There is… a counterforce which continually reminds us that there is no exclusively moral-making morality, and that a morality which asserts itself to the exclusion of all other morality destroys too much sound strength and is too dearly bought by mankind. The non-conventional and deviating people, who are so often productive and inventive, must…
Nietzsche is interested in the ideal of the ancient Greeks, “all things in moderation.” The Greeks were as human as any 21st century homo sapien. Ideals serve as coordinates that we attempt to follow, albeit the inadequacy of our character, or skill, or resources. In contradistinction to the Greeks we Americans make no attempt…
BEAUTY CORRESPONDING TO THE AGE. —Ifour sculptors, painters, and musicianswish to catch the significance of the age,they should represent beauty as bloated, gigantic, and nervous: just as the Greeks,under the influence of their morality of moderation,saw and represented beauty in the Apollo di Belvedere. We should, indeed, call him ugly!But the pedantic “classicists” have…
Day by day November 5th recedes. Today is the 12th. Psychologically it seems as if an entire age has transpired. I mean that we ‘liberal minded’ are worn out by news of sycophants appointed to head cabinet departments, for which they need only demonstrate unconditioned, servile loyalty to the President. The next four years…
A restless night is followed by a grey, cloud-covered sky. The air is somewhat cooler, to remind us that typically this is fall. The weather has been markedly warmer than usual, another indicator of global warming. The signs are coming more often, such as the wild fires in New England. My nightmare that disrupted…
Reading Nietzsche ranks with the most difficult of duties within memory. I categorize my inclination, my taste for his fevered commentary, the excavation of language in the only way possible, with language, – as a duty. I am reminded of being taken as a sick child to the family doctor by my parents. Then…
Just suppose for a moment… If you could imagine the ultimate game, one which you and I are outside observers,… As nonparticipants, god-like spectators removed, we notice something: the unending suffering, nuanced, background discomfort all the way to extreme agony of the players. Additionally notice how the self-aware creatures assume their suffering is a…
I felt comfort to see the horizon alight with the dawn. Upon entering the seating area at Starbucks, I felt the red of the Christmas-holiday promotion posters behind the beverage prep. counter. Paper cups with the colorful holiday graphic were stacked ready for use. Thus, I am reminded that life has a relentless heartbeat…
Wednesday morning, I heard from my wife, daughter, and a friend, that the mad king shortly will be ensconced in the White House by the “will of the people.” Did we imagine that democracy was an American birthright, inviolate, a gift of the gods. What a sad illusion that was. We are awake now,…
Election day. I am glad to see, to feel the falling rain. The New York Times reports this morning that all but two states are in a condition of drought. According to the poet, Dionysus Olympian god of reverie and wine, while intoxicated with a single candle, illuminates the horizon. I think that we…
