Category: meditation
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‘The nature of a good marriage is actually very simple’
“Call no man blessed until he has died.” –Solon For about a year, I’ve been having weekly conversations over email with an older man. We’ve been talking about living and dying, literature and philosophy, ethics and science. He’s become someone whom I admire. During a recent exchanged, I asked him about the nature of a…
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Seneca on our overindulgent habits of reading
It may be time to rest after a day of writing like mad about Jane Austen. For me, Austen is hard. She flees from me, is overdemanding, is so smart that I can’t keep up. Every time I try to do her justice, I fail. I take some time away from her. In about a…
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Never love by halves
The late philosopher Gilbert Ryle was fond of Jane Austen, so fond that he once likened Austen’s style of characterization to the technique of wine tasting. There is a joke about him that I quite like. When he was asked whether whether he ever read any novels, he replied, “Yes indeed. Each year all 6.”…
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On the sorry state of gift giving
In modern culture, the ethos of gift giving has come to resemble the genre of the apologia. The defendant–guarded, vigilant–is made to choose between pre-emption, exculpation, and exoneration. These are her weapons. “But I wasn’t sure what to get you.” A reminder of how tenuous our acquaintance, how limited our imaginations. “I know, I know, I…
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On the meaning of sighs: A philosophical conversation followed by a lullaby
The following is a short excerpt from a philosophical conversation I had recently with one conversation partner. Afterward: an afterthought, an extra thought, a lullaby of a kind. — She wrote, I sigh. Yes I sigh. The cosmic breath, of all men, of all women Of more creation, loss and love to come. I…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 