Two days after my high school graduation I drove with my older brother to Keystone, Colorado. Our plan was to spend the summer in the mountains before coming to UNT for the fall semester. Although “plan” is probably too strong a word, since we hadn’t thought to secure jobs or a place to stay before …
Monthly Archives: January 2017
Death Is My Life Coach
A reader of this blog (oh, you read that right) recently asked me an unfair question. He requested a reading list on the good life. What can we read and consider that will make us more capable of facing down the next 50 or so years? His question was unfair because, really, that is the …
A Fair Fight
A friend of mine grew up in a house of discussion, debate, and disputation. Every topic was a fresh opportunity for disagreement. They weren’t fighting with each other, mind you, just talking with passion. It was the family past-time, and they knew how to do it without hurting one another’s feelings. This same friend’s wife …
Minimalism of the Soul
I was recently provoked to envy by an Instagram post. I realize that is the main purpose of Instagram – to show us meticulously staged moments which make our own lives seem drab. But this time it was in the description more than the image that I glimpsed an enviable vision of the good life. …
The Case for Wonder
Why did humans ever begin to philosophize, to create literature, or to make scientific experiments? What has been the animating force behind this remarkable project known as civilization? Among the many possible answers, consider the case for wonder. Philosophy was, from the start, awe-inspired. Plato said that, “philosophy begins in wonder.” Aristotle agreed that “it …