I participated with a group of friends in a discussion about the future. What possible paths appear to be before us as a society, given the political, economic, an social trends that we are aware of? I am satisfied the future is opaque, not subject to prediction. Still, who can resist such an exchange…
Midweek. A few days remain until Christmas. The to-do list is short. To live is to act, to do. It is good to have a list, the illusion of control. I believe there is no control, that all is at “the mercy” of the state of things that immediately preceded this moment. Still there…
Rän Qiu asked Zhongni, saying,‘Can it be knownhow it was before heaven and earth?’ The reply was,‘It can. It was the same of old as now… [Zhongni] Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing?That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing.Things came forth…
The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had not lost a hair’s-breadth of his ability. The Minister said to him, ‘You are indeed skillful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?’ The man said, ‘Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When…
Ten days into December. A friend asked if I was finished my Christmas shopping? The gift giving custom can be approached in many ways. Christmas is best experienced for me by reducing the intensity of stress. Quite by accident I am learning to cultivate curiosity for each of the duties, the chores, and the…
Soon it will be mid-December. Its raining outside, Saturday. Tom Petty’s Runnin’ Down A Dream played on the radio, I drove on the rain slicked road before light this morning. An extended email exchange with an old friend occupied my thoughts. He is a die-hard conservative. I, on the other hand, am on the…
Tuesday is a gray day. A bit of snow this morning becomes an annunciation of winter. I look forward to winter because days are shorter. There’s the respite from growth. Absent the need to transform energy into concrete form, I make room for contemplation, reading, marinating my sense of self with the mind of…
This fierce disco number, written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert captured my imagination. I have listened to radio play of the song too many times to count. Thelma Houston’s opening voice run washed over me like the movement of a great tide. Is not our fundamental longing that of loving and…
A group of us attempted to better understand what is meant by culture. Isn’t culture tacitly agreed upon habits of behavior, norms of a common life, a form-of-life shared? Expectations are built up gradually by observation and practice. So much becomes “as if” instinct, imprinted habit. I simply know how to act, and how…
To love is to give what you do not have to someone who does not exist. -Jacques Lacan, Seminar VIII Today I “decided” to dedicate time to revisit the ideas of Jacques Lacan (1901-1981). Lacan was a psychoanalyst practicing according to the insight offered by Freudian philosophy which treated the unconscious. Lacan was interested…
