How pleasant to know that Epicurus is part of our Grecco-Roman heritage. The culture of the West owes a great deal to the intellectual ideals of Greece and Rome. The Epicurean spirit is one of hospitality, of generous invitation. The host and keeper of this place, where you will find the pleasure of the…
I struggle to write this morning. I awakened to the details of the Republican replacement for the ACA. The Affordable Care Act was a work in process, an attempt to blunt the double digit annual increase in health care cost. The measure was a heroic attempt. The real issue always has been and is…
O sancta simplicitas!………….. Giving our senses a passport to everything superficial, our thoughts a godlike desire for wanton leaps and wrong inferences!–how from the beginning, we have contrived to retain our ignorance…… And only on this solidified, granitelike foundation of ignorance could knowledge rear itself hitherto, the will to knowledge on the foundation of…
WANTING TO LIVE ACCORDING TO NATURE So, you want to live according to nature? Imagine a being like nature: Wasteful beyond measure, Indifferent beyond measure Without purposes and consideration, Without mercy and justice, Fertile and desolate and uncertain at the same time; Imagine indifference itself as a power—– How could you live according to…
Saturday and I am up early. The days are longer and I am thankful for extended day light plus a morning that offers me hot coffee and music. As I arrived here at Starbucks Paul Simon’s Mother and Child Reunion played on my car radio. I’ve witnessed Paul Simon in concert and I felt…
Sloth – Laziness is really fear. We can’t bear to get down to our work, because if we were to apply ourselves, we risk terrifying humiliation. We might not succeed as well as we’d like, we might find a task too hard, we may realise we’re not yet equipped to undertake it or be mocked…
Over the years Don has contended for a thorough going cause/effect description of reality. We’ve enjoyed exchanges exploring the possibility or impossibility of free will. This story is for you, Don. “Explain free will,” I said. “Imagine a copper penny that is exactly like an ordinary penny except that for this discussion it has…
Tuesday evening is philosophy discussion night. Eight to ten of us gather together to discuss an essay. We “go” together in conversation where ever our stories seem to lead us. We have discussed Nietzsche’s work before. He is difficult for many reasons, none the least is shear brilliance of his intellect. The springboard for…
Read this in the NY Times this morning. What would possess us to kill/eliminate/obliterate a species forever?……. Are we mad? SAN FELIPE, Mexico — In the shallow sea waters of the Gulf of California swims a porpoise that few have seen, its numbers dwindling so fast that its very existence is now in peril….
Monday, the work week begins. As usual seated at Starbucks, keyboard at my fingers, I realize that those around me, baristas behind the counter, and the regulars purposely striding in to place their beverage orders, are all connected in a vast network of communication and purpose which we call work. It is a living…
