I came across a new word recently. You may have heard of it, but I certainly had not. The word is: shibboleth. The word has several shades of meaning, but the one I find most intriguing relates to instances where the original meaning of a symbol has been lost and the symbol now serves only …
I am reading a book recommended by a friend called “The Culture of Classicism”, written by history professor Caroline Winterer. The author notes that the book “charts how Americans over the course of the 19th century fundamentally changed their relationship with classical antiquity, seeking in the remote past new guides for modern life.” The late …
The present era is marked by a deepening collapse of the sacred into the secular. There are many reasons for this, but the primary cause is a widespread coarsening of consciousness. Consciousness has both a receptive and a transmissive quality. It is that which, properly functioning, connects us both to the music of the spheres …
The odds are stacked in your favor. The odds of you arriving on this planet in tact—armed with a body, mind, and heart capable of spiritual expression—were a trillion-to-one. The union of a human egg and sperm gave you the privilege and responsibility of walking on this planet, of sharing in creative action with billions …
Ode on Solitude by Alexander Pope Happy the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound,Content to breathe his native air In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply …
The Oak by Alfred Lord Tennyson Live thy Life,Young and old,Like yon oak,Bright in spring,Living gold; Summer-richThen; and thenAutumn-changedSoberer-huedGold again. All his leavesFall’n at length,Look, he stands,Trunk and boughNaked strength. I remember when as a young man I used to wish that I were older so that I might have more wisdom, capability and resources. Looking …
To be courageous you need not face an army, face insurmountable odds or do the unthinkable. To be courageous you must simply face the little things which you’ve previously let hold you back with new resolve – the self-doubts, self-concern and self-destructive tendencies – the little foxes, in short, that spoil the vine. Photo by …
There is, from within, whether or not you can understand it or recognize just what it is or where it comes from, the urge toward a more noble life: the urge toward understanding your purpose here, why you came, what your particularized capacities are. There is an urge toward the realization of that which YOU, …
Is inequality truly the root of all evil? There is a concerted push in mass consciousness along these lines, i.e., towards a society that promises and delivers equality of outcomes. A giant, cultural, historical and linguistic eraser is slowly the dividing lines between male and female, rich and poor, white and black, to name a …
If jobs were pointless, what would you do? The question seems a little absurd, but the rapidly advancing capabilities of AI would seem to indicate that it is a very real, and not too distant, possibility. How would you occupy your time creatively? What would motivate you if working for a living we’re not longer …
Continue reading If jobs were pointless…can you say, “meow?”
Gregory Hake 