Category: meditation

• March 19, 2013

  On awkwardness and accountants

  The word ‘awkward’ fascinates me not least because it implies that there is a recognizably crucial connection between goodness and beauty. Derived from ‘awk,’ which means ‘directed the other way or in the wrong direction, back-handed, from the left hand’ (OED), the word applies to persons who lack ‘dexterity or skill in performing their part’ (OED).…
• March 13, 2013

  A brave man and a coward

  ‘[For Socrates,] courage is a virtue particularly connected with keeping a clear sense of what one regards as most important.’ –Bernard Williams, ‘A Critique of Utilitarianism’ ‘If my soul could only find a footing, I would not be assaying myself but resolving myself. But my soul is ever in its apprenticeship and being tested.’ –Montaigne, ‘On Repenting’…
• March 12, 2013

  Radiance in the key of graceful action

  I define radiance as virtue manifested in the ‘keys’ of natural eloquence, a gentle demeanor, and graceful action and resonating throughout the entirety of one’s being (Episode 1. Manifestation Thesis). Dissonance is the name I use to designate the lack of harmony evinced when one has become naturally eloquent but lacks of gentle demeanor, etc.…
• March 11, 2013

  Blowing your house in

  Do you remember the story of the Three Little Pigs? The wolf warns, ‘I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in!’ He was outside our house last night, woke me and the crinkling chimney up in the early morning, and I can tell you he has been repeating his blustering warnings throughout…
• March 8, 2013

  The effects of another’s demeanor: Draining and diminishing

  I argued yesterday that a demeanor just is the manner in which one ‘conveys’ or embodies a specific form of life. By saying this, I sought to clear a space for the consideration of demeanor, quite apart from that of behavior, conduct, action, and discourse. In the final paragraph, I suggested that this definition gives…