Philosophy
Wednesday night I participated in a session of deep spiritual sharing. I came home and naturally tuned in to comments on the Presidential debate, which had just taken place. A person needs to keep abreast of events, right? Well, in one way, yes; in another way, no! What we need to keep abreast of, is our deepest self. Before tuning in to anything else, let's make sure we're in tune with that.
- Is Addiction Itself Problematic?
I had lunch yesterday with my editors from Johns Hopkins University Press and one of them who ordered a cup of coffee was making light of her supposed caffeine addiction. It leads to the question whether such an addiction would be a problem. ...
- Historians, Archaeologists, And Scientists
Are historians scientists? They frame hypotheses about the causes and effects of real events and use empirical evidence to support their accounts. But they don't do not look for regularities to make into laws; to the contrary, they account...
- How Old Is History?
On Presidents' Day, PBS showed a new documentary about the Clinton presidency. I heard an interview with the director on Fresh Air where he argued that the time was right for this work because it was far enough in the past that it had just become...
- What Is Philosophical Mysticism?
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass. ? Do you see O my brothers and sisters? It is not chaos or death?. It is form and union and plan?.it ...
- Philosophy Talks In Athens 2015
A weekly program of two introductory talks is being given in central Athens this spring 2015 during all of May and June. (Hopefully, a similar program of talks will be arranged for the Autumn 2015 This will be confirmed later in the year.) Further...
Philosophy
Birth in Beauty
Wednesday night I participated in a session of deep spiritual sharing. I came home and naturally tuned in to comments on the Presidential debate, which had just taken place. A person needs to keep abreast of events, right? Well, in one way, yes; in another way, no! What we need to keep abreast of, is our deepest self. Before tuning in to anything else, let's make sure we're in tune with that.
This is the paradoxical Sufi advice that we should "die before we die." That is, we should see the world and our life from a perspective that fully understands how short, how evanescent is the life that we're living. We have X minutes or hours remaining to us. How can we best employ those minutes or hours? When I think about my situation in that way?when I "meditate on my bones," as Buddhists recommend?my feeling about my life changes dramatically. I care less about "current events," and much more about sharing what I think is deepest and potentially most valuable, within me. About "giving birth," as Plato puts it in the Symposium, to whatever is truly beautiful. Nothing else is even remotely as important as this.
- Is Addiction Itself Problematic?
I had lunch yesterday with my editors from Johns Hopkins University Press and one of them who ordered a cup of coffee was making light of her supposed caffeine addiction. It leads to the question whether such an addiction would be a problem. ...
- Historians, Archaeologists, And Scientists
Are historians scientists? They frame hypotheses about the causes and effects of real events and use empirical evidence to support their accounts. But they don't do not look for regularities to make into laws; to the contrary, they account...
- How Old Is History?
On Presidents' Day, PBS showed a new documentary about the Clinton presidency. I heard an interview with the director on Fresh Air where he argued that the time was right for this work because it was far enough in the past that it had just become...
- What Is Philosophical Mysticism?
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass. ? Do you see O my brothers and sisters? It is not chaos or death?. It is form and union and plan?.it ...
- Philosophy Talks In Athens 2015
A weekly program of two introductory talks is being given in central Athens this spring 2015 during all of May and June. (Hopefully, a similar program of talks will be arranged for the Autumn 2015 This will be confirmed later in the year.) Further...