One thing is needful— To “give style” to one’s character– a great and rare art. It is practiced by those who survey all the strengths and weaknesses of their nature and then fit them into an artistic plan until every one of them appears as art and reason and even weaknesses delight the eye….
On this day in 1865, a contingent of Federal troops lead by Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Texas to proclaim, to enforce the end of enslavement of black Americans. Today is Juneteenth, a national day of remembrance. I offer for your pondering along with me, these magnificent words from Nietzsche. The photos were…
We are staying at the Louisville Ky downtown Marriott Courtyard. On the seventh floor, across from our window is the Yum KFC center, the home of the Louisville Cardinals. The Ohio River can be seen behind the Yum Center. The sky is obscured by dome of gray haze. Sunlight waxes and wanes through the…
Thursday at 7AM the morning sun burned a pallid orange. Wildfire smoke in the high atmosphere filters the sunlight. For us here in the Fox Valley it is an early sign of much more that is coming. In terms of climate the midwest is not far from Quebec where the fires burn. Imagine the…
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do…
What I do or do not do now is as important for everything that is yet to come as is the greatest event of the past: in this tremendous perspective of effectiveness all actions appear equally great and small. –excerpt The Gay Science, Book 3, Section 233 by Friedrich Nietzsche I shared these lines with…
Slept in today in the aftermath of a full weekend. Sunday afternoon I had a rare opportunity to attend a live performance of show tunes, by the Fox Valley Festival Chorus. As you’d imagine the work of Stephen Sondheim was a feature of the concert. These lines from perhaps the best known of Sondheim’s…
What does your conscience say? — “You shall become the person you are.” –excerpt The Gay Science, Book 3, Section 270 by Friedrich Nietzsche My mind is numb, as if tantalized by just a taste of what is badly needed. Like the promise of rain, in the midst of a drought. Dry ground, dormant grass…
Sacrifice– The sacrificial animal does not share the spectators ideas about sacrifice, but one has never let it have its say. –excerpt The Gay Science, Book 3, Section 220 by Friedrich Nietzsche I am haunted by this line of text, by this thought. Compared with other mammals life for humans has great added difficulty. Our…
Dreams— Either we have no dreams or our dreams are interesting. We should learn to arrange our waking life the same way: nothing or interesting. –excerpt The Gay Science, Book 3, Section 232 by Friedrich Nietzsche Lately I hardly dream. Where does a dream belong? Are dreams the visitation of a god? A message from…
