People claim to want freedom. In good faith attempts are made to set up political freedom. People also proclaim metaphysical freedom. They struggle to free slaves. They make liberty a supreme value. The loss of freedom by imprisonment is a punishment that is hard to bear. Liberty is cherished……. It is not true that…
And freedom, oh freedom, well that’s just some people talkin’ A lyric line from the song Desperado by Glenn Frey and Don Henley is how I feel right now. We worship at the Shrine of Freedom in this country. Lately I wonder if there is much behind the curtain. I happily accepted a invitation…
Street violence was reported in Berkeley last night. Riot police, students and tear gas is never a good combination. The cancelled speaker is an editor for the Breitbart News Network, which was headed until recently by a senior Trump advisor. “So now it begins,” I thought upon waking to this news report. A drumbeat…
After two sessions discussing the work and sayings of Albert Einstein, he remains one of my heroes. Einstein is remembered for his worldview altering theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity. The math and the experiments show that space and time and matter and gravity exist in dynamic relationship. Space and time are no…
Sparks fly! I think that I’ve learned as much of life from Rock n Roll as I have from philosophy. The distinction is a false one. The discipline of reflection on the contents of the mind, and attending to the lyrics and tune composed by another, are complementary. Its as if wisdom rises up, …
[In an ongoing attempt to clarify communication, Tobin decides to write another story as an analogy with regard to recent comments posted to the Philo Group. In his usual delusional manner, he actually believes things such as this story can open doors and produce results. Poor Tobin. He may never learn, at which point…
In fairy tales the worm is a common term for dragon. What a relief when the worm turns and your village and fields are not scorched by the beast. The day after the inauguration, women took to the streets to protest the stated intentions of the newly elected president of the United States to…
At a bar sipping a wheat beer, I had time to consider something I wrote down twenty years ago. Words in the old note book seemed more truthful, more penetrating than when discovered long ago. I was younger, a different man then. Now, I hope I’m wiser, and more focused upon my one life….
This morning I felt out-of-sorts when I began my day. My sense of life was dissonant with my perception of “reality,” the goings-on around me. I know that the daily news reporting has a lot to do with my funk. The president elect has yet to be inaugurated and the ether is filled with…
Published in the LA Times, January 8, 2017 The following is a transcript of Meryl Streep’s speech at the 74th Golden Globes as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. I love you all. You have to forgive me, I have lost my voice in screaming and lamentation this weekend and…
