Category: ethics
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Is modern friendship an antidote to crankiness?
In a recent email, my friend Dougald Hine wrote, “[T]he internet has the power to save us [i.e., us life of the minders living outside the academy] from turning into cranks! What I mean by this is that, until very recently, it was hard to pursue an unconventional career* [see footnote below] as a thinker…
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What George Eliot teaches us about growing up
In the Feb. 14 & 21 issue of The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead writes, The book [George Eliot’s Middlemarch] that Virginia Woolf characterized as ‘one of the few English novels for grown-up people’ is also a book about how to be a grownup person–about how to bear one’s share of sorrow, failure, and loss, as well…
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You can’t be anything you want to be
Challenges to Common Sense 1. “You can be anything you want to be.” I think genes might beg to differ. 2. “All you need is love.” Unfortunately, love doesn’t buy bread. (Love is somewhere down the line.) 3. “Practice random acts of kindness.” Better: consistent acts of mindful kindness. 4. “Follow your dreams.” Or you could…
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On playing things by ear
I’m not very good at playing things by ear. I like to have my ducks in a row, my affairs in order, my kingdom neat and tidy, my shoulders squared. I don’t know how to say “wait and see,” “let’s check back later on this week,” “perhaps next month.” Pin things down, and I am…
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On the art of letting go
A Sunday Meditation I do not let go of things easily. I hold on to them for far too long. I need to learn how to let go. 1. Letting go is also a letting in. 2. Death does not always beget life, but life can come as a surprise. 3. When certain pursuits dry up,…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 