Bright Minds

I came across this powerful lesson in Atomic Habits by James Clear, and I found it deeply thought-provoking. Here it is, word-for-word, as it appears in the book, so you can experience it just as I did. The Man Who Didn't Look Right THE PSYCHOLOGIST GARY Klein once told me a story about a woman who the attended a family gathering. She had spent years working as a paramedic and, upon arriving at the event, took one look at her father your in-law and got very concerned.  "I don't like the way you look," she said. Her father-in-law, who was feeling perfectly fine, jokingly replied, op "Well, I don't like your looks, either." " No," she insisted. "You need to go to the hospital now." A few hours later, the man was undergoing lifesaving surgery after an examination had revealed that he had a blockage to a major artery and was at immediate risk of a heart attack. Without his daughter-in- law's intuition, he could have died. What did the

In the 19th century, there was a shift in how people thought about the world. After the Enlightenment, which focused on reason and logic, a new movement called Romanticism took hold. Romantic thinkers were no longer content with only science and reason. They turned to the mysteries and dramatic stories of Christianity, with their themes of life and death, creation and destruction, heaven and hell. They believed these old, powerful ideas could help guide the future, but they wanted to reshape them in ways that made sense for their time. One such idea that came up during the Romantic era was the belief that Europe could be "saved" or renewed by learning from Asia. Some thinkers, like Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, believed that studying Indian culture and religion could help Europe overcome its problems, like materialism and political issues. They thought that by understanding Asia, Europe could be reborn, just like the Biblical idea of death and resurrection. This idea of a &

Introduction: Orientalism is a way that Western (European and American) scholars and writers have looked at the East, which includes countries like Egypt, India, China, and the Arab world. But Orientalism is not just an innocent study of the East. It often comes with stereotypes, or fixed ideas, that make people from the East look strange, exotic, or backward. In this blog, we’ll look at some simple ideas from Orientalism and why they matter. What Orientalism Thinks of the East: Orientalism has a habit of turning people from the East into characters, like they are in a story. It often shows them as if they are all the same, without any individuality. For example, some Orientalists see all Arabs as "camel-riding, terroristic, or too rich without any hard work." They make it seem like Eastern people do not understand self-government or progress, like they cannot govern themselves or improve their lives. Orientalism Ignores Real Change: Orientalists often ignore the real politic

Orientalism refers to the way Western cultures view and represent Eastern societies, particularly during the time of colonialism. This term includes the art, literature, and scholarly studies that depict Eastern cultures, often portraying them as mysterious, exotic, or backward. Many Western writers created images of the East that did not reflect reality and instead relied on stereotypes. For instance, they often described Eastern people as passive or unable to make decisions for themselves. During the colonial period, Western countries, especially Britain and France, had interests in the East. They viewed these regions as places to control or exploit. For example, Western powers believed they had a duty as Christian nations to protect and change Islamic cultures to suit their own purposes. This idea created a complex relationship where the West dominated the East, often disregarding the realities of the people living there. The writings of Western authors played a significant role in