Logo of M Kinger with the tagline 'For What It's Worth' on a dark background.

For What It's Worth

10 minute reads for a better life

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About Me

I’m a retired associate professor with degrees in theology, which means I’ve spent years poking at sacred cows and asking the questions most people try to avoid in college and university classrooms. My professional obsessions live at the junction of anthropology, modern culture, and technical communication—in other words, I’m interested in why we communicate the way we do, and how our tools twist the message. Before I landed in academia, I ran through the media gauntlet: advertising, broadcasting, education, journalism, marketing, public relations, print, and writing. I’m a media guy with theology degrees, which is a dangerous combination. Consider this fair warning: you’re going to find some disturbingly interesting pieces here.

Essays

Welcome to For What It’s Worth, a space for thoughtful takes, practical insights, and the occasional tangent on whatever feels worth a closer look. From everyday questions to big-picture ideas, we explore a bit of everything with curiosity, clarity, and just enough opinion and levity to keep things interesting.

Browse by series below — select a series heading to view and read its full collection of essays.

Browse by series: What Would You Call It? · Being A Game Changer · The Age Of Magical Thinking · The Emerging Christian Myths · Decoding Lies · Standalone Essays

What Would You Call It?

  • Four-part series that begins by confronting an uncomfortable truth: humans are hardwired for…

Being A Game Changer

  • Become an intentional agent of change, beginning with…

The Age Of Magical Thinking

  • Comforting beliefs shape our politics, our spirituality, and our everyday…

The Emerging Christian Myths

  • The Christian spirit world and the myths developed over centuries. Once understood…

Decoding Lies

  • Human flourishing depends on our ability to distinguish truth from falsehood in a world…

Standalone Essays

  • The Stories That Shape Our Reality 2

    (Image by vwalakte on Freepik) From Greek to American Myth Making (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: “Our lives today are saturated with myth, its symbols, language, and content, all of…

  • Being a Game Changer 1

    (Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash) Five Key Principles (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: “All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our own body.…

  • Being A Game Changer 2

    (Photo by Maria Thalassinou on Unsplash) Responsibility (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first. Then conscious choice brings…

  • Being A Game Changer 3

    (Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash) Unwavering Support (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first. Then conscious choice…

  • The Age Of Magical Thinking 1

    The content discusses how humans are inclined towards “magical thinking,” a tendency to seek meaning in random events for comfort in uncertainty. This impulse leads to “comfort beliefs,” which serve…

  • The Age Of Magical Thinking 2

    Explore how magical thinking, herd mentality, and the manipulation of truth create dangerous alternate realities, from real-world extremism to Orwell’s 1984.

  • The Age Of Magical Thinking 3

    This essay explores how “magical thinking” reshapes political language into a tool of power, blending sacred rhetoric with worldly ambition. Drawing on Orwell, contemporary politics, and debates around faith and…

  • The Age Of Magical Thinking 4

    Power, Fear, and the Seduction of Illusion (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: In The Age Of Magical Thinking 3 we saw how “holy language” can be used to cloak political…

  • The Age of Magical Thinking 5

    The Cost of Inventing Illusions (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: In The Age of Magical Thinking 4, we examined how comfort beliefs arise from a deeply human need to make sense…

  • The Age Of Magical Thinking 6

    How Belief, Identity, and Information Shape What We See (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: “It is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your own judgment about it. And…