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…
Decided to visit Galena Illinois for the weekend. Galena is close by the Mississippi River and and is known for it’s most famous resident, General Ulysses S Grant. Grant lived in Galena at the conclusion of the War Between The States. Galena has a Main Street, looking to be at least a half mile,…
Natural disasters are not as bad As not knowing what is enough. Loss is not as bad As wanting more. –Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching 46
Tuesday evening our Philosophy Discussion Group meets at Beans & Leaves Cafe in Long Grove. Our “launch pad” essay for last night was POLITENESS by Quinn Norton. Quinn Norton is a blogger, journalist, photographer. She comments upon the movements that roil our post-modern, globalized, social world. You may have a look at one of…
Another restless night battling this sinus infection. Slept fitfully in the TV room. My condition was not the only thing troubling me. I thought of my co workers, especially the news of a yet to be diagnosed heart condition of one of the men. He is much younger than I. I also could not…
Our culture idolizes youth. The images selected for commercial promotion are adults and children, in the bloom of health, active, energized by joie de vivre, apparently eternally young. The message directly voiced, or indirectly implied is the product under offer, is the secret to this well being. I wish that were true. Last night…
It is possible to act well in spite of one’s difficulties and apprehensions, a reserve of spiritual power becomes manifest, and may be accessed and drawn upon. The Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called “spannungsbogen” – which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching…
The more you love, the more you can love— and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had Time Enough, he could love all of the majority who are decent and just. –Robert A. Heinlein The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
So, do you mean to say, “love thy neighbor as thyself” is the best that we can do for an objective moral principle? Yes. Then it seems that I need to get right to work on better loving myself. Yes.
A spirited discussion developed on the topic of morality. Where does one begin to think about such an expansive idea? A promising launch point was suggested. Morality, what is good, and it’s opposite, is rooted in our visceral response to the external world. In short pleasure is an indication of what is good, and…
