St. Augustine hated the Stoics, Dostoevsky hated the Russian Liberals. At first sight this seems a quite inexplicable peculiarity. Both were convinced Christians, both spoke so much of love, and suddenly - such hate! And against whom? Against the Stoics, who preached self-abnegation, who esteemed virtue above all things in the world, and against ( Read more... )

Someone finally polled the 1% - And it's not pretty

A different species or just folks like the rest of us, protecting their interests?
I can't tell.
All i know is that "my" Congressional  represents the "interests" of the one percent on almost every issue and "interests" of the majority on almost none.

Maurice Joly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

( I read very few novels, so it is not saying much to say that Umberto Eco is one of my favorite writers. Read more... )

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation--Gandhi--The-Spring-of-Nonviolence.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=R07dqVQv2WA

( Read more... )

Vatican meeting reveals growing Catholic divide over divorce and homosexuality - Europe - Stripes

( My spouse is a devout Christian and Roman Catholic so i tend to listen to religious efforts to make sense of the world with and appreciative, if critical, ear. )

Stop wanting stuff; it keeps you from seeing what's real.

When you want stuff, all you see are things.

Those two sentences
mean the same thing.
Figure them out,
and you've got it made. -- The Beatrice Tao.

1 - Daily Tao

After spending a few hours nursing my horror at reading how the wannabe Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant uses women ( ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape - The New York Times ) i started to speculate about how complicit i am as a male living in  a  hierarchical, patriarchial society in this and other atrocities against women and girls ( Read more... )

Yes, the human heart is, sometimes, a heart of darkness ( Read more... )

The Prosecutor Who Says Louisiana Should ‘Kill More People’ - The New York TimesThe black hoods of medieval executioners were not uniforms but disguises ( Read more... )

"....I have three treasures which I hold and keep ( Read more... )