Tag Archives: Philosophy

“Fable” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

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The mountain and the squirrel  
  Had a quarrel;  
 And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig.’
 Bun replied,  
 ‘You are doubtless very big;         
  But all sorts of things and weather  
  Must be taken in together,  
  To make up a year  
  And a sphere.  
 And I think it no disgrace  
  To occupy my place.  
 If I'm not so large as you,  
  You are not so small as I,  
  And not half so spry.  
 I'll not deny you make  
  A very pretty squirrel track;  
  Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;  
 If I cannot carry forests on my back,  
  Neither can you crack a nut.’

PROMPT: Expensive Meal

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
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I can’t remember, but it’s never been worth it. Seems like the more one pays for a meal, the hungrier one leaves it. Enjoy your “foam reductions” if you like, but it’s not for me. I’ll take street food any day — cheap, filling, flavorful street food. It’s got character and doesn’t try too hard.

My palate may be unrefined, but — also — I’m no sucker.

“Who says my poems are poems” by Ryōkan [w/ Audio]

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Who says my poems are poems?
   They aren't poems at all.

Only when you understand my poems aren't poems 
   Can we talk poetry.

This translation by Sam Hamill in The Poetry of Zen (2004) Boston: Shambhala, p. 159

“‘Truth,’ said a traveller” [Poem XXVIII] by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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“Truth,” said a traveller, 
 “Is a rock, a mighty fortress; 
 “Often have I been to it, 
 “Even to its highest tower, 
 “From whence the world looks black.”

“Truth,” said a traveller, 
 “Is a breath, a wind, 
 “A shadow, a phantom; 
 “Long have I pursued it, 
 “But never have I touched 
 “The hem of its garment.”

And I believed the second traveller; 
 For truth was to me 
 A breath, a wind, 
 A shadow, a phantom, 
 And never had I touched 
 The hem of its garment.

PROMPT: Modern Society

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Daily writing prompt
What would you change about modern society?
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In short, I think we need to foster emotional intelligence and not just academic intelligence, and we need to rebuild social interaction in a super-tribal world (i.e. a world too big for everyone to know everyone else.) [But do the latter without the xenophobia.]

To elaborate:

First, I think we need some true coming-of-age experience that facilitates a sense of self-empowerment. This would not just be collecting envelopes of cash and dancing a dance or reciting a prayer, but something more akin to being dropped in the woods for a week. Of course, this would require engaged parenting and skill acquisition and not just leaving kids with video games and social media. It seems like a lot of our present problems result from people with no sense of empowerment or the emotional intelligence that comes therefrom. Such people may have passed all the tests but still have “imposter syndrome” and the like.

Second, we need some sort of way to build tribal-scale groups in which people interact with a small group of others repeatedly — in person and face-to-face. The challenge is that this needs to be done without increasing xenophobia, which is already trending the wrong way. I think there is a problematic tendency to be virtually engaged but not personally engaged with others in humanity. Even in I, who am intensely introverted, the social impulse remains, but we live in a world where people can successfully dropout.

Some people get one or both of these experiences in any number of ways, but it seems like an ever-increasing segment of the population lacks confidence (even if they had a 4.0 gpa the whole way through their formal education,) and lacks human interaction (even if they have 2000 social media “friends.”)

BOOK: “Ma” ed. by Ken Rodgers & John Einarsen

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Ma: The Japanese Secret to Contemplation and Calm: An Invitation to AwarenessMa: The Japanese Secret to Contemplation and Calm: An Invitation to Awareness by Ken Rodgers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Tuttle

Release date: October 27, 2025

My introduction to the concept of ma came as a young martial arts student, where it was thought of as distancing, but not distancing in a static sense — rather in a way that incorporated timing as well [so, more of an interval in space-time.] I would later hear the term applied to domains such as joke telling in which perfection of pause could be as critical to a laugh as the words that comprised the joke. This book expanded my understanding to numerous realms I’d never much considered before such as architecture, photography, and gardening. (Incidentally, this book does contain a chapter addressing the martial arts aspect of ma, though not the comedic ramifications of the concept.)

I haven’t seen any other books that focus entirely on this concept. Ma is often mentioned in books on Japanese philosophy and aesthetics but rarely with such depth and singular attention. If there are other books that drill down into the concept in this way, I doubt they are as readable as this one (that is, I suspect such a book would be intensely philosophic and scholarly.) So, this book seems to have a solid niche.

There were a couple chapters that took my thinking on the subject to entirely new places. One was on ma in the domain of virtual reality. This raised interesting metaphysical considerations. Another was about the Heart Sutra and how the translations used have led to longstanding misunderstandings of that work.

If you are interested in art and or philosophy, I’d highly recommend this book.

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“Limits” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

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Who knows this or that?
 Hark in the wall to the rat:
 Since the world was, he has gnawed;
 Of his wisdom, of his fraud
 What dost thou know?
 In the wretched little beast
 Is life and heart,
 Child and parent,
 Not without relation
 To fruitful field and sun and moon.
 What art thou? His wicked eye
 Is cruel to thy cruelty.

PROMPT: 10 Things

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List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

1.) Nothing is permanent.

2.) The world is not what it seems.

3.) One’s subjective experience is not determined by the state of the world.

4.) Nobody grasps enough truth to be intolerant.

5.) Uncertainty is the root of all fear.

6.) Fear is the root of all hatred.

7.) Hatred is a subjective experience (See #3.) Also, uncertainty is the root of all hatred (by the transitive property,) hence the benefit of travel.

8.) Any who: a.) has suffered a string of hardships; b.) allows themselves to believe that some “other” is wholly responsible for said hardships; and c.) who lacks a sufficient sense of self-empowerment to avoid surrendering entirely to a group identity can (and likely will) become a Nazi (or the equivalent of their day.)

9.) No one can predict the future. [Regardless of how much we all love to try. (See #5.)]

10.) Entropy increases (ultimately, in a closed system.)

NOTE: I remain ready to abandon any certainty in the face of better information.

“Death” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]

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Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all;
Many times he died,
Many times rose again.
A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Casts derision upon
Supersession of breath;
He knows death to the bone -
Man has created death.

“Gubbinal” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]

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That strange flower, the sun,
  Is just what you say.
  Have it your way.

 The world is ugly,
  And the people are sad.

 That tuft of jungle feathers,
  That animal eye,
  Is just what you say.

 That savage of fire,
  That seed,
  Have it your way.

 The world is ugly,
  And the people are sad.