Category: ethics

• February 9, 2014

  A secular version of the Parable of the Talents

  Our time on earth is finite; we know that we shall perish. How are we to best spend our days? How to use our gifts? On the one hand, we could believe that all our words and deeds do not amount to much since these will be erased with the passing of time. Hence, we…
• February 8, 2014

  Plotinus on sculpting the self

  In Enneads I 6, 9, Plotinus writes, Go back inside yourself and look: if you do not yet see yourself as beautiful [i.e., as participating in the Idea of Beauty], then do as the sculptor does with a statue he wants to make beautiful; he chisels away one part, and levels off another, makes one…
• February 3, 2014

  The salamander and the black-and-white bird

  Up to me came a  salamander to be warmed by the sun. The wind was cool and I felt chilled, so I sat down and began to climb. When I returned to be warmed by the sun, along came a little black-and-white bird hopping closer and closer to me. He was hopping along the low-lying…
• January 31, 2014

  Scenic lookouts and recipes for living

  You’re told that a scenic outlook up ahead is exquisitely beautiful. Well-worth the time, you’ve been assured by phone. You trust this friend and are willing to go along with his recommendation. So, you and your traveling companion look ahead, therefore, with eager anticipation that this exquisitely beautiful outlook will provide some respite from your…
• January 30, 2014

  The nightwatchman is always fooled

  The nightwatchman is on the lookout for the intruder. He is instructed to be vigilant. He has learned by rote the common routes, and he has devised certain stratagems for staying awake, for being alert. But the danger always comes by surprise whenever and wherever he was not looking. He was looking but not for…