The Universe

The Universe

Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, January 24 2024

You know the feeling: you were just thinking about a song, and you hear it on the radio. You ask for a sign telling you which path to take, and you see a person with a tattoo saying, "Go for it!" You miss a flight only to find out later that the plane crashed. Why did that

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The Universe

The Magic of the ‘How’ in Life

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 27 2023

Most people focus on the “why” in life as the big questions—mainly because they feel more personal, more subjective, and more unanswerable and so they can be analyzed for a lifetime. But “how” questions are just as interesting, just in a different way and susceptible to the human arc of

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Choice

You Can Find Meaning in Whatever Happens to You

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 6 2023

Meaning is subjective; as such, you can decide that something has significance to you or decide that everything is stupid and meaningless. While this sounds like nothing in life really matters, it’s actually more positive than that. The best takeaway for your mental health and well-being is that you can take anything your life, find its meaning...

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Growth

Entropy and Life

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 16 2023

There is a long list of questions that people ask that show a genuine misunderstanding of how life exists in the universe—or, if they do understand it, an unwillingness to accept this law of physics. Questions include: The most common manifestation of this in modern times is when people look around, see someone better off than them, and then...

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Suffering

Do People Need Religion?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, December 14 2022

Religion is a difficult subject because of how it is tied to deeply held beliefs of the individual. Additionally, most people who analyze it are either making a case one way or another or are providing some sort of critique. (Note: I found this out the hard way for when I wrote that God was a great source of belief when someone doesn’t believe in...

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Meaning

And Then What?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 3 2022

When talking about the meaning of life, you always have to start by defining your terms.  Why?  Because people almost always equivocate when you don’t.  You can look up the definition of life in the dictionary, for example, and no one will claim that that’s what they meant.  In addition to the literal definition of life, other meanings of “the mean...

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Emotions

Where Psychology and Spirituality Overlap

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, June 2 2021

Law of Attraction, or self-fulfilling prophecy?  The power of faith, or the Placebo effect?  Science and spirituality make different arguments for the cause and effect happening between human thoughts and behaviors and the outcomes that they see.  What is really going on here, and (why) does it matter?  Let’s explore.

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Planning

Do You Need to Analyze the Nature of Your Existence to Find Your Purpose in Life?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, April 7 2021

Many philosophical and analytical people love to talk about the nature of reality and our existence.  Is any of this real, or are we living in a computer simulation?  Did we come from nothing, or is there a non-physical realm we go to or come from.  Did someone (ourselves or a creator) will us to be here?

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Truth

How You Literally Create Your Own Reality

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, February 24 2021

"You have to face reality."  "They live in their own reality."  "I reject your reality and substitute my own."  Reality...We talk a lot about what's real vs. not, but what is it?  What is real, and do you really have to face it?  We're going to analyze this logically and, surprisingly, find that you actually do create your own reality—not in a meta...

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Truth

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 27 2020

You know the situation: you do everything you're supposed to do, you do everything the right way...and then bad things happen to you. How is that fair? Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a tough one to answer since it requires giving what might seem to be bad news (does that make me the bad thing happening to a good person reading thi...

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