Oprah

As an incurable compulsive introspect, I tend to brood, ponder, contemplate, and (of course) muse on \”big ideas,\” such as:

• What makes people choose things which cause themselves harm?
• Are some people better people than others, or are they just more skilled at hiding their problems?
• Is pain really a bad thing, or is our aversion to it a sign of human weakness?
• Do dogs watch Oprah?
• Does God ever wear a hat?
• Why is \”big ideas\” in quotes?

Tough questions.  

Lately I\’ve been contemplating the nature of human awareness:

• Is self-awareness (the ability to think of ourselves in the first person) a uniquely human trait, and is lack of self-awareness the essence of mental illness?
• Is empathy, or other-awareness the highest of human traits?  Is this what the biblical idea of being \”made in the image of God\” really means?

Yeah, that\’s a lot deeper than about dogs watching Oprah.