Category Archives: Philosophy

BOOKS: Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction by David Weir

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Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction (VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS)Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction by David Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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This book examines the brief life of the Bohemian artistic lifestyle, exploring how it came about, what it looked like in its heyday, what led to its demise, and by what / whom it was replaced (e.g. the Beats.) It is an intriguing examination of the subject. I will say, there were points that I felt the book had become lost in the weeds, but at other points I found it fascinating. I concluded that my own calculus was to find it interesting when it discussed the lives and works of artists who are still deemed to have relevance and influence today (e.g. Baudelaire, Picasso, and Whitman,) and not so much when it was elaborating on artists and works that have fallen into obscurity among the general populace (e.g. Henry Murger’s Scenes of Bohemian Life.) So, that may be more a reflection on me than on the book.

The author touches upon the fictional influences that inspired Bohemianism, the places where the lifestyle thrived (e.g. Paris and New York,) the philosophy and – particularly – the political philosophy of the Bohemians (e.g. often Anarchists or – at least – anti-government.) One of the topics that most interested me is how the successor artistic communities differed from the Bohemians.

If you’re interested in who the Bohemians were and how they differ from other artistic communities (before and after,) this book is well worth the brief read required.

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Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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If the red slayer think he slays,
   Or if the slain think he is slain,
 They know not well the subtle ways
   I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near;
   Shadow and sunlight are the same;
 The vanished gods to me appear;
   And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out;
   When me they fly, I am the wings;
 I am the doubter and the doubt,
   I am the hymn the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode,
   And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
 But thou, meek lover of the good!
   Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

PROMPT: Holiday Invention

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Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

Mad Saints Day. In honor of all the crazy sages throughout history (e.g. Hanshan, Diogenes the Cynic, Ikkyu, St. Isadora, Drukpa Kunley, Nasreddin, Milarepa, William Blake, etc.)

It’s celebrated by violating some societal convention that doesn’t have direct adverse health and safety consequences (This is not “The Purge.”) Of course, violating even the most absurdly arbitrary societal convention will cause many people to freak out, so the other element of celebrating Mad Saints Day is just getting the f@$& over it.

PROMPT: Historical Event

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What historical event fascinates you the most?

It varies over time. For a long time, it was the Second World War and the Holocaust. How do you get the rise of Nazis and the horrors that sprang therefrom? Sadly, I think that question has been answered to my — for lack of a better word— satisfaction.

The execution of Socrates has spurred a great deal of thought.

In terms of what is not so much a historical event, but historical processes, I’m intrigued by the life of Buddha.

Then there are a lot of explorer / adventurer travels.

She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron [w/ Audio]

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She walks in beauty, like the night
   Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
 And all that's best of dark and bright
   Meets in her aspect and her eyes,
 Thus mellow'd to that tender light
   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less
   Had half impair'd the nameless grace
 Which waves in every raven tress
   Or softly lightens o'er her face,
 Where thoughts serenely sweet express
   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
 The smiles that win, the tints that glow
   But tell of days in goodness spent,--
 A mind at peace with all below,
   A heart whose love is innocent.

PROMPT: Risk

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What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to? 

Fully embrace the crazy, in the manner of Diogenes, Blake, or Drukpa Kunley.

PROMPT: Successful

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Daily writing prompt
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
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Diogenes [of Sinope] and – also – Drukpa Kunley. Each of them spoke his mind, lived by his own rules, never wore a mask, and could not be controlled. They were truly free.

PROMPT: Principles

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Daily writing prompt
What principles define how you live?
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What happens in the external world does not DETERMINE one’s mental / emotional experience.

It’s better to see oneself as a student than as a master — at any stage of life and development.

Be tolerant. No one knows enough to justify smug superiority.

Self-expression is what we live for, and it is curtailed to everyone’s detriment.

PROMPT: Changed Mind

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?
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Oh so many things. My epistemological stance is that one should be ready to drop any belief like a hot rock in the face of better information or better means to understanding.

One of the most fundamental changes is that I used to take for granted that there was a god. Now I’m agnostic about whether there is one, and am virtually certain that – in the unlikely event there is a god – it (she? they? he?) bears no resemblance to any of the tribally derived deities of the various world religions.

I used to think introversion was something that could be, and should be, overcome. Now, I believe the healthy approach is in accepting it and managing one’s life so that it’s not a problem. Truth be told, in my youth, I had a lot of grandiose ideas about what was possible with regards to the mind, ideas which I have jettisoned in favor of one’s that better match the empirical evidence.

Five Wise Lines from Epicurus

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Death is nothing to us, because a body that has been dispersed into elements experiences no sensations, and the absence of sensation is nothing to us.

principal doctrines – No. 2

Nothing is enough to someone for whom what is enough is too little.

Vatican Sayings – No. 68

Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.

Principal Doctrines – No. 27

Don’t spoil what you have by desiring what you don’t have; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.

vatican sayings – No. 35

No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but some pleasures are only obtainable at the cost of excessive troubles.

Principal doctrines – No. 8

And Five Honorable Mentions:

[T]here are an infinite number of worlds, some like this world, others unlike it.

Letter to Herodotus

Dreams have neither a divine nature nor a prophetic power, but they are the result of images that impact upon us.

vatican sayings – No. 24

It is pointless for a person to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

vatican sayings – No. 65

But one must not be so much in love with the explanation by a single way as wrongly to reject all others…

Letter to pythocles

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.

Letter to Menoeceus

SOURCE: Epicurus. 2021. The Fundamental Books of Epicurus: Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Letters. Trans. by: Robert Drew Hicks & R. Medeiros. Independently published on Amazon. 45pp.