Philosophy becomes a kind of necessary virus, which causes a constructive fever in others, compelling them to be and to do more than just survive. It is not there to appease or to make people feel better; it is there to provoke a constant restlessness of being. –excerpt from What Makes A Philosopher? by…
That is a term that has not come to mind for many years. The concept means causation. Nothing comes to be apart from depending on many other things. It is an important, often used word in Buddhist texts. The Buddhist tradition takes cause and effect with total seriousness, –as serious as a heart attack…
On Receiving the First News of the War by Issac Rosenberg Snow is a strange white word; No ice or frost Has asked of bud or bird For Winter’s cost. Yet ice and frost and snow From earth to sky This Summer land doth know; No man knows why. In all men’s hearts it…
I received a sardonic email from a friend this morning. The writer observed that “the sun is hot, ice cubes are actually made of water, and blueberries tend to be blue.” Such observations of the nature of reality, until recently uncontroversial, agreed upon without further ado as “common” by everybody except maybe those under…
To stop thinking about the Second World War and Auschwitz is to forget the reality of the horror of war and the violence of extermination. –John Armitage 2002 Introduction to Art and Fear by Paul Virilio To bow in silence seems appropriate in response to the eleven who were killed in the Tree of…
“It’s a mass exodus.” Rodrigo Abeja, who is also with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said extreme poverty and unchecked gang violence have driven migrants to leave their homeland. “The organizer of this caravan is number one hunger, two death,” he said. —report USA Today We must put out the excess rather than the fire.—Heraclitus Today…
In my scheme of the German state, there will be no room for the alien, no use for the wastrel, for the usurer or speculator, or anyone incapable of productive work. — Adolf Hitler, Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, 1923 I came upon this quote yesterday. The words froze my mind. These are the…
A last evening in my hometown, with a note of celebration. We finished two days dedicated to visiting with my sister. She and I are separated by distance which equates to the passage of time with too little contact. Not nearly enough can be forced into two days to remedy the loss. But we…
Just finished an essay in a book, Basic Writings by Martin Heidegger. Reading Heidegger is like jumping into the deep end of the pool, before one is confident that one knows how to swim. I read, “What is Metaphysics?” at the behest of a friend who said that his life was changed by the…
While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. —Genesis…
