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Monthly Archives: June 2011
The Undiscovered Continent
I discovered a poem I liked by Emily Dickinson in a poetry anthology. Her words seemed fresh, direct and unaffected. So I looked to see whether she was still writing. A surprise then to see she wrote the words in … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Philosophy, Poetry
Tagged Berkeley, Emily Dickenson, Idealism, Life, Materialism, Philosophy, Poems, Poetry, Socrates, Solipsism, The Undiscovered Continent
4 Comments
Bees
I was talking to a very good friend yesterday about bees. It came up in a digression about the very different ways some people find to live a life. He described the case of a foal, born prematurely, who had … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Poetry, Work
Tagged Bees, Eusocial Behaviour, Foals, Productivity, Risk, Unusual Careers, Work
2 Comments
Superhero
My son announced this morning, in the car, that he has the superpower of sellotape. This enables him to stick inanimate objects together almost at will. Fired from his hands in the manner of Spiderman’s webs, I remarked that his … Continue reading
Elemental
The late Herbert McCabe wrote with almost scientific beauty on Aristotle and Aquinas. There is a tightness and precision which bespeaks a lifetime’s reflection and contemplation. The international physics community has just acknowledged two new superheavy elements – 114 and … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Life
Tagged 114, Aristotle, Football, Friends, Herbert McCabe, On Aquinas, Periodic Table, Practice, Ununquadium, Virtue
1 Comment
Xerxes
Xerxes – controversially portrayed as a narcissistic androgynous giant in the blood-spattered film 300 – broke with Persian tradition and laid waste to allies and enemies with enormous forces, before losing interest, losing ground and retiring to lotus eating and … Continue reading
Posted in Achilles, Death, Life, Work
Tagged 300, Gods, Greeks, Immortality, Montaigne, Myths, Robert Graves, Sparta, Thermopylae, Xerxes
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Poetry in Motion
A few weeks ago, newly enamoured of poetry, I wrote a short ditty to capture what I think increasingly drives my life. It came out quite easily so I guessed it might be quite close. But then I forgot about … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Life, Poetry
Tagged Aquinas, Aristotle, Csikszentmihalyi, Eudaimonia, Family, Friends, Happiness, Homer, John Kay, Knowledge & Ideas, Life, Love, McCabe, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Poetry, Sceptics, Simon Armitage, Socrates, Stoic, Stoics
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Stamps
I’ve written before on the topic of ‘flow’, children and embroidering life with rich experience – large and small. And we managed all four this morning, thanks to a cheap packet of world stamps. The agile, and occasionally restless, mind … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Life, Psychology
Tagged 'Flow', Children, Csiksentmihalyi, DDR, St Martin, Stamps
1 Comment
Tragedies
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Simon Armitage’s updating of The Odyssey this week – a rattling good read, in my view. Our hero Odysseus, helped by Athene – and in spite of Poseidon and the only sometimes benign neglect of Zeus … Continue reading
Poppies
On holiday in France, I started reading Herbert McCabe on St Thomas Aquinas. I’d heard Sir Anthony Kenny in a ‘Philosophy Bites’ podcast describing Aquinas as deserving as much attention from we moderns as Aquinas himself paid to Aristotle in … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Language, Life
Tagged Aquinas, Aristotle, Atomism, Britannica's Great Books, Charante-Maritime, France, Herbert McCabe, Holism, Language, Marennes, Medieval, Montaigne, Philosophy Bites, Poppies, Redness, Sir Anthony Kenny
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