Situatedness
DASEIN, Being-here, openness, having to be open, connectedness
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Ideas vs. Beliefs: Transform Your Mindset
Our Purpose Is Not Understanding There is a line I keep circling back to in my own thinkering: our purpose as organic entities is not understanding. Understanding is an instrument. It helps us discover, organize, and sometimes even improve our… Continue reading
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On Cages, Currents, and Loss
Mountain Dog reflections on the concept that not every limitation is a prison, emphasizing the importance of recognizing transient constraints rather than allowing them to define our perception of reality. They advocate for resilience through honest acknowledgment of loss while… Continue reading
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Connected to the Neoliberal University
The author reflects on the pressures faced as a new PhD navigating academic and administrative roles in a Texas public university. They discuss the tension between scholarly independence and the algorithms dictating educational practices. Emphasizing the need to resist platform… Continue reading
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When Stars Fall to Earth: The Strange Journey of “Revolution” from Copernicus to Robespierre
The post explores the concept of revolution from its historical meanings to modern interpretations, focusing on two crucial anachronisms in the term “Scientific Revolution.” Initially, revolution signified cyclical restoration, as seen in political contexts from the 17th century to the… Continue reading
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Mountain dog school for living philosophy
The Mountain Dog School for Living Philosophy promotes philosophy as a way of life, inviting individuals from diverse backgrounds to explore existential questions through dialogue and reflection. Its mission emphasizes personal engagement in philosophizing, fostering authenticity, self-actualization, and meaningful relationships… Continue reading
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Into the Breath Between Strangers
the thread of life weaves weird wandering moments Continue reading
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Responsive to skillful attention
The concept of discernment is vital for cultivating awareness, as it involves skillfully distinguishing experiences without over-determining or under-determining. This harmonizes extremes to avoid the fall into nihilism and eternalism. Simultaneously, it reawakens the empty yet interconnected nature of all… Continue reading
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Showing-Up for Emptiness: Excellence Between Obsession and Apathy
The concept of “showing-up” emphasizes active existence over passive presence. It involves intentional engagement with the world, others, and oneself. By exploring the balance between appetite, emotion, and intellect through the lens of askēsis, individuals can cultivate a deeper, responsive… Continue reading
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A Fourfold for the Current Empire
I explore the concept of “transistance,” a practice of navigating life’s complexities without adhering to rigid frameworks. It emphasizes the importance of embracing ambiguity and interdependence, while rejecting traditional revolutionary approaches. I propose it is a first step of a… Continue reading
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Whispering New Directions
The text explores the concept of the practical spirit, emphasizing three modes: contemplative, scientific, and operative. It critiques the dominance of operationalism in modern society, linking it to systemic dehumanization. I advocatesfor “transistance” to navigate beyond established orientations and connect… Continue reading
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Anti-Reason in Our Times: The Renaissance of White Supremacy
Karl Jaspers warns in “Reason and Anti-Reason in Our Time” (1952) of the unphilosophical spirit that favors comforting myths over uncomfortable truths. Contemporary white supremacist movements exemplify this “anti-reason,” exhibiting ideological rigidity and rejecting dialogue. Through the Browning’s work, “The… Continue reading
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Beings of Enlightened Belief Are We…
Surely some of us are tired. As I get older, as my spouse gets older, we are often very tired. Very exhausted. It can be overwhelming. But what helps us—how we frankly help each other as friends find freedom—is reminding… Continue reading
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Siren Song Society: Profound Boredom – Authentic Leisure – Existential Liberation
offer these connections to encourage people to be okay with boredom–to not see every break in labor or in study or in whatever as requiring us to find something to amuse ourselves into utter alienated distraction. Continue reading
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Seneca and Existenz Part 2
Second part of my considerations comparing/contrasting Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life with philosophers of existence… in this episode, more specifically with five figures I consider poets of existence: Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke, André Gide, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia… Continue reading
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Some thoughts on guilt and innocence
To the degree that there is an intentionality to guilt. it would involve consciousness of failure. In this sense, I mean failure to do the right thing: either because you failed to do right on purpose or by accident. Existentially,… Continue reading
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Loving as heeding the vocation of humanization
Lecture from PHIL 2306, Intro to Ethics, 07March2023: Finding the ground for ethical theory and moral action. I propose that most “vicious” / vice-ridden reactivity to our circumstances arises from dehumanization. Therefore, if there is a place where we can… Continue reading
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Professors indoctrinating students? In reality, it’s the other way around
Rather than radicalizing them, I am more radicalized by all these millenials and zoomers who long to comprehend the world they are inheriting from people like me. Continue reading
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Reversion, Reconciliation, and the loving struggle
A bit of knowledge-gathering for making restorative justice a part of my way of life. Continue reading
CALL ME MAGGIE 