De-cluttering The Mind – And Our “Civilization”
If we had only Socrates, Shakespeare, Montaigne and Thoreau as guides, to direct our course, and tell us about the world and how to live in it, I think we…
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Unplug: Nine Weeks To Basic Clarity
Important, extremely useful books here. A brain washing, in the sense of clearing away the fog and gaining some clarity and perspective, is critically needed, now more than ever. What…
Digital Dystopia & The Killing of Cash – and – Advice For Hard Times
Here is another aspect of the unfolding fascist power grab we are seeing globally in 2020 – along with sweeping powers for governments, suspension of all constitutional rights and freedoms,…
No Question: We Have Returned To The Dark Ages
Witch burning, anyone? Suspicion equals proof. Indefinite detention on suspicion alone. Maybe we should break out the rack, the Inquisition, and a little Hieronymus Bosch, and really get this…
The Bridge of Montaigne; and The Roots of Our 21st Century Crisis
What a delightful bridge Montaigne has been, and is: not only between the present modern world and the Renaissance, which is stupendous treasure enough, but also, in another short span,…
The Death of Modern World – Or the Death of the Planet & the Human Species
“The causality of the One was frequently explained in antiquity as an answer to the question, ‘How do we derive a many from the One?’ Although the answer provided by…
Coronavirus & Common Sense
“We were once distressed by crimes: now, by laws”, wrote Tacitus. How relevant is that today? Extremely so; but the sheep are trained not to think; and see, therefore, only…
On “Natural Religion”
Both deism and orthodoxy are cloudy. Experience, in terms of inner experience, outweighs both reason and so-called empirical evidence, since the former can conjecture or rationalize anything, and the latter…
Angkor Wat: Reflections On Our Modern World
~*~ Angkor Wat is the crown jewel of a 400 square kilometer set of temples and holy sites, set in the jungles of Cambodia. Built as a Hindu temple in…
Rules For Good Communication – Both In Writing, and Verbally, and In The Arts (Along with core points on the philosophy of language, knowledge, perception, consciousness, ontology and epistemology, and the nature of being and reality – and lessons on how not to be long-winded!)
Here are a few thoughts on writing and verbal communication, and all forms of communication. As an author, writer, reader, lover of books, and philosopher, I believe I have some…
The Consolation of Philosophy
I am officially in love with Montaigne – as well as Etienne de La Boitie, Thoreau, Emerson, Blake, Boethius, Plotinus, Aristotle, Socrates, Heraclitus, Spinoza, Hume, Bertrand Russell, Kropotkin, Jesus, the…
The Maxims of Empire
(And the Maxims of Liberation) There are at least five known, central maxims which all emperors understand and employ, which have been used for millennia by the elite in order…
Coronavirus Questions – and Explanations
Can anyone do basic math? Does anyone fact check? Does anyone question the media or the government? Another $2 trillion was just announced by the US Federal Reserve to…
The Failure of the “Left” – Continued
In addition to the giant blunders that I’ve already written about, and the clear absence of leadership on the left, there is the even more glaring indictment, which is…
Conspiracy Theories vs The Known Facts: Fascism, Oligarchy, & Elite Rule – vs – Freedom, Democracy & Rule By The People
As Piers Robinson has said, it’s gotten to the point where questioning power (powerful states, individuals, corporations, institutions or groups) in any way gets you labelled a conspiracy theory. In…
The Decline, Decay, Death and Rebirth of Democracy and Freedom
The two greatest threats to democracy and freedom in the West, or to peace, justice, equality, or even a viable future for humanity, are without question, the currently reigning…
Max & Stacy Nail It: The Long Emergency Begins In Earnest
Max & Stacy nail it. This time more than usual. Few see the historical significance of the coronavirus lockdown event. They seem to better than most. What is happening? In…
Could unchecked government power be more dangerous than the threat of infectious disease? – Take the survey
“When citizens are fearful and fraught with panic, they willingly give up freedoms for promises that the government will provide safety. Is unchecked government power more dangerous than the threat…
Reading History And Social Theory As If People, The Planet, Or The Future Mattered
A Review of Stephen Toulmin’s Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda Of Modernity, and, A Reading List For Thoughtful People Slow to get going, then increasingly fascinating, Toulmin’s Cosmopolis is a…
Social Psychology & Meditation On Death
Montaigne said of fear, “There is no emotion which more readily ravishes our judgement.” That would seem to be the best explanation of our current mass social psychology: the great…