January 19, 2025
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death
On Giving Up I just finished reading On Giving Up by Adam Phillips. Although the book isn’t written for the typical reader and uses language inaccessible to most humans, it is a thought-provoking book that delves into our relationship with ambition, failure, and the pressure to strive constantly. The book is incredibly insightful because Phillips challenges
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January 8, 2025
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death
It’s been eleven years since I started an experiment with no particular end in mind. In 2014, I decided to stop drinking alcohol and quit consuming sugar, carbohydrates, and coffee for six months. Initially, I chose to eliminate these things from my life for two reasons. First, I survived a rare and aggressive blood cancer
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June 12, 2023
| Matthew King
| Earth and Ecology, On Life and Death, Politics and Society
While the debates on artificial intelligence (AI) often frame it as a potential scourge on human society that could destroy the planet and the human species, here is a counter-narrative that deserves urgent attention. In our preoccupation with hypothetical AI-driven apocalypses, we risk overlooking the tangible harm we are already causing our world and ourselves.
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October 1, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old self. After a visit from death saved my life, I’ve been looking in the mirror and writing a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old, knowing what I know now. This is the last article in this series, which I began writing in June 2018. The first
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September 15, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old self. After a visit from death saved my life I’ve been looking in the mirror and writing a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old, knowing what I know now. The first four articles in the series built upon each other and included: 2 Words of Advice that
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September 1, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old self. After looking in the mirror, I wrote a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old, knowing what I know now. The first was “2 Words of Advice that can help us at Every Stage of Life and focused on this advice: “know thyself.” The second was “How to Practice
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August 30, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old self. After looking in the mirror, I wrote a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old, knowing what I know now. The first was “2 Words of Advice that can help us at Every Stage of Life and focused on this advice: “know thyself.” The second was “How to Practice
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July 16, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old Self. After looking in the mirror, I wrote a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old, knowing what I know now. The first was 2 Words of Advice that can help us at Every Stage of Life and focused on this advice: “know thyself.” The reason I began with “know
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June 27, 2018
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Advice to my 30-year-old Self. I’m looking in the mirror as I write a series of articles focused on giving advice to myself as a 30-year-old. The advice I’m giving is applicable to anyone at any age, male or female. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Here we
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December 29, 2017
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
It’s that time of year to set our intentions, let go of the old, make room for the new, and, of course, make New Year’s resolutions. This year, I’d like to encourage readers to do something different, life changing. Write a secret dream biography. Why? As a cancer patient, I nearly died after being diagnosed
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December 10, 2017
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Tread lightly on the days stretched out ahead of you. Leave as little mark as possible on your own ego self. Let the light from within enclose each day. And when it is finished, Blow it away as you would a soap bubble And move forward unencumbered By old memories, mistakes, and successes. This is
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November 6, 2017
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
Spiritual atheism offers a way for atheists to explore spirituality without the belief in deities. My atheist friend is one such seeker and doesn’t commit to any religious belief system or institution, yet he considers himself spiritual. However, he has yet to find a way to sufficiently explain how he can be both an atheist
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February 3, 2017
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death, Purpose and Meaning
I knew I would meet the Angel of Death before his visit—and that encounter would lead to my most significant transformation. At first, I felt trepidation and angst. I didn’t know what to expect from such a powerful spirit, but I knew he might be coming to collect me, even if I wasn’t ready to
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May 20, 2012
| Matthew King
| On Life and Death
15 Books I Often Share 1) The Rebel – Albert Camus 2) Power/Knowledge – Foucault 3) The Human Condition – Hannah Arendt 4) The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene 5) Buddhism and Ecology – Tucker and Grim 6) The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho 7) Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaarder 8) Spell of the Sensuous –
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