February 2012
12 posts
1 tag
Weekend Reading
A seemingly random collection of things worthy of your attention this weekend (some old, some new): “If a system of state education were to focus on the civic virtues needed for a free society, such as a respect for individual rights and obedience to a limited government, then surely it would be a good thing.” George H. Smith on The Roots of State Education. Scott Belsky offers some...
Ways Not to Write
mills:
I am a terrible descriptive writer in part because I am not perceptive about the world visually; in addition to being self-absorbed and inattentive, I have never acquired several important vocabularies which help one take note of what one sees. Like many men, I suppose, I’ve neglected color, and still round all blues to blue, from Cornflower to Pantone 292. I have no idea what the plants...
1 tag
Coffee Cups & Relationships
I recently had a conversation with a dear friend of mine, and it struck me that I’d spoken these words many times before. In fact, they were becoming something of a mantra, a piece of the personal manifesto puzzle. In this conversation, I likened most aspects of my life to a coffee cup I recently purchased. Now, I am quite the coffee fanatic. I’ve no idea how I’d go about my day without it....
1 tag
The Case for Conscious Consumption
If you reside on the web, or even occasionally visit, this seventeen-minute presentation given by Clay Johnson should be at the top of your to-do list. In it, Johnson explains why we must demand a reversal in the trend of the downfall of editorial integrity, and why it is vital to every American citizen. found via curiositycounts.
from Wonderisms http://bit.ly/xbgGYR
1 tag
In Response to @JDBentley's "The Purpose of Life...
JD Bentley recently (well, two months ago) wrote a post with which I vehemently disagree. Now, for the record, JD is a wonderful writer. I’m a subscriber to his site (you should be, too) and I enjoy his posts immensely. That said, I think he has this happiness thing all wrong. He begins this particular post by refuting an idea from the Dalai Lama, that “the purpose of our lives is to be happy.”...
“Our word for school comes from the Greek word for leisure. Of course, reasoned...”
– “The Greek Way” - Edith Hamilton (via bloggingthebookshelf)
1 tag
A Reminder
The links at the bottom of the site all point to my personal pages. If you’d like to follow only the posts to this blog via social media, you can follow Wonderisms on Twitter or Tumblr.
from Wonderisms http://bit.ly/z3a5c9
1 tag
Mammaw
Last Friday, I received a message that my grandmother, who had a stroke last year, wasn’t doing well, and that she wasn’t expected to make it through the day. Hours later, I got the phone call. She had passed. In a way, from a grandson’s perspective, this is the natural order of things. When Fate comes to take payment, our grandparents are the first to be returned to the soil. It is expected....
1 tag
Weekend Reading
The weekend is a wonderful time to relax, to let the triumphs and failures of the week fade into the ether, and to be nowhere but right here, right now. Here’s a few articles to help you sink into now: In Philosophy - What’s the Use?, Gary Gutting disputes the pervasive notion that philosophical reflection is useless. On Why We Reason: Julian Baggini recently gave a TED talk likening...
January 2012
6 posts
1 tag
Information Overload: an Update
Awhile back, I wrote a post about information overload. Specifically, I was referring to the incredible amount of knowledge placed at our fingertips via articles from an almost innumerable amount of sources. I was eager to find a digital solution to streamline the process of finding and reading articles online, and came up with a solution in which I rated the articles I read on a scale of one to...
1 tag
On Nuance
“When one is young, one venerates and despises without that art of nuances which constitutes the best gain of life, and it is only fair that one has to pay dearly for having assaulted men and things in this manner with Yes and No. Everything is arranged so that the worst of tastes, the taste for the unconditional, should be cruelly fooled and abused until a man learns to put a little art into his...
1 tag
On Women as Works of Art
I am the father of a magnificent seven-year-old girl. Fatherhood, I’ve come to realize, is a supreme catalyst for the mind. Parenthood forces a new way of thinking on an individual. It expands the mind to include innumerable new ways of thinking. Most recently, I’ve been thinking about the world in which she is growing up, the world of the past that she will never know, and the world she will...
1 tag
On Flippancy
I’ve been accused, on a somewhat regular basis, of thinking too much- the implication being that I’m a bit too serious. Since I so love my irony, I’ve been thinking about thinking. “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking,” Voltaire once said. The fact that this quote comes to mind more readily than others speaks to crux of the problem of thinking too much: it’s a difference in...
1 tag
On Miracles
*Disclaimer: this is an old post, imported from Tumblr. I’ve long envied the ranks of the religious for their belief in miracles. What a truly amazing thought- to hold a true belief in that which transcends all known laws of the universe as we know it. Recently, though, I realized that my envy was misplaced. Truly, I would throw away belief in miracles, a thousand times over, for the ability...
1 tag
Resolutions are shit.
Resolutions are shit. So you have a few resolutions? Great. That means one thing, and one thing only: there are aspects of yourself which you would like to improve upon. That being the case, I applaud that decision. It’s no secret that my mantra is stolen from Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Apparently you’ve accepted this notion, too, if you’ve set a goal to grow. The...
December 2011
2 posts
1 tag
on Bigotry
A quick thought on bigotry: One of the things I love about the progress of our civilization is the inevitable (albeit painfully slow) eradication of bigotry. At one point, of course, and to some extent still, a black person was viewed as somehow inferior to his or her counterparts. Now, a person that holds that view is considered a bigot. So it will be for the gay community, and I believe...
1 tag
Happiness, as it applies to meatballs
I happen to be amongst those silly people who believe that happiness in and of itself is an admirable goal to strive for. Consequently, I understand how slippery a thing it really is. Happiness requires work, paradoxical as it may seem. It also takes a certain amount of self-awareness. How many go about their daily routines, resigned to the fact that they are living the life they always will?...
November 2011
8 posts
3 tags
“Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and...”
– Carl Sagan (via this)
“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden...”
– Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
“In a decidedly vacant stone plaza, you are tapped on the shoulder by the...”
– Tikashi Hiraide, “For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut,” trans. Sawako Nakayasu (via proustitute)
“You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk...”
– Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum (via proustitute)
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From...”
– Sylvia Plath | via this
“Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is...”
– George Saunders (Thank you, wait-what? & devilduck)
“‘Knowing that each of them may die at any moment,’ thought God, ‘they will not,...”
– Leo Tolstoy’s ”Work, Death and Sickness” (via thesteppenwolf)
October 2011
11 posts
“[…] For what gives value to travel is fear. It breaks down a kind of inner...”
– via this
“Watch TED talks: smart people will distill their life’s work down to 20 minutes...”
– David Eagleman
Why do I write? →
crashinglybeautiful:
I write because to write a new sentence, let alone a new poem, is to cross the threshold into both a larger existence and a profound mystery. A thought was not there, then it is. An image, a story, an idea about what it is to be human, did not exist, then it does. With every new poem, an emotion…
2 tags
Some thoughts on the current divide in our...
I’ve regurgitated many thoughts about the current movement in America, about the divide which threatens to cripple us. I thought I’d share some original thoughts.
Many dismiss the current movement as an attempt to “redistribute wealth” in this country. Let me correct that notion, as it is not only false, but in fact completely contrary to the opinions of most thinking men.
If you are part of...
“Few beings have ever been so impregnated, pierced to the core, by the conviction...”
– Michel Houellebecq (H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life)
“the airy sky has taken its place leaning against
the wall.
it is like a prayer...”
– ‘vermeer’ by Tomas Tranströmer, the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature (Thank you, itgivesitthew & mezzaluna)
3 tags
September 2011
10 posts
3 tags
“A philosophy of being is based upon a simple principle. The term “being” is...”
– An Existential Life: Consciousness.
5 tags
“The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the...”
– Carl Sagan (via ageofreason)
“Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary.”
– Oscar Wilde (via treeswithoutleaves)
2 tags
“The true life is not reducible to words spoken or written, not by anyone, ever....”
– From Point Omega by Don DeLillo. (via bookoflead)
2 tags
“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that...”
– Pablo Picasso
Quite possibly the best quote I’ve ever come across. Well said, Pablo. You are a marvel.
(via whatsnottolove)
2 tags
On Bigotry
A quick thought on bigotry:
One of the things I love about the progress of our civilization is the inevitable (albeit painfully slow) eradication of bigotry. At one point, of course, and to some extent still, a black person was viewed as somehow inferior to his or her counterparts. Now, a person that holds that view is considered a bigot. So it will be for the gay community, and I believe that...
7 tags
“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with...”
– Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (via bookoasis)
3 tags
August 2011
27 posts
1 tag
