Wisdom
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My Year with Montaigne–a “Spiritual Teacher”
“Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.” To recap: My use of the word spiritual: the means by which the individual strives to be a better human being. To recap: Montaigne’s discipline of attention is extraordinary, especially related to self-reflection. Nietzsche said that all philosophy reflects the philosopher’s biography.1. One of the aversions Continue reading
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My Year with Montaigne–a Spiritual Teacher?
“A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.” I was recently talking with a dear friend, a person on a deep spiritual journey with whom I have shared many books and ideas. We see one another only a couple times a year, but one of our standard catch-up questions is, “How is your Continue reading
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My Summer with Montaigne—Update.
Montaigne, “the greatest writer of any time, anywhere.” Orson Welles First a little housekeeping. With Labor Day behind us, you are perhaps wondering about my summer project, is it coming to an end? After all, I titled it, “My Summer with Montaigne”. Truth be told, I feel as if I’ve hardly scratched the surface. Continue reading
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My Summer with Montaigne—“Que sçais-je”
“He will calm you…You will love him, you will see.” – Flaubert on Montaigne “I have little control over myself and my moods. Chance has more power here than I.” (Book I, Chapter 10) With these two little sentences Montaigne sets a course that is unique, both to him and the world in which he Continue reading
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My Summer with Montaigne: “Of Solitude”, pt. II
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” Continue reading
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Toward Wisdom #2
Toward Wisdom is a series of thoughts in the age of Covid-19 * * * I’ve been reading a lot of Merton lately, which is kind of weird frankly. Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk (Catholic), a wonderful writer and thinker, a robust contemplative. I say my interest is weird, because there is a lot Continue reading
...the house I live in... 