“The brutality of Hamas, this bloodthirstiness, brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS … Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed; entire families slain; young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace; women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. In this moment it must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We…
Ancient texts often describe a long ago period of idyllic society, a time when humans lived in harmony with one another and with Nature. This is a literary device, a means of contrast with present conditions in order to advance the writer’s point of view. Whether Eden could have existed, if furthermore any of…
I followed the war in Israel last night on ABC streaming channel. Perhaps I should say nothing about this bloodletting. Still, how is this not my business since I am human, and this is yet another outbreak, a paroxysm of rage? Gaza has been called an open air prison, one of the most densely…
I chose to “sleep in” this morning. Something which I seldom do. I like the early morning, a habit learned from my mother who grew up on a farm. Plants and animals elicit care, not scheduling at one’s convenience. Farmers do not sleep in. We visited a farmers market in Geneva where we purchased…
Great indeed is the disorder produced in the world by the love of knowledge. From the time of the three dynasties downwards it has been so. The plain and honest-minded people are neglected, and the plausible representations of restless spirits received with pleasure; the quiet and unexciting method of non-action is put away, and…
(So), the versatility shown in artful deceptions becoming more and more pernicious, in ingenious discussions as to what is hard and what is white, and in attempts to disperse the dust and reconcile different views, is great, but the common people are perplexed by all the sophistry. Hence there is great disorder…
An extraordinary faculty in debating leads to the piling up of arguments like a builder with his bricks, or a net-maker with his string. (Its possessor) cunningly contrives his sentences and enjoys himself in discussing what hardness is and what whiteness is, where views agree and where they differ, and pressing on,…
An email exchange developed between the three of us. What is the relationship between the origin, the durability of religion — and our fear of the unknown? There’s a great deal of the unknown, an ocean of it. Does the unknown have a far shore? The thought experiment was posed: Consider the difference —…
It is morning and the sun “rises” in the east over the Fox River. Do I correctly understand and render these matters? Consider the possibility that “getting it correct” is to completely miss the point. Is there a correct? How could/would one know? And if you were convinced that your assessment was incorrect what…
I participated in a study group of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Did I read the book when in high school or is my memory from college? I am not sure. The book is widely known, a parable of sorts. A group of English boarding school boys is marooned on a nameless South…
