Month: June 2012

• June 7, 2012

  Aristotle, Book II, Nicomachean Ethics

  In Book II of the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the nature of the virtues. I am rereading the book for something like the umpteenth time. Three excerpts left strong impressions on me, but first I would like to make some comments. On Pleasure and Pain. The appeal of the first excerpt is that Aristotle makes…
• June 6, 2012

  Walking… philosophy… waking: A reverie

  My personal essay on Daoism and philosophical practice can now be read at The Dark Mountain Project. In terms of genre, it embodies the form of a gift. It also serves as a companion piece for my intellectual history, “Following Nature’s Course,” Dark Mountain Project: Book 3, which is forthcoming.
• June 5, 2012

  On the art of climbing

  So here we are on this third day in June. This week I begin my inquiry into the art (ars) of climbing in the hope of expressing the most graceful, most grateful, most powerful movement of which I am capable. The cultivation of graceful movement in the climbing world has been all but lost by…
• June 4, 2012

  I biked home with silk…

  I biked home with silk. The late night was so silky, silk-spun, silk-fed, as silky as I was. All was clear and translucent, the moon fuller than it had been, and all along I went without plans. I was not frightened by this; my self-assurance was a background seamless with the silken night. How the…
• June 1, 2012

  My book on radiance

  I assumed it would take me about a week to complete The Guidebook to Philosophical Life. After all, it was to be a short book addressed “only to those with ears to hear.” And now for the irony: it took over a month to finish. Go on and laugh. I have my reasons. One was that…