Category: Human Predicament
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Would Naturalism Make Life Easier?
If only naturalism were unmistakably and irrefutably true! A burden would be lifted: no God, no soul, no personal survival of death, an assured exit from the wheel of becoming, no fear of being judged for one’s actions. One could have a good time with a good conscience, Hefner-style. (Or one could have a murderous…
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Arrogance and Superiority
'Arrogant' is an adjective applied by the envious to the superior.
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Concessions not to be Begrudged
Our incarnation is a fact, mysterious though it may be. Eating and sleeping are concessions to it. The animals we are are also social and so a bit of socializing is a necessary concession to that part of our mix. These concessions are not to be begrudged and may in moderate measure be enjoyed. Earthly…
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Gandolfini
The encomia continue to pour in on the occasion of the passing of James Gandolfini. 'Tony Soprano' died young at 51, apparently of a heart attack, while vacationing in Italy. Given the subtlety of The Sopranos it would be unfair to say that Gandolfini wasted his talent portraying a scumbag and glorifying criminality, and leave…
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The Company We Keep Away From
The company we keep away from is as salient for our flourishing as the company we keep.
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The World’s Criterion of Worth
Something is worth doing if and only if one is paid to do it. The theme is developed in Work, Money, Living, and Livelihood.
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Man’s Greatness Deducible From his Wretchedness
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): Man's greatness is so obvious that it can even be deduced from his wretchedness, for what is nature in animals is wretchedness in man, thus recognizing that, if his nature is today like that of the animals, he must have fallen from some better state which was once his own. (Pensées, Penguin,…
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Who is a Friend?
A friend is someone with whom one can disagree in the way one diagrees with oneself: gently and without rancour.
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A Callable Loan
We who thrive get used to being alive, and forget we have our lives on loan, a loan that can be called on the spot without advance notice. Compare James 4:13-17 (NIV): 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on…
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Up or Out!
Academic tenure is sometimes described as 'up or out.' You either gain tenure, within a limited probationary period, or you must leave. I tend to think of life like that: either up or out, either promotion to a Higher Life or annihilation. I wouldn't want an indefinitely prolonged stay in this vale of probation. In…
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Neighbors and Relatives
It doesn't bother me in the least that my neighbors and casual acquaintances do not engage me where I live. I expect such relations to be superficial and conventional. But I expect more from relatives even though this expectation is irrational. I have no trouble accepting that propinquity is no guarantee of spiritual affinity. Why…
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Relations With Relatives
Our relations with our relatives are too often like the relations of Arabs and Israelis: too much past, no future. But with the Arabs and Israelis it is even worse: too much history, not enough geography.
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Worldly Success: How Much is Enough?
You have enough world success if it enables you to advance the project of self-realization on the important fronts including the moral, the intellectual, and the spiritual. The vita contemplativa cannot be well lived by the grindingly poor, the sick, the politically and socially oppressed, the sorely afflicted and tormented. Boethius wrote his Consolations of Philosophy…
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On the Brevity of Life
The lament comes down through the centuries: Vita brevis est. What is the point of this observation? There are two main possible points. A. One point, call it classical, is to warn people that this life is not ultimate, that it is preliminary and probationary if not positively punitive, that it is not an end in…
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Realpolitik
The weak invite attack. That is a law of nature. Nations are in the state of nature with respect to each other. Talk of international law is empty verbiage without an enforcement mechanism. There is none. Or at least there is none distinct from every extant state. The same goes for diplomacy. There needs be…