“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.” — René Descartes
Thomas J. Jackson in many ways is the archetype of Southern honor, bravery, faith and leadership. Growing up in the Deep South, I've seen portraits and paintings of Jackson in pastor's offices, boardrooms of lawyers, bankers, insurance agents and in various homes throughout my life. There is a certain admiration even reverence for Stonewall Jackson... Continue Reading →
One of Harris’s central themes, not just in this book but in his philosophy in general, is that a successful system of ethics can be erected outside of dogma.
Regardless of whether one considers the Bible to contain the keys to eternal life, its secular contribution to the world stands on its own. The Bible influences (and has influenced) international wars, political elections, philosophical treatises and national amendments to social contracts written under the auspices of natural law.
Time, as Carroll would have it, is an emergent category. We attach the labels of past, present, and future, from our human perspective, but they do not truly exist. We remember the past, but not the future. For us, causes precede their effects. We can make choices that affect the future, but not the past.
"for nature does not give a man virtue: the process of becoming a good man is an art."
Why does this book matter? Facing our depravity, when man struggles with those who can kill both body and soul, here, it is thought, word and deed, and the stories of those he memorializes who were willing to make a sacrifice, that may, though even in part, serve to resurrect some part of the human spirit from dirt, decay and death. If man has and will go so low, may we be witnesses, even in our imperfect and ironic attempts, of preserving life, to some understanding of true life, and to have that life more abundantly. As he ends, “the only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other.
I first heard Dr. Jordan Peterson in one of my favorite podcasts, The Art of Manliness. After that interview, I had to explore more of this straightforward Canadian clinical psychologist. I listened to some of his lectures on the psychological significance of Old Testament stories in the Bible and then periodically he reappeared in some... Continue Reading →
Regardless of your religious convictions, this is a book worth reading. It will challenge any reader’s self-importance and humble him in the face of the awe-inspiring cosmos.
Our culture is fascinated with scandal in current times: perhaps a shady alliance with a long time geopolitical rival, rising powers in the east and the fear of immigrants altering long standing cultural norms. These words could also be written of Rome in 146 B.C. Mike Duncan's The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the... Continue Reading →
“A spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way, the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort.”
Brains and Brawn 