You & Yours
Now is the time for writers and artists and musicians and chefs and teachers and ministers and philosophers to step out from the shadows and shine their light to illuminate the good and true. We need the subtle but durable power of aestheticism and depth of virtue to guide us as our nation is being overrun by ego-centric hucksters held captive by the grip of greed. Those who understand that neither beauty nor tranquility arise from the deposits of transactions may help deliver us from the cruelty of navel-gazing, wallet-clutching baron-barbarians whose see-through characters require the sword of deceit and the shield of darkness to survive. And while I expect those currently experiencing an orgasm of power will turn on each other soon enough to become the last baron-barbarian standing, we must prepare ourselves for the vast collateral damage they will leave in their wake.
The baron-barbarians (Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, et al.), while profoundly rich in monetary wealth, have impoverished souls that could all fit on the head of one pin. There is an inverse relationship between the size of ego and the size of soul. Their profound wealth has made them ghost vessels of the dark moral void; not even their rockets can save them. The scholar and journalist, Anne Applebaum, recently labeled them as members of the “New Obscurantism” movement determined to create “a society in which superstition defeats reason and logic, transparency vanishes, and the nefarious actions of political leaders are obscured behind a cloud of nonsense and distraction.” They have zero interest in our welfare, which is substantiated by mountains of evidence including the tread marks they have left on the backs of those who dared ask they conform with norms and laws designed for the common good. It is bizarre how Trumpland has managed to turn honesty and compassion and mercy into sins, but such is the corrupting nature of power. Among other things, the second coming of Trump may produce a very different and twisted kind of rapture theology. But, I digress.
The beauty of aestheticism and the plenitude of virtues offered by the artists and philosophers among us are our best source of kryptonite to slay the poet W.B. Yeats’ “rough beast[s] …slouch[ing] toward Bethlehem [Washington D.C.] to be born.” Although this collective of right-brain artisan liberators seldom practice assertion, preferring to let their creations and teachings speak for themselves, if we have any hope of restoring the soul of our society, we would be wise to pay more attention to them. They will not be able to stop the megalomaniacs, but they will provide the comfort of calm with glimpses of serenity, like well-placed rocks in a river allowing us to safely cross the torrent of bullshit cascading down from on high without being swept away.
As the philosopher Simon Critchley wrote recently in introducing his fine book, Mysticism,
The pact that I would like to make with the reader of this book is to see if we can transform our misery, […]
Is Ochlocracy Next?
First, an apology. I failed to offer new year’s greetings in my first post of the year, “Flourishing Together.” Between the events in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and on the heels of the assassination of a CEO in midtown Manhattan, it seemed a gruesome and sad time incompatible with annual revelry even as most Americans—including in New Orleans and Las Vegas—partied on.
So, a belated Happy New Years! Sort of? Hopefully!?
Whether 2025 proves to […]
Flourishing Together
Although Tonto did all the real work, the Lone Ranger is etched into American mythology as the white-hatted self-reliant epitome of how we independent do-it-all-ourselves Americans should model our lives—as highly idealized rugged and righteous cowboys. Especially those of us raised in the western states grew up with the ethos of pursuing a self-directed life tethered to as few others—whether people or institutions—as we could possibly manage. While we were taught to lend a hand, […]
The Divinity Within
Stopping the clock
To let the world hang
Disturbed and fragile
Too toxic to touch
To your whims and wants
You bid adieu
Your weight of worries
Cast into the wind
No more reaching
No more seeking
No more retreats
No more journeys
Settling into your center
A pilgrimage within
Doubts dispersed
You are fine as you are
Eternal wisdom
Is not ‘out there’
It arrived at your birth
Eager to serve
Ego’s patient sibling
The soul awaits
You will awaken someday
When ‘out there’ fails
Peace seems elusive
Yet always within
Permission granted
Compassion for you
Slowing to savor
The world is a […]
America’s Arc of Moral Madness (and Hope)
The path of human progress is random, chaotic, and often maddening. Taming humanity—organizing ourselves for the common good—has been a fool’s errand since antiquity; cajoling and coping with humanity are perhaps the best we can do. Yet there is also a spirit in each of us that never surrenders. That in the face of what seems insane and insurmountable in the moment, we find a sliver of light through which we squeeze ourselves and dare […]
A Conceit of Contempt
In the human journey to create the most peaceful, stable, and perfect society, the ancients considered many issues, conditions, and regimes to govern themselves. In Book IV of The Republic of Plato, Socrates, while brainstorming a perfect society with his students, suggests that if virtues like wisdom, moderation, and courage were established in a city there would be no need for laws. Further, that if each man pursued his particular and unique skills to the […]
It is Up to Women
There is one thing the vast majority of Americans agree on in an otherwise deeply divided nation: we all wish this election would end sooner rather than later. Politicians have discarded the art of persuasion for crass tools of manipulation that strain our democratic sensibilities to the breaking point. The new American machine of political outrage has turned discourse into a bloodsport while the now-banal deployment of deceit has produced a leaden blanket of exhaustion […]