You Cannot Lie To A Tree
You cannot lie to a tree in the same way that you cannot lie to God. Your lies will not impact either one. Trees are socially and culturally superior. Lets learn from them if we can.
Ideas
Authorized or Authoritative? – They Aren’t The Same Thing
In matters of life and death, do you want authorized, or authoritative?
Labeling
People who are all one thing may exist. I cannot prove they don’t. I am not one of them. Those I’ve known beyond the level of acquaintance have all seemed composed of a blend of interests and beliefs, like me. Their bundle of contradictions and idiosyncrasies may be a different size than mine, but I’ve …
The Right Word?
One of the worst things about writing is striving to capture with words the ineffable ephemera of a truly good life. There are times when naming a thing destroys it. Being familiar with both the phrase ”le mot juste,” and the tradition it represents, I nonetheless find myself swayed by the concept of linguistic relativism, …
The Menu
You are born into this world and within a matter of years an invisible but real menu of options is yours. Your menu is yours and no one else’s, listing things only you can do in your life. Some of the items on your menu are still there. They are still available to you. Other …
How, Not What, Do You Think?
With Seven Practice Questions As I work my way through the excellent essay, Two Concepts of Liberty, by Isaiah Berlin, I am experiencing anew a particular delight , common in my grade school years, of registering how the critical, skeptical, rational mind approaches a question. I am thrilled (which is exactly the correct word) to …
Heteronomy or Autonomy, You Choose
If you are regularly (perhaps even daily), buffeted by contrary winds, whether they be social, cultural, religious, or political, can you say of yourself that you are free? If your emotional state is impacted every time you turn on the News, every time you read an article, every time you see a Twitter or Facebook …
We Don’t All Value The Same Things
One of the most intriguing verses in the Bible is this: Every man’s way is right in his own eyes… ~ Proverbs 21:2 NASB This is a statement, in scripture, that confirmation bias and self-enhancement fallacies are universal. It is not a positive affirmation that whatever you think, and whatever you do, is right! It …
A Narrative About Narratives
The word narrative is a noun meaning: a spoken or written account of connected events, a story. That’s it. That’s the whole definition. There is no lurking subterfuge. There is no attempted brain-washing. There is nothing nefarious about the word. Are there some narratives that do those things? Undoubtedly. The purpose of some narratives is …
Independent Thought & Individualism – Myths of a Kind
Is it possible that the most difficult thing for a human is to have an independent thought? It has been said that everyone is the unconscious exponent of some dead philosopher or other. In other words, we’re all drinking somebody’s Kool-Aid. Every idea you have has been borrowed. Every belief inculcated. From birth, each new …
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