Comments for Rabbi David Kominsky

Comment on Learning Something New by Amy Farrell

Amy Farrell — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:28:41 +0000

They have white whiskers! How beautiful.

Comment on Learning Something New by CultureChoc2010

CultureChoc2010 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:18:10 +0000

The cat is gorgeous! Almost looks like 2 of mine.

Comment on Why Do We Fear Death? by Gillian

Gillian — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:19:57 +0000

More precisely and more to the point, we are hard-coded to fear death. To borrow my father’s terminology, its a brain-stem reaction. Its one level up, cognitively speaking, from the reflex to recoil when you touch a hot stove. (That’s hard-coded in the spinal cord, seriously. It saves you the fraction of a second it would take the signal to travel another 8 inches or so.)

If you want to take a philosophical experiment too far, you can, of course, consciously decide to put your hand on a stove and leave it there. Its even possible to do it without flinching. (Nobody try this at home kids!) The thing a neurologically intact person cannot do, as far as I’m aware, is accidentally touch a stove and not recoil. In the absence of any prior higher thought on the subject you will pull your hand away.

My take: accepting death works the same way. You can do it, but it takes a very very good reason and a lot of prior thought.

Comment on Why Do We Fear Death? by Rory Bowman

Rory Bowman — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:55:00 +0000

“As humans, we seem to be hard-coded to seek life” seems the closest thing to a rational explanation I have heard. Fear is reflexive and beyond rational control for most people. Pain is not injury and death is not pain. A beautiful reminder of the arguments put forward by Socrates in Plato’s Apology 40c and forward.

Reason cannot help those who are irrational but some falsehoods provide more comfort than others, I suppose. Let us be dreamless or dream of those who have gone before…

Comment on David Blogs on Social Media by Nancy Schick

Nancy Schick — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:50:30 +0000

I was humored….. thanks for the little laugh…

Comment on Pictures from the Zoo by NK

NK — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:13:24 +0000

Predictably, I’ll take the warthog.

Comment on The Destruction of the American Temple: A Spiritual View of Tisha B’Av by realsupergirl

realsupergirl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:20:17 +0000

wow, that is really brilliantly said and written. thank you for your reflections.

Comment on Rethinking Tisha B'Av by The Destruction of the American Temple: A Spiritual View of Tisha B’Av « Rabbi David Kominsky

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:50:55 +0000

[...] The Destruction of the American Temple: A Spiritual View of Tisha B’Av July 19, 2010 — rabbidavidkominsky Each year, I find the Jewish holidays are a little different. It’s not that the holidays have changed, of course, but I have. This year, Tisha B’Av is speaking to me differently than it has in the past. (For a look at what I have thought about Tisha B’Av in the past, see here or here). [...]

Comment on Finding meaning in Tisha B'Av by The Destruction of the American Temple: A Spiritual View of Tisha B’Av « Rabbi David Kominsky

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:50:53 +0000

[...] it has in the past. (For a look at what I have thought about Tisha B’Av in the past, see here or [...]

Comment on Rethinking Tisha B'Av by Sorry, Can’t Lament Now, There’s a Cat on My Lap « Rabbi David Kominsky

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:15:59 +0000

[...] I even had something to say that’s different from what I said four years ago or what I said two years ago. But then I ran into a problem. There’s a cat on my [...]