... from searching a well-trodden path for novel things. Hard packed ground can conceal many treasures. -- Pam L, 2018
Just a Thought. 19.
I'm feeling crushed by the woes of the world, as if it's incumbent on me to fix its problems and set everyone straight. I should blush at my arrogance. Blushing would at least lend me a rosy semblance of health. Instead, my face is pale and drawn from a day of fretting. And besides, I'm…
Mom’s advice? You take a little cringe with the good.
Some parental advice is worth keeping, some not. Here's a not. Mom used to tell me, You can't get married until you can put your hands in hot water. By this warning she figured she could get me to wash the dishes without having to nag. And she was right. Time and again, I took…
Just a Thought. 18.
If you have a spare ten to fifteen minutes, I have a suggestion. Read George Orwell's Politics and the English Language (1946) https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/english100coursereader/chapter/politics-and-the-english-language/ (Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin, Open Texts) Orwell's essay is still relevant and I am confident you'll think your time well-spent. Introduction to Orwell's essay provided at the above link, U…
Just a Thought. 17.
If the world is going to hell in a handbasket, you’ll at least be close enough to listen to your co-travellers. And you might be in for a surprise. It’s as likely that they’ll blame you for their predicament as you them for yours. Pam Lindsay, 2019.
Just a thought. 16.
Cephalus, in answer to Socrates' question of whether life is harder towards the end, "For certainly old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many." (3) Plato, Trans. Benjamin…
Just a thought. 15.
"It is very sweet to do a just action which is disagreeable to those we do not like." Victor Hugo. By Order of the King. (Or, The Man Who Laughs.) The Valjean Edition of the Novels of Victor Hugo. New York: P.F. Collier & Son. (1912?) The Waif Knows Its Course, p 391.
Just a thought. 14.
Aaron CT Smith, a cognitive scientist from Melbourne, Australia, gives a brilliant account of what beliefs do for us. Flock Theory, “In my estimation…beliefs follow the same kinds of rules governing flocks of birds…First, successful beliefs fit the rule of separation. Like birds in the flock, it is best not to crowd neighbours. This is…
What we might stand to lose. Final, Series 5.5
In the final instalment of this series, I lay a few bones on the table for your consideration. I hope you value them as I do. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If the human race is under threat in some way that we don’t yet understand, it will probably be at the community level that we either solve the…
Building a model of the world is a community project. Series. 5.4.
Recall my project here. In this series, I lay out some "bones" for thinking about the way -- the why and the how -- the people we depend on for our survival, delectation, and companionship (our peeps) help us navigate the world. And we them. You might pick up these bones, if you find them…
