Seed

Pertaining to this blog or to the Seed organization

by Seed staff

The first issue of Seed was a 12-page full color magazine released at the end of the 2009 Spring semester.  This fall, we have decided to move from print media to blogging.  We chose to do this for the following reasons.

Cost.  Producing  a magazine is expensive.   Raising funds to cover printing costs takes time and energy that we would rather spend doing the things we love, such as meeting new people, thinking, discussing and writing.

Circulation.  With a blog, we can reach an unlimited number of readers.

Timeliness.  Now we can publish as often as we like.  We hope to generate new pieces every week, or even more often.

Interactivity.  Readers can join in the discussion by leaving comments.

Bottom line:  In the long run, a blog is a much more effective way of accomplishing what we want to do, which is “to promote creative expression and thoughtful, non-confrontational discussion of spiritual issues.”

We hope you enjoy this website.  Feel free to join the discussion. Spread the word about us.  And come back and visit us often.

Tags:

Greetings from Those People

by Seed Staff

aborigineGroupThink, according to social psychologists, is an unwillingness to venture outside the box.  Refusing to consider any idea that brings discomfort to you or your friends.   GroupThink keeps group members content, but only for a while.  When left unchecked, it leads to stagnation and persistent error. It blinds people to fatal flaws that may ultimately destroy the group.

A second kind of GroupThink, a cousin of the one we just described, is even more insidious. It happens when we dismiss an idea because it came from one of those people.  “He’s just a gun-toting right-wing racist conservative nut-job.”  “She’s just a tofu-eating left-wing eco-socialist feminazi.”  Notice the insertion of the word just to convey dehumanization. The merits of the idea don’t matter.  Whether those people even exist doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the perception that crazies are out there, that they do not deserve to be heard and ought to be marginalized.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Problems with this website? Contact the site administrator.