The edifices guard the fourfold. They are things that in their own way preserve the fourfold.To preserve the fourfold, to save the earth, to receive the sky, to await the divinities, to escort mortals-this fourfold preserving is the simple nature, the presencing, of dwelling. In this way, then, do genuine buildings give form to…
My intention has been to learn more about Stoicism. Stoicism was (and is) a point of view as well as a practice located in history 4th century BC. Zeno of Citium facilitated a gathering on Stoa Poikile, the painted porch on the north side of the Athenian market place. This view that you are…
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. We celebrated Ireland, and the Irish people as a family yesterday. Ireland and its inhabitants have always been hard scrabble. Rural, village life is not easy-city-living. And then there’s England. The British have been Ireland’s overlords until recently, Dec. 6, 1921. Even then the British held onto Northern Island….
“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.” — Kierkegaard Well, which is it, what fate am I going to choose? To dare is to lose for the moment. Choose not, – and you lose yourself. Frankly I do not know if a “choice” at all is…
Human existence discovers itself as something unclear, even to itself, as to where it came from and where it is going. It is as if Dasein (existence) has been handed over to human beings, whose being is thereby revealed to be a burden with which they have been laden. Just why one has been…
I mentioned a book which I finished reading. The author caught me with a too abrupt ending. I wanted more. No doubt, the writer gave what he had to say, without attempting to gin-up a speculative conclusion. That was ideal, and how much courage does that require? That is – strength to be silent…
I wonder if this is how Charlie Brown felt, that rush of adrenaline, to imagine a perfect kick of the ball and then, – well nothing. Or almost nothing. Charlie is seen to fall on his head. Finishing up a difficult and satisfying book, The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism by Nishitani Keiji, I anticipated a…
A friend asked, “What are you going to write about today?” I had a vague idea which I vaguely described to him. The look back at forty years or so of establishing and operating a company, the challenges, some failures, and those successes -now come into focus. My life appears as the individualized version,…
These words come from Joan Westenberg’s newsletter. Contrary my natural inclination, I cannot but resonate with her point. It is this involuntary feeling – to preserve decorum is indirectly to “kiss the ring.” At the very least, to begin, – a push away from the starting block. You and I must find our voices. While…
Philosophy by its very nature is esoteric; for itself is neither made for the masses nor is susceptible of being cooked up for them. It is philosophy only because it goes exactly contrary to the understanding and thus even more so to “sound common sense,” the so-called healthy human understanding. Which actually means the…
