#27 Sciros

So Lisa, I'm just curious but was Layla a name you adopted upon conversion the way Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did?

Kareem ("generous, noble") Abdul-Jabbar ("Slave of the Compeller"). :-P

Sort of...I chose it but never really used it. It's actually not that uncommon for converts to retain their "old" names, actually. While many famous converts either changed their name or added an Arab/Muslim one (e.g. Michael Muhammad Knight, an American convert/author whom I admire for being so conflicted about his chosen faith and writing about it!)

#30 Invariance

I suppose this goes to prove something I've thought for a very long time: namely, that the logic of one's actions is largely determined by one's emotional state and personality, as opposed to learning or intelligence.

Yes...I subscribe to the notion that 95% of humans' actions are more or less irrational, and if we could get that down to 90%, we'd be making enormous progress. When I read the biographies of geniuses and fantastically talented people, I'm struck by how messed-up and unhappy their private lives often were! This is not necessarily always the case, of course, but genius in one area certainly does not translate to genius or even simple common sense in all areas of one's life.