He who marries himself and intends to remain faithful to his partner has only one form of sexual expression open to him, namely, masturbation.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
First in the Mind
The concupiscence of the flesh is first in the mind.
Agenda Fetishism
You know you're list-obsessive when, having completed a task, you add an entry to your 'to do' list just so you can cross it off.
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Agenda is the plural of agendum, something to be done. The infinitive form of the corresponding verb is agere, to do.
Age quod agis is a well-known saying which is a sort of Latin call to mindfulness: do what you are doing. Be here now in the activity at hand.
Legend has it that Johnny Ringo was an educated man. (Not so: a story for later.) But so he is depicted over and over. In this scene from Tombstone, the best of the movies about Doc Holliday and the shoot-out at the O. K. Corral, Ringo trades Latinisms with the gun-totin' dentist, who was indeed an educated man and a fearless and deadly gunslinger to boot, his fearlessness a function of his 'consumption.' I don't mean his consumption of spirits, but his tuberculosis. His was the courage of an embittered man, close to death.
The translations in the video clip leave something to be desired. Age quod agis gets translated as 'do what you do best'; the literal meaning, however, is do what you are doing. Age is in the imperative mood; quod is 'what'; agis is the second person singular present tense of agere and means: 'you do' or 'you are doing.'
Political ‘Circularity’
Democrats know how to circle the wagons, stand together, and refrain from attacking their own. Republicans seem to prefer the circular firing squad. And the Libertarians? Theirs is the self-indulgent circle jerk of those who will never have power.
Commentary
At root, commentary is a minding-with, a co-mentation. It is an attempt to enter into an author's thinking and think along, sympathetically yet critically. The good commentator is companion before critic, but critic too. A com-pan-ion, at root, is one with whom one breaks bread. The companionable commentator thus shares with the author the bread of sense he puts on the table.
Young to the Young
Ancient and tired, this world is yet young to the young. With each generation the process of disillusionment starts over again.
A Conservative Disadvantage
Our appreciation that the political is a limited sphere has left us at a disadvantage over against leftists for whom the political is the only sphere.
A Passion for Philosophy
If your passion for philosophy serves personal ambition, then your passion is in need of purification.
Our Three-Party System
The Democrats, the Republicans, and Trump.
Obscure and Grateful
We who are obscure ought to be grateful for it. It is wonderful to be able to walk down the street and be taken for an ordinary schlep. A little recognition from a few high-quality individuals is all one needs. Fame can be a curse.
The unhinged Mark David Chapman, animated by Holden Caulfield's animus against phoniness, decided that John Lennon was a phony, and so had to be shot.
The mad pursuit of empty celebrity by so many in our society shows their and its spiritual vacuity.
A Funny World
It's a funny world in which Donald J. Trump does more to save Christians and Christianity than the current Pope. I suppose you could say that the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Anything
People will say anything, which is why one should not let oneself become upset over (almost) anything anyone says.
Do you know the word bushwa? We ought to raise it from its desuetude.
Seduction and Rebuff
This world seduces us with its goods, but then rebuffs us with its evils, as if to say,
I am good and beautiful but only because of my source in Goodness and Beauty. So love me, not for myself, idolatrously, but for what I make manifest.
Top Dog
Being crown of creation, man's wolf is man himself.
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Is the above sentence grammatical? If it isn't, then it shows that from time to time grammaticality is justifiably sacrificed on the altar of aphoristic elegance.
Of Veils and Visibility
I glance for a brief moment at a trio of women, two facially unveiled, the third thinly veiled. The face of the veiled one attracts my attention. The visibility of her face is helped, not hindered, by its being veiled. I generalize: it is not always and everywhere the case that veils are impediments to visibility. In some circumstances veils reveal by concealing.
This insight, I suspect, can be put to good (analogical) use. Just how, however, presently escapes me. So I file it away for future reference.