• Enlightenment | Posted by Mart De Haan on Jan 01 2008

    What does it take to be wise?
    In a television commercial for online yellow pages, actor David Carradine plays a guru to a young seeker. When the student asks, “How do I find enlightenment?” the master says, “Yellowbook.com . . . Everyone is searching for something . . . . After all, it is a material [...]

  • Aesop | Posted by Mart De Haan on Apr 01 2007

    Until recently, I thought of Aesop as an ancient Dr. Seuss.Then I started reading his fables. What surprised me is that his stories about talking animals, birds, and insects aren’t just for children. As an adult, I found that many of Aesop’s fables parallel or at least reinforce moral insights of the Bible.
    Aesop’s history is [...]

  • The Road to Realism | Posted by Mart De Haan on Mar 01 2007

    Someone has noticed that, “Optimists think the glass is half full. Pessimists think it’s half empty. Realists know that if they stay around long enough they’re going to have to wash the glass.”
    In art, realists paint life with blemishes, wrinkles, and scars. Idealists paint a subject as they imagine it could or should be.
    On the [...]

  • Higher Ground | Posted by Mart De Haan on Feb 01 2007

    Do any of us think we are on the wrong side of a disagreement?
    Isn’t it ironic that, in times of conflict, we all think we have right on our side? It doesn’t matter if the disagreement is marital, political, or international. Together with our allies, we all are convinced that our side holds the moral [...]