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Category Archives: Philosophy
Should I Die in New Zealand?
When we lived in Dallas, fierce thunderstorms were not strangers. They swept through the area with some regularity, sometimes bringing with them astonishing hail that ruined roofs and left cars pockmarked with evidence of Mother Nature’s fury that simply could … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Travel
3 Comments
Musings on the Day After the Fourth
Last night, I sat on my deck watching explosions of fireworks in the deep distance and hearing the faint percussive thuds of the remote blasts. The air was hot and muggy, defining July in central Arkansas (and much of my home state of … Continue reading
Posted in Depression, Frustration, Independence Day, Philosophy, Politics, Rant
2 Comments
Missing Pieces
Other people remember their seventeenth and eighteenth and nineteenth birthdays as milestones, landmarks of adventure to be remembered longingly as they glide through their senior years. Not I. Even when prompted by hearing stories of someone else’s ‘coming of age,’ I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Memories, Philosophy
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Wishing as a Lifestyle
Yet again, I arose far earlier than I intended this morning, getting out of bed about 3:30. A couple of cups of coffee and too much web-surfing later, I sit at my computer wondering why. Not just why I woke up … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Philosophy
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Self-Made Dilemma
A week ago, I wrote about what I called an epiphany. I’ve been thinking about it (the epiphany, not what I wrote about it) ever since. During the course of my contemplation, I’ve stumbled across a number of questions that … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Creativity, Philosophy
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Letters and Numbers
What gives me reason to think I can stitch together a small sample of all the available words in the English language to create something new? Any word I might choose to use has been used before, very probably in concert … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Mathematics, Philosophy, Writing
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A Recurring Theme
The most recent ember, I think, was the Crystal Bridges museum exhibition, The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip. The exhibit features more than 100 photos taken by 19 photographers as they traveled across the USA from the 1950s through … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Travel, Wisdom
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Coincidental Judaism and Humanism
Last night, we attended a program in which Theodora Klayman, a Holocaust survivor from Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) spoke of her experiences. She and her family were members of a very small minority of Yugoslavs/Croations who were Jewish. Hers was an … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Philosophy, Secular morality
4 Comments
Celestial Experience
I don’t know what drew me outside this evening. Perhaps it was the need to get out in the cool night air or maybe I assumed last night’s and this morning’s rains cleansed the air. Whatever prompted me outdoors, I … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Philosophy
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Lessons
Little by little, we learn the lessons of a lifetime. Some find their purpose as solutions to problems we encounter along the way. A few reshape us in profound ways, causing a new person to emerge from the changes they … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Regret
1 Comment
Opposites Attract
The clear, blue sky would be of no consequence to us if not for its contrast with low, grey, growling clouds showering us with rain and snow and hail and mist. A still, quiet morning is appealing in part because it … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Weather
2 Comments
What Are We—What Am I—Going to Do About This?
Chance encounters sometimes lead one to think about things that might rarely bubble to the surface of consciousness were it not for prompting by that meeting. Yesterday was one such occasion. While attending a Garvan Gardens workshop entitled Cooking with Fresh Herbs: … Continue reading
Posted in Compassion, Empathy, Justice, Philosophy
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Treating Ourselves Like Thesauri
Who am I? What constitutes ‘me?’ Those questions, and more like them, have been asked for millennia; I suspect for as long as humankind has been consciously aware of its existence as a part, or master, of nature. I have … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
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Cynic
It is easy to wrap oneself in the red and blue ribbons around the neck of the winner. Adorning oneself with gold and silver and bronze pennants proclaims superiority on the scale of human accomplishment. But it’s all a show. It’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Compassion, Emotion, Philosophy
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Self-Congratulation
We recognize it. All of us acknowledge it. We see the disintegration of civility on both sides of the debate and we condemn it, universally. But it’s always the other side that’s most shrill, most virulent, most fanatic. Never our … Continue reading
Posted in Anger, Frustration, Philosophy
1 Comment
The Law of Pressure-Pots
A friend uses a different term for the apparatus I call a pressure-cooker. He calls it a pressure-pot. I’ve come to prefer his term, though I can’t seem to get out of the habit of calling the device by the name I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
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Millstone
But whoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. That—from Matthew 18:6 … Continue reading
Posted in Emotion, Friendship, Philosophy
4 Comments
A Personal Conundrum of the Full-Empty Glass
Some people believe I write from the perspective of a person whose glass is half empty, a negative viewpoint that paints the world with a dark brush. They would rather I write as if I view the world as a half-full glass. … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Writing
3 Comments
It Is What You Make It
Every day, a series of decisions you make upon waking shapes the way you start the day, which in turn tends to mold the remainder of the day. As the day unfolds, you choose how to respond to the consequences of your decisions. External factors … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
2 Comments
Telling Lies Versus Keeping Secrets
It is not hard to keep secrets that must be kept. Secrets that have the potential to do serious damage of one kind or another—inflicting serious emotional or physical harm, for example—keep easily. While guilt may cause discomfort to the person keeping … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking, Philosophy, Self-discipline
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Damn Me
I wonder, seriously, if my decision to take a break from Facebook is a slap in the face of the friends I care about. Am I telling them the platform is too onerous, too taxing to my psyche, for me … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
3 Comments
Towing Jehovah Sets Off Sparks
I’ve been reading, in fits and starts, Towing Jehovah, a fantasy novel by James Morrow. The premise of the book is that God has died. The archangel, Rafael, hires a supertanker captain seeking redemption for causing one of the worst oil … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Writing
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Comfort Versus Luxury
At what point does comfort cross into luxury? That question came to me this morning, unexpectedly, while I was checking the clothes dryer. I washed a mish-mash of clothes last night—jeans, t-shirts, socks, etc.—but forgot about them. When I awoke … Continue reading
Living Wages: Earned and Due
Arguments against raising the minimum wage, based purely on economic factors, ignore the reality that economies cannot exist in the absence of humanity. And humanity cannot exist in the absence of morality. Even arguing strictly on economic factors, opponents of … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Economics, Philosophy, Thanksgiving
2 Comments
Pricing Workers Out of Jobs
Many arguments I’ve heard—and made—about raising the minimum wage rely on the presumption that anyone working a full-time job should be rewarded, at a minimum, with sufficient compensation to enable her to feed and house her family. The argument, at its … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Philosophy
1 Comment