Book review: Sam Keen, In the Absence of God

This book seems to be an ecumenical attempt to take adherents of Abrahamic religions beyond the literal dogma of their scriptures toward a shared underlying spirituality and value system.  For people with a lingering sense that the "should" be religious, but doubts about the canonical beliefs of their native religion, I think this will be a rewarding, and possibly life-changing read.

However, in my opinion Keen succeeds, probably unintentionally, in taking his ecumenicism beyond that.  It comes as close as anything I've read to explaining an underlying primal human spirituality.  He does this by explaining our nebulous spiritual sense as being grounded in primal emotions.

Mandelbrot insight

In honour of the life of Benoit Mandelbrot, I’d like to discuss the philosophical implications of he famous set.