Tag: Wisdom

• December 12, 2011

  Can a 4-year-old be wise?

  Point blank: No. But perceptive? Quite. A.’s Ruminations on Metaphysics  In the following dialogue, A. is a 4-year-old boy and B. is his mother and one of my conversation partners. A: You know what, Mom? B: Yes, A. A: Well, when all the people die, when people die, other things live. B: How did you…
• November 15, 2011

  A message to the post-graduate reader

  Dear post-graduate reader writing from the future, I thought it was time to address you directly. You get in touch with me, oh, maybe about once a week, you ask a litany of questions, and I vacillate between not replying to your exorbitant requests, writing the briefest of suggestions, and venturing lengthy answers. You’ve graduated from…
• November 14, 2011

  When I’m running low on food…

  When I’m running low on food, I leave my coat and keys where they are. I have a look around and spend another day and then another with what I have around me. I mix them all around me and make my mouth anew. “Make do with what you have?” No, savor whatever passes through your hands.
• October 21, 2011

  Friday meditation: Curating Tao Te Ching

  The following are excerpts from Tao Te Ching. All have something to say about the  nature of wisdom. Enjoy this Friday’s meditation. —  I. To speak little is natural. High winds do not last all morning; heavy winds do not last all day.     II.  The ancient Masters didn’t try to educate the people, but…
• September 19, 2011

  On the other side of radical education lies wisdom: An exhortation; or, on the question whether really free is really good

  As I review the list of alternative higher education schools, I’m struck almost immediately by their shared ethos of anarchism. They begin with a rejection of the status quo and then level their critique at the corporatization of the modern research university. They say that the university is the institution of elitism, the perpetuation of privilege,…