https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540 Centreless clearing through which life history flows en-us 2018-01-29 00:18:40 UTC 2025-12-12 13:57:22 UTC hello@padlet.com prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246737762 “Philosophy is the ultimate ‘transferable work skill.’ With its emphasis on reason and argumentation, philosophy is an excellent preparation for a career ..."]]> 2018-03-28 01:43:09 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246737762 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246737912 “What do we believe and why do we believe it? Who are we and why are we here? What ought we do and why should we do it? Philosophy encourages critical and systematic inquiry into fundamental questions of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, the meaning of life, and the nature of reality, knowledge and society.” 

(Source: https://philosophy.as.uky.edu/where-can-philosophy-take-me)]]> 2018-03-28 01:43:52 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246737912 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246768941 We live in an age where data capitalism is the opiate of the masses, ‘mindfulness’ its highly sought-after ideological supplement, and the smartphone a symbol of mass consciousness manipulation. In such a climate, contemplative praxis seems boring and undesirable. But there may be a deeper reason for societal resistance to contemplation. 

Perhaps there is a sense, however subliminal, that contemplative praxis has the potential to radicalize the present, subvert the status quo of consumerist hallucination, and decolonize the future for our children and grandchildren. And that scares the hell out of the powers that be. But the price of status conformity is unthinkable. Will we not wake up and seek the Light before it is too late?]]> 2018-03-28 05:43:32 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246768941 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246769331 It is time for contemplative illiteracy to end. We cannot afford more of the same - same consumerism, same spiritual apathy, same religious obstinacy, same fear-based conformity, same culture of sycophancy, same political inertia, and same vacuous leadership. 

We live in a contemplatively naive generation. Even as we toy with mindfulness and acceptance as strategies for stress relief, we are merely touching the helm of the garment. Business is as usual - shallow, consumerist, materialistic.

We miss contemplation’s rich depths and nuances. Seeing deeply, thinking clearly, feeling richly and being immaculately are the hallmarks of contemplative philosophy - an innovative new discipline, which I designate as combining the analytical rigour of philosophy with the deep wisdom of contemplative praxis.

A universal educational system grounded in global humanities and contemplative praxis conduces towards a wisdom-based society that will give future generations a chance of awakening to the truth that sets them free.]]> 2018-03-28 05:46:56 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/246769331 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/247119475 Contemplative wisdom from on high may appear like foolishness to world-conforming intelligentsia and bureaucrats. Yet wisdom takes the foolish and the weak to shame the intelligent and the powerful.

Institutions do not exist for themselves, for "institutions" are nothing more than narrative constructions held together by nebulous assumptions and ethereal unseen forces of "confidence" and "fear." Confidence - in the propaganda of managerial elites. Fear - in losing the false security of worldly gain and incentives. The same is true of abstractions like "society," "nation," "global economy," “profession,” and the like.

What is real is each and every living breathing person upon whom collectively is superimposed the label "institution."  When an institution sacrifices a living breathing person at the altar of some politically-sanctioned ideology, all persons suffer. What profits a man to gain the world but lose his soul, as it is said of old in scripture?  What profits a people to win the digital race but lose the Life that animates their very existence, their very hope? 

Focus on the false treasure of mammon and the entire house eventually collapses. No sacred-sounding, self-glorifying, self-massaging  rhetoric is going to save it. Let go of all pretensions of self and seductions of mammon, seek the Life of one's life, and open the heart to Love that runs after you. In contemplation suffused with wisdom, be loved and love.]]> 2018-03-29 01:35:28 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/247119475 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/247483015 “Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Henry David Thoreau.]]> 2018-03-30 13:07:11 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/247483015 prof_chriskang https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/268167158 Homogenization of academia via a rigid template of academic performance born of managerialism and careerism spells the death of the academy, and by extension the fatal hijack of future generations of students and learners. Politically-driven corporatization of the University creates a pseudo-intellectual flatland paranoid of academic critique, obsessed with industrial productivity, and seduced by the mammon of money. The death of Socrates does not bode well for Athens ... or Singapore for that matter.]]> 2018-06-22 01:04:35 UTC https://padlet.com/prof_chriskang/7vvc4f70j540/wish/268167158