In the good old days of Really Existing Socialism, a joke popular among dissidents was used to illustrate the futility of their protests. In the fifteenth century, when Russia was occupied by Mongols, a peasant and his wife were walking along a dusty country road; a Mongol warrior on a horse stopped at their side…
Category
Art
Loving Yourself and Loving Others: Does Jesus Prescribe Psychotherapy?
I don’t think Jesus is saying anything at all about self-esteem in the second Greatest Commandment. And it worries me a lot that churches are leading with messages of self-love. I don’t think Americans need to hear a message that starts like this: “The first thing you need to do is work on loving yourself….
On Children by Kahlil Gibran
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.” And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to…
Wucius Wong and Interpreting The Visual Language
There are numerous ways of interpreting the visual language. Unlike the spoken or written language of which the grammatical laws are more of less established, the visual language has no obvious laws. Each design theorist may have a completely different set of discoveries. … We must not forget that the designer is a problem-solving person….
“Whatever I create and how much I love it – soon I have to oppose it” -Thus Spoke Zarathustra
“The ‘Apollonian’ and the ‘Dionysian’ became the most famous of Nietzsche’s binary concepts; but other Heraclitus-inspired ideas are even more provocative: “pain and pleasure are not opposites”, “health and sickness are not essentially different”, “scorners are only hidden admirers”, “truth is a lie according to fixed convention”, etc. Significantly, Nietzsche’s discourse is not an exercise…
‘Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend’ By Gerard Manley Hopkins
Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? &c. Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just. Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must Disappointment all I endeavour end? Wert thou my enemy, O thou…
Thoughts on Live Music vs. Recorded Music & Revolution
Matthew: it’s ok sorry if I am missing your point Me: Here is what I’m getting at plain and simple: I think our problem today is not the lack of well accessible content. The crisis for me is that it is disembodied. Me: Sitting around a piano singing together is an act of revolution man….
Our Common Identity: We’re All Naked Trash, Headed Toward Death
To understand this let us recall Sartre’s famous reflection on a Parisian waiter. He once saw a waiter who was so absorbed in his role as a waiter that he seemed to define himself in terms of that job. Sartre wrote of how this young man was acting in a mode of inauthenticity because he…
The Only Thing We Need To Be Good Philosophers: A Prayer For My Son
THE ONLY THING WE REQUIRE TO BE GOOD PHILOSOPHERS IS THE FACULTY OF WONDER. Babies have this faculty. That is not surprising. After a few short months in the womb they slip out into a brand-new reality. But as they grow up the faculty of wonder seems to diminish. Why is this? Do you know?…
Original Poem: Benjamin
Benjamin God has only seen what I have I seen. Time is still but spread like tiny toes stretched in blissful relief. My mind is nowhere but there and here and elsewhere yet, perched alongside my dear, of what has only brought contemplation. Soon my love, rejoicing betides …soon. Turri|Design© … Above painting by San…