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…
An old friend wrote about the topic of Ennui on his blog The Cage. I and others have known first hand this persistent sense of malaise. Ennui is personal, a condition of soul that is beyond any abstract focus of interest. Speaking personally, a confluence of climate disruption resulting from runaway capitalism, and the…
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…
The edifices guard the fourfold. They are things that in their own way preserve the fourfold.To preserve the fourfold, to save the earth, to receive the sky, to await the divinities, to escort mortals-this fourfold preserving is the simple nature, the presencing, of dwelling. In this way, then, do genuine buildings give form to…
My intention has been to learn more about Stoicism. Stoicism was (and is) a point of view as well as a practice located in history 4th century BC. Zeno of Citium facilitated a gathering on Stoa Poikile, the painted porch on the north side of the Athenian market place. This view that you are…
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….
“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.” — Kierkegaard Well, which is it, what fate am I going to choose? To dare is to lose for the moment. Choose not, – and you lose yourself. Frankly I do not know if a “choice” at all is…
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…
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,…
These words come from Joan Westenberg’s newsletter. Contrary my natural inclination, I cannot but resonate with her point. It is this involuntary feeling – to preserve decorum is indirectly to “kiss the ring.” At the very least, to begin, – a push away from the starting block. You and I must find our voices. While…
