
  • "They Saw a Game"

    People with differing perspectives often consider their own takes to be the objectively correct ones. But as David Sobel explains, our biases filter-in and out the details of the realities we champion.Read more
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Enlightenment

    Humor and laughter can confer all sorts of health benefits, but as Andrew Boden writes it can also be a powerful tool that opens up a wide range of perceptual experiences and insights.Read more
  • Finding the Right Way Home

    For most of us, designating cult behaviour is a black-or-white proposition. But as John Zada writes, the question is less often: ‘Is this, or isn’t this a cult?’—but more ‘how much cult thinking is present in any group dynamic?’Read more
  • Time and Self

    Our perception of time is inherently skewed by our self-centered view of life. But as Hugh McGilvery writes, while most of us may never grasp time’s true nature, there are things we can do to gain a less self-centered perspective—and which brings its own benefits.Read more
  • Escaping the Either/Or Thinking Trap

    Can we move beyond the common human tendency to think in largely dualistic terms? John Zada suggests that the wellbeing of our societies, and even their survival, may in part, depend on it.Read more
  • Looking Up, Looking Out

    David Sobel MD suggests that exploring wider contexts not only alters our perceptions, but also reframes more healthily how we regard ourselves in respect to the bigger picture.Read more
  • Conditioning and the Gendered Brain

    Denise Winn explores new research poking holes in our cherished understanding of male and female brains—and how we embraced those notions to begin with.Read more
  • New World, Same Mind?

    Decades after Ornstein and Ehrlich published ‘New World New Mind,’ arguing the need for “conscious evolution,” Andrew Boden asks if there are any indications we are heeding their call.Read more
  • One Small Word

    Sally Mallam writes that adopting a receptive mindset can lead to a continuum of expanding perceptions and understandings.Read more
  • Meaning: The Enduring Gift to Spirit

    Psychotherapist and journalist Denise Winn illustrates the importance of cultivating meaning in our lives: whether as a conduit for survival, well-being, or seeing the bigger picture.Read more
  • Beyond East and West: Human Nature and World Politics

    Diplomat John Bell reflects on how author Idries Shah has shaped his outlook on East and West—and the fundamental questions of human nature which transcend them.Read more
  • Forest Smarts: A Part of or Apart From?

    The best nature stewards, David Sobel, MD, suggests, may be those who see themselves not as intruders and interlopers, but as a crucial part of the ecosystems that they wish to protect.Read more
  • How to Improve Group Decision-Making

    When groups demand excessive conformity they negate some of their greatest assets: dissenting views and a diversity of perspective. John Zada argues that successful group decisions hinge upon ‘cognitive diversity.’Read more
  • We Know More Than We Think We Do

    Our human story proves we know much more than we think we do, but in a different way. As Sally Mallam argues, we need to reactivate and develop this faculty now.Read more
  • How Deep Can a Story Go?

    Canadian writer and author Andrew Boden reflects on his understanding of the function and potential of stories, and storytelling.Read more
  • Lost and Found: An Encounter with the Intuitive Mind

    Stanford University’s David S. Sobel, MD, recalls an how an unexpected crisis moment shifted his mental mode from one that was more linear, to more intuitive.Read more
  • The Devil’s Tuning Fork

    In the late fifties/early sixties my sister and I spent summer holidays in East Africa in what is now Tanzania. My father was a British Colonial Officer in the Tanganyika Forestry Department.Read more
  • Welcome to The Human Journey Blog

    In the late fifties/early sixties my sister and I spent summer holidays in East Africa in what is now Tanzania. My father was a British Colonial Officer in the Tanganyika Forestry Department.Read more