CALL ME MAGGIE

Philosophy as a Way of Life

  • Review for new book: “What Can You Really Know?”

    A tad meandering for a book review, but the conclusion is of interest. When and why did philosophy lose its bite? How did it become a toothless relic of past glories? These are the ugly questions that Jim Holt’s book… Continue reading

  • The War that Never Ends: Thucydides & Plato

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  • A Boon of Dandelions 4

    Our greatest shortcoming: obsessive desire for certainty, compulsive appetite for the sure thing. Some will panic in the search; a few get utterly lost in trying to fix the “game.” Yet life is no play-thing to manipulate. The conviction that… Continue reading

  • A Boon of Dandelions 3

    These past weeks since my brother’s death, fear has hunted me. Or better, I have hunted myself… for I have not been afeared of what might actually do me harm right now or even partially down the line of life.… Continue reading

  • A Boon of Dandelions 2

    Frustrated. Nervous. Confused. Diseased. Disordered. Cloudy day and foggy mood although I do not think it a direct correlation: not then seasonal activity disorder. Melancholy abounds into my now/here; she empassions me darkly. Boundary situation of pain: Toes I sprained… Continue reading

  • be happy, do nothing… « lederr

    From Lederr‘s blog… Canadian social psychologist Jamie Gruman is proposing a new way of achieving nirvana: Do nothing. Instead, live in the moment and embrace the “serene and contented acceptance of life as it is, with no ambitions of acquisition,… Continue reading

  • Becoming Empassioned

    Good piece. Opening ourselves up to the possibility of this Beautiful Order, we become conduits, energized by the dynamic force of the Encompassing Good. Letting-go of worry or fretfulness or obsession, we need not follow bliss as the blissful will… Continue reading

  • The Entitlement of Opinion

    The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing… Continue reading

  • Ending The War Between Athens & Jerusalem: LA Review of Books

    THE VIEW THAT ATHENS AND JERUSALEM represent two very different and antagonistic sources of Western civilization has long been a feature of the Western tradition. It dates back at least to Tertullian’s passionate second-century polemic against Greek philosophy. Those Enlightenment… Continue reading

  • Klee Conference – Institute for the Liberal Arts – Boston College

    Wow. If I had known that this was going to be happening, I would definitely have saved up some funding for myself and Christopher to go to it. Just too much cool stuff happening in the world. If there are… Continue reading

  • Textimony 20120923

    Attend. Adjust. Acknowledge: Unhindered by regret, this WAY lets-go the insolence reposing within success & embraces the humility residing within failure Continue reading

  • The Method of the Moon Bridge

    The Moon was one of humankind’s first measures for time. Thus, to this day the word “month” recalls that original measurement. “Moon” itself probably arises from a variation of the Indo-European term “me-” which is also the root for “to… Continue reading

  • Tolkien & Teaching

    In his mythology, Tolkien tells us that the elves crossed the sea in rebellion, and even those who linger yet in Middle Earth do not forget and yearn for a return to their land of origin.  For elves, the sea is… Continue reading

  • Using a Compass Now vs. an Outdated Map from Before

    One of my good friends, Andrew Wicklander, runs his own project management group and software company. His wife, Maile, owns a yoga studio. They are both the sort of “job-creators” touted as crucial to the success of America. Andrew says… Continue reading

  • Killing the Liberal Arts… A Non-Conservation

    The importance of the humanities in educating citizens is why we have undoubtedly seen the consequences of the decline in of the liberal arts nowhere more than in the quality of the public debate. The disappearance of the liberal arts… Continue reading

  • WhateverEtc00020: Remonstration against Violent Struggle

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  • How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

    Well, I will tell you what interests me, what I consider important. I can’t claim to be an authority on anything, but I can honestly say that certain matters absolutely fascinate me, and that I write about them all the… Continue reading

  • Quora answer: What is the value of accepting paradoxes in life? « thinknet

    I thought I would clarify the nature of paradox in relation to superrationality. Paradox is mixture, it is where there is mixture between contradictory opposites. However, superrationality is when you have two things at the same time but they do… Continue reading