Recently, my wife was talking with an extended relative she hadn’t talked to in a while. This relative also lives overseas, not in Japan, albeit in a different English-speaking country, and when we last spoke a year ago, she had been talking about mundane things like taking the kids out for picnics, etc. This timeContinue reading “Wisdom, And Freedom From Fear”
Category Archives: Philosophy
Corridors of Time
Recently, the family and I went on the first vacation since the Pandemic to Victoria, British Columbia. I keep forgetting to post photos and talk about the trip due to time, but needless to say it was a great trip and we had a much needed break after 3 years. On the final day, weContinue reading “Corridors of Time”
Learning, Not Parroting
This is why I look on people like this as a spiritless lot — the people who are forever acting as interpreters and never as creators, always lurking in someone else’s shadow….It is one thing, however, to remember, another to know. To remember is to safeguard something entrusted to your memory, whereas to know, byContinue reading “Learning, Not Parroting”
All Well And Good
Lately, I have been following a fascinating history podcast called the Hellenistic Age Podcast, a detailed look at a very fascinating and often overlooked period of world history. In particular, I am listening to the set of episodes regarding Hellenistic-era philosophy: 044: Hellenistic Philosophy – Epicurus & Epicureanism 045: Hellenistic Philosophy – Stoics & Stoicism 046: HellenisticContinue reading “All Well And Good”
Why Religion Is Useful
XI) Opus est, inquam, aliquo ad quem mores nostri se ipsi exigant: nisi ad regulam prava non corriges. “There is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves. Without a ruler to do it against you won’t make the crooked straight.” trans. by Robin Campbell, letterContinue reading “Why Religion Is Useful”
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
I recently finished the series WandaVision (I am always super slow to catch up on popular shows), and in the big climactic battle between Vision and his other self,1 Vision brings up a famous paradox called the Ship of Theseus which Plutarch, one of my personal favorite people from that era, describes as: The shipContinue reading “Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?”
Mortality
This is a very Buddhist sentiment, in my opinion. If you haven’t learned to confront your own mortality, then the rest of the Buddhist path is kind of meaningless. But maybe that’s just me. 🖖🏼
That Which Arises…
From the first sermon of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11) : That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus of the group of five were glad, and they approved his words. Now during this utterance, there arose in the venerable Kondañña the spotless, immaculate vision of the True Idea:Continue reading “That Which Arises…”
Silence is Best
My Man, So-crates
The amazing folks at Sententiae Antiquae have done it again with a great post of quotations attributed to the famous Socrates, including such gems as: “Socrates, when asked what is sweetest in life, said “education, virtue, and the investigation of the unknown” Σωκράτης ὁ φιλόσοφος ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἥδιστον ἐν τῷ βίῳ εἶπε· „παιδεία καὶ ἀρετὴContinue reading “My Man, So-crates”
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 