essay
In 1932 Christopher Dawson published a book titled The Making of Europe which had enormous success and established his reputation as a scholar of incredible range and erudition who could communicate with great clarity and elegance. He had previously written two other books: The Age of the Gods (1928), and Progress and Religion (1929) but…
Think back to a time when you fought really hard for something. Back then, how sure were you that you were right? How sure are you now that you were? If you’re like me, you pick your battles, and sometimes you pick wrong. You also intuitively track how often you changed your mind later about…
Many effective methods for curing diseases were developed in ancient cultures. However, the physical bases of diseases were not as clearly understood in ancient times. Many ancient views on diseases were related to the supernatural, to curses, and to lack of grace from the Providence. Most cures for diseases included magical oral formulas also. So…
Ivan Illich, a great advocate for intercultural communication, gifted us with a great insight. It is found in his book Tools for Conviviality. He wrote there that foreign languages ought to be pursued not so much to communicate with those native to them, but rather, so that we may listen to the particular silences found…
What do you say about a deceased jerk, someone who treated you badly before shuffling off this mortal coil?The natural temptation is to say, “She could have done better,” but what could that mean? That had she tried a little harder, she would have been able to control her vices? Meaning if she had been…
Closely related to astrology and magic was the practice of the occult which was another feature of ancient science. The word occult is derived from Latin, meaning hidden or concealed. It refers to aspects of the world that are not directly perceptible either to the ordinary senses or to our everyday intelligence. More importantly, it…
Spring is here, and that means that “conference mode” is in full flower here at the Institute! Plans are coming along nicely for what promises to be a fantastic Metanexus Conference 2008 in Madrid, July 13-17. If you have not done so already, you can register for the conference online. Featured speakers include William Chittick,…
Klaus Held, from the University of Wuppertal, has recently written a brilliant essay on the identity of European culture. It was translated into English by Sean Kirkland of Goucher college. It can be found in the journal Epoche’, Vol. 7, issue 1 (Fall 2002) and its title is The Origins of Europe with the Greek…
Three weeks ago I recounted a lot of tough problems raised over the ages about how cause and effect really work. One of the toughest was that if cause and effect works like we normally think it does—thing A bumps into thing B and moves it in a precisely predictable direction—then the whole universe should…
I have long claimed to practice Buddhist mindfulness, but for me that means filling my mind full with as much as possible. Buddhist meditation always struck me as more about mindlessness, a process of clearing away all desires, all sensations, and all thoughts.