It is Monday. Am I “in the groove” of a first work-day of the week? “Work” in my case no longer involves customers, employees, contractors, scheduling and profit. Where has destiny, the complicated twists and turns of circumstance, and of people led me, – what is “on my plate,” what I must do? That…
Thinking about Ennui. It becomes clear that a response to ignorance, to the ill-will of sexism, to racism, to homophobia, and to tribalism, is to withdraw from excruciating pain. Ennui is the response of shock, an inward cringing, a “just too much” at the horror. This is a normal, healthy sign that one remains…
Friday, the end of the week! An ending involves a beginning. Opposite meanings, each defines the other. You cannot have one without the other. Both terms are symbols, linguistic markers used to make sense of time. Making sense is something we humans cannot do without. Primitive and mammalian, the reflex to cry out, soon…
In our everyday, public way of being,we have fallen awayfrom the innermost ground of our being,and the most finite thingin our finitude has been concealed from us. The radical nullity of Dasein (existence),of being held out into Nothingis forgottenin the courseof relating to beings; with great peace of mindwe hurry to the superficial domains…
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….
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,…
Sunday morning. Why be “all in”, attempting a “full throttle” life all of the time? I have such conversations with myself. Sure that’s the my temptation. But, I know better. Calling a “time out,” taking some time for rest on the bench, to use a sports metaphor, is in the interest of playing the…
