Waking at 7AM this morning I felt particularly disoriented. By dint of habit I made my way to the stairs, then to the kitchen. At the counter I poured a bowl of Cheerios. I mechanically assembled the elements of breakfast ticking off the components in turn: two packets of splenda, gallon of milk, banana,…
Monday morning. I had to ask a family member last night if this was the week of Christmas. The pandemic has shorn social encounters, parties, appointments with friends, all cleaved from Christmas. A chimera, a ghost of Christmas without heart is all that remains… The sensation of giving and receiving, the tokens of a…
Sunday morning before sunrise. Still dark outside. I have the privilege of taking a nap later in the day if I choose. Why not get up, do some reading, explore the contents of my mind? Aspiring to find words to more clearly understand this time, the events occurring globally, in America, and in Batavia…
I watched the Frank Capra directed film, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” My wife and I viewed it together. It is one of her favorite films. With each viewing of this 1946 film, a Christmas fantasy tale from our parents generation, I understand better why the story has become one of her favorites. The philosophical…
It’s just another day in paradiseAs you stumble to your bed…. I know, that’s a fragment of song lyric ripped from the Eagles tune, Learn To Be Still. Waking this morning, I felt existentially disoriented. As expected there was little “good news” in The New York Times, The Morning update received via email. Of…
For over an hour those who knew Glenn O’Dell spoke of the impact of his life upon them, and of what they had lost on account of his death. I barely knew Glenn. I was a late comer to the Socrates Café discussion group. I remember that he made me welcome to the circle,…
We discussed ideas from an essay by Stephen Law. Law took pains to show that the concept of language games developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein late in his career do not provide immunity for theists from the intellectual assault of those who simply cannot believe. I do not use the term “unbeliever” because it is…
A few days remain before Christmas. At this juncture in life, I am able to call to memory past Christmas seasons. Christmas is the high point of a year, is it not? A season of ending, as well as a season of anticipation. Something is about to begin. The ending and the beginning are…
I was drawn to this Dec. 9, Washington Post article by Annie Gowin. Here are several paragraphs: MITCHELL, S.D. — A cold wind whipped through the prairie as they laid Buck Timmins to rest. Timmins, a longtime coach and referee, was not the first person in Mitchell, S.D., pop. 15,600, to die of the coronavirus….
What is outdated is not asking what is true and what is just, but viewing science…relegating it to the status of unlegitimated learning, half knowledge… The question, “What is your argument worth, what is your proof worth?” is so much a part of the pragmatics of scientific knowledge that is what assures the transformation…
