Yesterday I enjoyed the rare privilege of lunch with a good friend at a restaurant which we both find delightful. We met at Taste of Paris in Mundelein. In the middle of the week, we had the dining room to ourselves. Under these conditions of increasing covid-19 contagion it felt safer to dine alone. …
Our philosophy discussion last night was conducted via zoom. Admittedly not as satisfying, but a conference call among six to eight people, their presence indicated by a postage-stamp scale image is better than nothing. Evening comes earlier now, with the chill, precluding our custom of sitting in a big circle of chairs on the…
Another mild fall day. The pleasant weather betrays the darkness that roils our society. Conditions present a surface quiescence, especially in towns such as mine, majority white, affluent, well ordered by the system. My neighbors appear to be comfortable enough in their homes, most of us are able to work from home, and our…
Sunday morning, and a chill breeze removes some leaves from our maple tree. Red and orange colors begin to illuminate the tree. Little seems changed in the last twenty four hours according to the NYT Weekend Briefing received this morning. The president continues to be hospitalized with covid-19. Reports of his condition are uncertain. …
My Ancestors – immigrated from Britain to escape religious persecution, intending to found a city set-on-a-hill, or paradise, which is another way of putting it. In the haste to flee persecution, we overlooked our streak of self-righteousness which we inadvertently transported to the “new” world. Early in our settlement in Massachusetts we had a…
I woke and read that the President and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus. She says that she feels fine. Of course the NY Times Morning report mentioned well wishes received from many world leaders. I am not so sympathetic. Given the presidents attitude of disdain for social distancing, for wearing a mask,…
A friend reached out to me, inquiring of my thoughts on treatment options he had been presented for a recurrence of cancer. I briefly awakened at 3AM thinking about what I would say. Cancer is a serious illness, terminal if not treated. The overture for a philosophical response could not have been more pragmatic…
Sunday morning, I retrieved the New York Times from the end of the driveway. Sorting the sections of the paper, after discarding the advertising inserts I brought the Magazine section to my desk. The first article, entitled After Math is about the musing of a teenager (while applying makeup) about whether math is real…
The Socrates Café met earlier this week. Seven or eight of us began by discussing the challenges of listening mindfully, carefully to what someone of a different culture has to say. Listening well is quite difficult. A member of our group asserted that we Caucasian Americans are accustomed to speaking, to the expectation that…
Why Buddhism? We began several sessions to consider concepts entailed in Buddhism; not easy or comfortable for Americans who are natural pragmatists. Habits of thinking by categorizing, labeling experience is our default. Buddhist thought is a bid to move in another direction: reality as seamless, metaphysical monism. There is no purity or pollution, birth…
