Fall is a divine time of year. Fall is the season of harvest. As well, the days grow shorter, a chill descends, sunlight falls oblique upon the earth and the maple leaves catch fire, and begin to fall. They fall one by one, finished, the alchemy of chlorophyll having utilized sunlight to make sugar. …
All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called “Celts,” in our language “Gauls,” the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. – excerpt The Gallic War by Julius Caesar (written in 53 BCE),…
It [laughter] burns as it comes into contact with death; from the symbols of the emptiness of death it draws a heightened consciousness of being. …It brings us out, for a time, from the impasse in which life is enclosed by those whose only concern is to preserve it. …those arts which sustain anguish…
Egoism is like trying to swim without relying on the water, endeavoring to keep afloat by tugging at your own legs; your whole body becomes tense, and you sink like a stone. -Alan Watts Egoism… There are many untethered egos about these days. I think that capitalism as a way-of-life, breeds this illusion of…
It is not so much a matter of what you do as of how you do it, not so much the content as the style of action adopted. -Alan Watts I heard more than once from a conservative-minded friend that former President Trump accomplished some good things. Perhaps. Even to concede my friend’s point,…
The greater part of human activity is designed to make permanent those experiences and joys which are only lovable because they are changing. Music is a delight because of its rhythm and flow. Yet the moment you arrest the flow and prolong a note or a chord beyond its time, the rhythm is destroyed….
At every moment we are crushed by the idea and the sensation of time. There are only two ways of escaping from this nightmare, of forgetting it: pleasure and work. Pleasure exhausts us. Work strengthens us. Let us choose. In every man, at every time, there are two simultaneous tendencies -one towards God, the…
A gentle rain falls under a gray sky. We need the rain. Last night a group of us discussed the relationship between critical thinking and war. The first issue to be considered has to be what one has in mind by the term “war.” The soldier in a combat zone understands that the word…
Thoreau’s Pumpkins by Ginny Lowe Connors It is thought that Henry David Thoreau was the first American to plant Potiron Jaune Grosse, a variety of large yellow pumpkin. Six seeds from France began it all. No abracadabra required, no alacazam— just a bit of manure, some hoeing, a little rain, and…
Columbus Day 2022. Today is a federal holiday and traffic is noticeably lighter. “A day off” is appreciated especially by students, who get to sleep-in this morning. The fall days are superlative as the mornings edge toward the appearing of frost. Leaves are beginning to fall. Vegetation has an arc of lifespan as do…
