Literary Zen XII
I don’t know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense. Continue reading Literary Zen XII
Tag: philosophy
‘Tis
‘tis the every day
‘tis the mundane, the banal… Continue reading ‘Tis
Literary Zen XI
There is some wisdom in taking a gloomy view, in looking upon the world as a kind of Hell, and in confining one’s efforts to securing a little room that shall not be exposed to the fire. *Perhaps a better … Continue reading Literary Zen XI
Does it matter if our soul* is eternal?
Leaving religion with its heavens and hells and golden-paved avenues and abiding virgins and doting angels and disinterested saints and other high-ranking, hifalutin gods and demigods aside, is there an actual evolutionary and/or functioning purpose for an eternal soul? In … Continue reading Does it matter if our soul* is eternal?
Literary Zen X
Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell. Continue reading Literary Zen X
The Way Better Day Than Tomorrow
I’m told to live my life like There’s no tomorrow But truly There has to be a better way For if the morrow never comes And it’s my last breath I breathe today How will I know to appreciate it … Continue reading The Way Better Day Than Tomorrow
The River and the Bed
The river winds around my head, Fish before my eyes. I lay my cheek upon its bed and Contemplate the skies of Morning’s red, of Midday’s blue, of Twilight’s pink aglow, that Filters through the rushing stream Born of mountains … Continue reading The River and the Bed
Death is my co-pilot
Well, at least my fear of death is… Well, at least according to the late great interdisciplinarian philosopher Ernest Becker. Yes, according to Becker, it is this death anxiety of mine – and of yours too so you might want … Continue reading Death is my co-pilot
What time is it? That’s right, it’s the Boy from Bohemia Time!
While I wasn’t exactly thrilled with Kafka translator Michael Hoffman translating Ungeziefer as cockroach… To say the least… I am in definite accord with him on much of what he discusses in his introduction to METAMORPHOSIS AND OTHER STORIES, a … Continue reading What time is it? That’s right, it’s the Boy from Bohemia Time!
All I’m Conscious of…
Is what I’m conscious of. You dig? Put with brutal succinctness, Damasio’s brief goes like this: Mental activity consists of a stream of “images” that map aspects of the world around us. But these images, by themselves, cannot be conscious. … Continue reading All I’m Conscious of…
Only those with a big one can see it…
There is a very familiar shape in the picture of the stack of wood I shared last week, but I doubt that everyone can see it*. Kind of like how only the chosen ones can see the face of the … Continue reading Only those with a big one can see it…
A Pebble is a Rock is a Mountain is Me
I look at the little pebble at my feet and can’t help but think But for the grace of god go I And then laugh Not out of humor But of fear Because he’s nowhere But within the magic of … Continue reading A Pebble is a Rock is a Mountain is Me
Not really sure about this one…
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell #happybirthdaybertrand Continue reading Not really sure about this one…
Bereitschaftspotential Shmereitschaftspotential
As a wanna be Existential Absurdist who’s all in with team Existence Before Essence, my initial reaction to most universal-type questions, whether they be a priori, a posteriori, or somewhere in between is usually… Meh. I mean, such blathering existential … Continue reading Bereitschaftspotential Shmereitschaftspotential
Axiomatic
long live the reasons and meanings universal that e’er elude us Continue reading Axiomatic
No Mind, No Attachment
The Mind in its dimensions is broad and great, like empty space. It has no sides or limits, it is neither square nor round, neither large nor small. It is neither blue, yellow, red, nor white; it has neither upper nor lower; it is neither long nor short. It knows neither anger nor pleasure, neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil. It is without beginning and without end. But good friends, do not, hearing me speak of emptiness, become attached to emptiness. – Shin’ichi Hisamatsu, from The Characteristics of Oriental Nothingness #ofthejournals Continue reading No Mind, No Attachment
The Absurdity That Isn’t
However, practicing a philosophy as a means for navigating life comes as natural to me as the act of breathing or as the desire to include unnecessary descriptive and expounding words, especially those oh so delightful words of the adverbial persuasion, into as much of my writing as possible… Continue reading The Absurdity That Isn’t
Haiku, Senryū, and the Subtleties In Their Similarities and Differences
If I had a bit more courage and a lot more scholarship, I would have discussed the similarities and differences between a haiku poem and a senryū poem in the introduction of my newly released book of poetry Short Verses … Continue reading Haiku, Senryū, and the Subtleties In Their Similarities and Differences
Literary Zen VII
A Poetic Response to our Occult Relationship with the Vegetable as found in “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs … Continue reading A Poetic Response to our Occult Relationship with the Vegetable as found in “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Meditation on an Introduction’s Opening Passage as found in “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation … Continue reading A Meditation on an Introduction’s Opening Passage as found in “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
KURT★BRINDLEY 