Perennial Philosophy

  • It’s Not Cool to Hate the ‘Star Wars’ Prequels Anymore | Inverse

    I am super happy to see this. A struggle for me over the last 20 years has been to get folks to see the Star Wars prequels as films in their own right that contribute visually and allegorically to mythography established… Continue reading

  • Reverence Ritual Worship Worldview

    For this class, we took a step back to explore a few concepts before we move from India to China. Continue reading

    Reverence Ritual Worship Worldview
  • Anthropotechnics: An Interview with Peter Sloterdijk

    Modern and postmodern humans not only live in the “house of Being” (as Heidegger called language), but increasingly in the abode of the technosphere. Continue reading

  • Diversity of worship, unity of thought

    Because we had roamed around in and out of a few topics yesterday, I decided to mostly lecture today with the hope that we would catch up a bit but that there would still be a lot of good questions… Continue reading

    Diversity of worship, unity of thought
  • Coordination, Subordination, and Exordination

    Yesterday in our class, the discussion led me to talk for a little bit about a distinction originally made by Marcuse, I believe, regarding soft versus hard totalitarianism. I extended this description out to all manner of group structures that lead… Continue reading

    Coordination, Subordination, and Exordination
  • Ordering expectations

    In Tuesday’s class, we touched on the diverse story traditions from ancient India. My colleagues spent time at the beginning of our meeting talking with each other about what they had discovered about Indian sacred traditions, and what questions this… Continue reading

    Ordering expectations
  • Introducing the Reality of Reality

    Beginning our section on Hinduism today. So I decided to do two lecture sessions. Continue reading

    Introducing the Reality of Reality
  • Taking things for granted

    Lecture from Sacred Living Traditions. Following a class exercise asking “What is a chair?”,  we had small group discussions on “What is religion?” The basic work was to think through what we take for granted, how we do not ask… Continue reading

    Taking things for granted
  • never mine

    Reaching out to the limits of the universe Desire stretches–grasp grasping– for a peppermint or whatever Empires rising and falling all of reality just a sweet little distraction Deathless gesture taking-in-hand yet never mine   Continue reading

    never mine
  • Apostle & Epistle

    The term apostle derives from L.L. apostolus, from Gk. apostolos “person sent forth,” from apostellein “to send away, to send forth,” from apo– “from” + stellein “to send.” One sent-forth is a messenger. To have a message is to be an apostle. Who sends forth the… Continue reading

  • Hidden Desire: Nietzsche, Gay Philosopher

    Most folks I know who focus on Nietzsche are very heteronormative. Yet Nietzsche as gay man has always made so much sense to me. Why do folks NOT read Nietzsche as a man who loved men, a man even more… Continue reading

    Hidden Desire: Nietzsche, Gay Philosopher
  • Ethics and The Unblocked Life

    Ethics: Acting in a situation with appropriate energy. Doing without overstepping what is necessary for life. (Where “life” is to be held as distinct from mere existence or survival.) And maybe that opens up the next query: What is life?… Continue reading

    Ethics and The Unblocked Life
  • Mindful Self-Acceptance? Bad Idea According to Ancient Chinese Philosophers

    Asian philosophies have proven extremely influential in the United States, but are they being interpreted correctly? Frequently not, says Harvard China historian Michael Puett, who focuses on two main ideas in this video: one transported relatively recently to the United… Continue reading

    Mindful Self-Acceptance? Bad Idea According to Ancient Chinese Philosophers
  • I-Thou Encompassing

    O, Thou; O, Thou… I alone falters embracing uncommon – uncanny entwining – exclusive encompassing I risks everything for no-thing for Thou this encounter nothing else how can “you” capture this? you… you… you… you… you… you… stuttering stabbing particle instants… Continue reading

    I-Thou Encompassing
  • Zen Anarchy

    And nothing is fixed! The famous master Hyakujo wanted to find an abbot for a monastery. He put a pitcher on the floor and asked what it was, adding, “Don’t say it’s a pitcher.” Some of the smarter monks came… Continue reading

    Zen Anarchy
  • #MAHATMA – Life of Gandhi (abridged)

    This is the abridged version (2hrs 15min) of a 5hrs 10min documentary biography of Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi. All events and principles of Gandhi’s life and thought are viewed as integrated parts of his truth-intoxicated life depicting permanent and universal values.The… Continue reading

    #MAHATMA – Life of Gandhi (abridged)