Our philosophy discussion group convened virtually last night , via zoom video. We discussed an essay by Olufemi O Taiwo, a philosopher who teaches at Georgetown University. The Who Gets To Feel Secure essay treated the down-to-earth security that all human beings need in order to survive, to preserve their humanity. I mean the…
BURNT NORTON By T. S. Eliot Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation. What might…
I have no idea what to write. What do I/you want? (Che Vuoí?) That is the question. Do I know? Does anyone know? Usually I do not think about it. When I do, I realize how unsure I actually am, how torn, how tossed about by a confusion of inner voices. I offer a…
Saturday morning, I was beginning to dream a rather unpleasant series of visions of the up-and-coming 2nd impeachment trial of former President Trump. Sufficiently conscious to recognize that sleeping-in would probably mean additional images from the cellar of my consciousness, I got up. Today is sunny, still, and quite cold, 5 degrees in fact. …
LITTLE GIDDING (No. 4 of ‘Four Quartets’) I Midwinter spring is its own season Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown, Suspended in time, between pole and tropic. When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire, The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches, In windless cold that is the heart’s heat,…
A friend introduced me to The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908. It is a children’s story of the adventures of Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger. After reading the short book I learned the story had been a favorite of my youngest daughter. Kenneth Grahame, a banker, served as the…
Today is Monday. Preparations for the impeachment trial of former president Trump are underway. I heard on NPR someone interviewed about what the president knew about the plans of the mob who overran the Capitol on January 6th. Does a mob have plans as such? There is abundant evidence that the former president feels…
More than I want to know, more than I ought to know about the riot, the attempted overthrow of an election… There is a surplus of video taken of the January 6th assault on the Capitol. According to the New York Times: It’s hard to think of another crime that the perpetrators documented so…
I dreamed last night. Surely the mental vision happened early morning just before waking. Dreams are in the “coming to consciousness” phase of sleep. I found myself in a ruined city, at least it was partially wrecked, decrepit. Some few neighborhoods and thoroughfares were maintained and in use, — the rest, skyscrapers included were…
What we need. Those words capture in retrospect my sense of the exchange of ideas experienced a few hours ago when the philosophy discussion group held a virtual meeting to consider (M)existentialism. The launch pad for this discussion was Carlos Alberto Sanchez’ essay about Emilio Uranga’s philosophical work. The texture of the discussion was…
