Tag: Praise

• January 23, 2013

  Good news from conversation partners

  Some good news from a handful of current and former conversation partners in my philosophy practice: One is leaving behind professional work to start an organic farm in the country. Another is, after a long hiatus, completing a master’s thesis on sustainability. Another is launching an artist retreat and craftsmanship school in 2014. Another has rented…
• May 17, 2012

  Tree cutting

  Socrates’ greatness was to be able to play with children, and to consider that his time was thus well spent…. Socrates lives a human life simply and humbly. –Pierre Hadot, The Present Alone * Yesterday I bought bananas for Joan. She said she had plenty. Now I have four bananas to eat. The rain from the…
• January 7, 2012

  ‘I pray to lay my limbs in the ground as one who gladdened his fellow-citizens’

  The following is an excerpt from Pindar’s Nemea Ode 8. Pindar (ca. 518-438 BC) was a lyrical poet living during the Archaic Age in ancient Greece. The extant odes, apparently representing only a small part of his oeuvre, commemorate the victories of athletes from the Olympian, Pythian, Ishmian, and Nemean Games. Apart from the high…
• January 6, 2012

  How to play the rousing game of ‘getting to know someone you’ve never met’

  Moves in the Game You’re in the middle of a game that has only 3 moves. No more, no less. Until it chances upon a catchier name, the game shall be called “getting to know someone you’ve never met.” The goal of the game? Quite simply, to have an encounter with an acquaintance. An encounter…
• October 10, 2011

  DIY Monday: Notes of praise

  DIY Week This week I’ll be writing about a number of DIY exercises. Today my subject is the note of praise. A Brief Caveat In the past, I’ve been skeptical of DIY culture. I still am–not because DIY can’t put you on the path to self-understanding but because it’s insufficient for effecting genuine self-transformation. Understood…