Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Striving

  • Is Religion Escapist?

    Escapism is a form of reality-denial.   One seeks to escape from reality into a haven of illusion.  One who flees a burning building we do not call an escapist.  Why not?   Because his escape from the fire is not an escape into unreality, but into a different reality, one decidedly superior to that of being incinerated. …

  • What is Man?

    He is an animal, but also a spirit — and thus a riddle to himself. He reasons and speaks, he objectifies, he says 'I' and he means it. He does not parrot the word 'I' in the manner of a parrot or a voice synthesizer; uttering 'I' he expresses self-awareness.  Man has a world (Welt),…

  • Running as Equalizer?

    Kirk Johnson, To the Edge: A Man, Death Valley, and the Mystery of Endurance, Warner 2001, p. 179: Runners, I believe, are the last great Calvinists.  We all believe, on some level, that success or failure in a race — and thus in life — is a measure of our moral fiber.  Part of that feeling…