Month: August 2020

• August 31, 2020

  Every Real encounter Is A Genuine Challenge

  Every real encounter is a genuine challenge. No doubt about it. Turn away from it and you’re clueless. Go searching for it and you’re going the wrong way. Leave it alone and you’re senseless. Now don’t noodle over it either. It’s got bite. How are you going to respond, huh? Huh? Now that your life is…
• August 25, 2020

  Trying To Get Rid Of Something Is A Sign Of Ignorance

  Trying to get rid of something is a sign of ignorance. The process begins with the thought or feeling (of which one is unaware): “This is unbearable. I cannot bear it any longer.” Boredom is like that. So is deep hurt. At the moment of apparent unbearability, fear and desire co-arise: the fear that it…
• August 21, 2020

  Homo Economicus And Homo Psychologicus

  If you’ve been reading this blog recently, no doubt you’ve noticed that I’ve shined a critical light on what I’m presently calling homo psychologicus. In one popular post, “Stop Confessing Your Vulnerabilities,” I discussed the prevalence of a certain secular confessional mode. In yesterday’s post, “There’s No Such Thing as ‘Mental Health,’” I sought to…
• August 20, 2020

  There’s No Such Thing As ‘Mental Health’

  Abstract To speak of “mental health” is to make a category mistake. And it is to reify while substantializing a supposed ens, an alleged “thing” or “abstract something” when, in our direct experience, there is no such thing as mind. So, there’s no such thing as mental health and there’s no such thing as an…
• August 19, 2020

  Jolted While In The Saddle

  It’s not, in this instance, that you’ve been knocked off your horse. You are–this much is clear–still very much on your horse. It’s rather that you’ve been jolted while in the saddle. And this is curious at the same time that it’s unsettling. Don’t blame it on the horse. Observe that the horse, in this…