No, One Size Doesn’t Cut It
I like the concept of subsidiarity. An early explanation for the idea can be found in The Old Testament. In the 18th chapter of Exodus, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, shows up in the wilderness and observes how Moses interacts with the…
Don’t Feed the Psychopaths
I remember my aunt’s shock when she learned that I am not a fan of “higher education” and that I think far too many people choose to attend (and pay for) college. After all, I used to pontificate about the…
Illegitimate Truth?
I wonder how many of us ever consider the concept of legitimacy. Maybe we catch the cover of a magazine at the grocery checkout and think, “Oh, her. She’s beautiful.” Perhaps the image, instead, elicits an eyeroll, because we simply…
Prove It?
Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “The deepest scientific truths cannot be expressed directly,” and I have to wonder if that’s because there may not be any scientific truths. Cynical, I know, but just today, I mentioned to Dennis that a certain someone,…
Books are for Reading
I wish more people would read more books. There. I said it. Oh, and if I could get more specific: I’d ask that everyone choose from a wide range: fiction and nonfiction; written for children and adults; history, science, religion,…
How Absolute?
Two chapters a day is my quota for War and Peace. It’s possible that I will make it more of a priority at some point, but for now, I am content with my pace and have been pleasantly surprised by…
It Can Get Hazy Among Humans
Reading Rosemary Sutcliff’s novels set in Roman Britain is a bit of a paradox. As a lover of freedom, I should be rooting for the native tribes who have had their ways of life upset, curtailed, and sometimes ruined by…
Any Remorse? Justice? Freedom?
At one time, I stumbled upon a video or two in which a psychiatrist of some sort explained the difference between sociopaths and psychopaths. (I think I may have written about it.) The net/net was that psychopaths are born with…
The Bad and the Good
So, I learned a new word: ponerology, which is the study of evil. I guess in some ways, I have been an accidental student of ponerology for approximately a year now (give or take a few). Well, then again, if…
Your Own Darkness
Carl Jung wrote, “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.” Jung is another one of those people I’ve not let myself explore, but it might be time to change that. The…
Thinking and Knowing
Art and poetry get banished from our lives, and we are impoverished. We put our hands in our empty pockets and wonder why nothing fills them. We turn to roadmaps and instruction manuals but are still unable to decipher how…
Can We Trust Our Eyes?
Lately, I’ve been thinking and writing about the nature of reality, because—I guess—I’ve been trying to find it. If we are somehow not in touch with reality, though, what, exactly, is it that surrounds us? Good question, no? Is it…