The ‘Problem’ Of The Photographic Portrait

      The ontological ‘problem’ with the genre of the portrait, of course, is that no matter how well and intricately a person is photographed, one can truly tell little about their psyche based

How Is It Possible That Someone Like DT Can Rise To Power In The Contemporary US?

The American electorate has become so divided in 2016 that those who don’t plan to vote for DT have been puzzled and distraught by how so many— seemingly 45% or more of voters— can be

Forgotten Classics: White Fang by Jack London

    I’m about 3/4 through the novel White Fang by Jack London. I never had given much thought about this late 19th / early 20th century American writer other than in the context of

On Pollution

We recognize a few types of environmental and sensory Pollutions (Air, Land, Water, and less considered, Noise, Light, Visual, and Thermal). But we fail to consider some of the most harmful types of all: Emotional

On Literature and Social Media

    Social media has some benefits, but it has also set society back considerably. The essence of literature is the eternal. The essence of social media is the ephemeral. The two are somewhat at

New Charter of the Rights of Persons for the 21st Century

   New Charter of the Rights of Persons for the 21st Century (a Draft)    I. Main Articles   Every person living on Earth or anywhere under its jurisdiction has the right to the following,

“This is the strangest life…”

“This is the strangest life I have ever known.”         —Jim Morrison   “How strange it is to be anything at all.”         —Jeff Mangum   “The most incomprehensible thing about

Spiritual Economics

What would your life be like now if your main driver during the majority of your time wasn’t earning money but actualizing yourself, through whatever sensibilities are naturally given you, and seeking truth? Life will

The hardest thing in the world is to see the obvious. 

The Virtual Realities of Language and Culture

“Let us not forget that culture and language were the first virtual realities. A child is born into a world of unspeakable wonder. Each part of the world is seen to glow with animate mystery

Obsession with food

Food and drink are great, but this ‘foodie-ism,’ this obsession with meticulously garnered and crafted food & drink in NYC (and elsewhere), which is taken to the point of absurdity, is symptomatic of a largely confused, addled, decadent culture, grasping onto anything that

Everyone becomes a philosopher eventually.

And you will be the Truth

One can’t ‘know’ truth— because just as one is part of all, so ‘reason’ is just a part of ‘intuition.’ Therefore, one must be truth. But— doesn’t this seem too simple? A metaphorical matter of

The flimsiest of foundations

I just found a tiny bug, a baby cockroach, in my friend’s cabinet, and instinctively squashed it with a napkin.   So, too, can someone or something squash me in an instant.   We nestle

The Law of the Fear of Death

The law of the fear of death. The closer a creature is to inanimacy, the less it fears death?   There is no mind without matter. Therefore, when the body expires, the spirit leaves in

Business and Friendship

That ‘business’ and ‘friendship’ are separate is a myth. Life is a dialectic of utility, pleasure, and virtue, and there are always trade-offs and repercussions in all realms based on how one conducts oneself— based

The Insight of Children

Today I had the most insightful conversation I’ve had in the last month, and it was with a four year old (uncle’s son). Children at this age are just old enough to know enough words