Nietzsche’s dream-vision tale concludes. His spokesman Zarathustra comes upon a young shepherd lying across the mountain path in agony. A dog howls mournfully as a Greek chorus would add commentary to a tragedian performance. The narrator does not know if he is awake or if this is a dream. And is there a difference?…
Yesterday while at lunch I spoke with a friend. He told a story of an exchange with a Facebook acquaintance. His interlocutor sent a list of common ethical principles held between varieties of religious traditions. Conspicuously missing was that of the atheist position. Naturally my friend composed his version of the common ground that…
Man, however is the most courageous animal: thereby he has overcome every animal. With sound of triumph he has overcome every pain; human pain, however, is the sorest pain. Courage slays also vertigo at abysses; and where does not man stand at abysses! Is not seeing itself seeing abysses? Courage is the best slayer;…
I expect her to show for another round. I repaired the hole in the wood trim, thankfully no larger than a golf ball— the likely result of the animal’s first session of work. I expected it to return. The night after our first encounter, it was a no show. Maybe I got the best…
The sound was subtle, not loud, irregular. I walked into the guest bed room and listened,–there it was. And then into the front room, again, but not so loud. The thought came to me. There is an animal on the roof. Outside I went with my little flashlight, the batteries at their low ebb. …
Tonight our intention is to discussion “fashion.” After years of reading and exchanging ideas, at last we arrive at this topic. My wife and kids might say, “It’s about time.” I am fashion challenged as I’ve mentioned before. By habit I have my mind on other things. I dress to be comfortable and to…
What we’re taking in when we check our phones is perhaps the single greatest contributor to our mental ill-health……. Every minute of every day presents us with untold options for filling our minds with the mania, exploits, disasters, furies, reversals, ambitions, triumphs, insanity and cataclysms of strangers around our benighted planet. Always, news organizations…
Writing about this subject, a fool rushing in — I am not a “fashion forward” guy. I attribute that to my upbringing. I didn’t grow into adulthood in New York, Paris, or London. While living in Durham North Carolina in the 1950s dressing up for church on Sundays, was a close as I came…
Yesterday it occurred that I could attempt to write directly about myself. My posts have been indirect discourse about my life experience, about the makeup of my mind. I doubt that anything remains concealed. Philosophical ideas interest me, are worth writing about. Philosophy is not a frivolous word-game played by academics. Philosophy arises from…
Things do not change. They do not change as long as there is a market for a good pitchman. I was invited to listen to Dr. David Jeremiah, a current television preacher of some note. I agreed, not wanting to be rude. I was hopeful that I might learn something. Perhaps I’d discover a…
