Category: ethics

• August 21, 2013

  Repetition degrades

  A good human life requires variety. By means of exercising properly a variety of modes of becoming (eating well, resting well, moving one’s body well, thinking clearly, etc.), a human being comes to greater vitality, becoming more alive to living, more in touch with what is beautiful, more beautiful himself. Variety invites transitions as well…
• August 19, 2013

  The most excellent kind of day for a human being

  What is the most excellent kind of day for a human being? It is living in accordance with nature. What does this mean? ‘All that is in tune with you, O Universe, is in tune with me.’–Marcus Aurelius, Meditations * 1. Following. A day touched by radiance follows the course of nature, coursing. As nature courses,…
• August 17, 2013

  Coursing Meditations

  How to present a flowing day? ‘Coursing’: A philosophical life moving in pictures, in turning holding pictures. Look: http://is.gd/1tqROX  1 What is the beautiful course of a day? How does one follow nature’s course? A line, drawn by hand, drawing the day, is both extensive and intensive. Extensive: flowing through time without resistance. Intensive: expressing the…
• August 16, 2013

  Beginner’s fingers: A study in Ensō

  Beginner’s fingers / follow bristles lengthening / and thickening breaths.
• August 12, 2013

  A ‘fasting of the mind’: Some reflections on being in a hurry

  In The Inner Chapters, Confucius, in the role of a Daoist teacher, advises his pupil to undertake a ‘fast of the mind.’ Yesterday was spent fasting in silence. I recorded the following reflections neatly in my notebook. * 1. Hummingbirds make a sputtering sound like a boy’s radio-controlled airplane. The wind crinkles in the early morning.…