Monthly Archives: June 2017

Lest we forget the first definition of Culture in Oxford Concise English. “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively; a refined understanding of this intellectual development; the customs, civilization, and achievements of a particular time or … Continue reading →

(All is Vanity. C. Allan Gilbert. Picture is pre-1910.) ……………………………………………………………………… “We are not there until we can say ‘yea’ to it all.”–Joseph Campbell You know the end may be coming when: 1) your mobility drops to nil and you are … Continue reading →

from the ’90s and before would know and recall the way things used to be at some kind of peak of Western culture and civilization. Know and remember what beauty and true culture are and where/how they can be retrieved. … Continue reading →

“Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” (Illusion, dream, and idealism are generally very satisfying, compared with mundane forms of reality.) “An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young.” (Pleasure is pretty basic and necessary.) “We are … Continue reading →

“It matters not how long we live, but how.”

(Following my bliss at age 40; Robert Frost’s West-Running Brook, Derry, N.H., September 1990–one of many places I took time off from teaching to go see in New England; there are teachers then who told me dismissively, “That’s the trip I’ll make when I … Continue reading →

that one is or was completely known, understood, loved, and appreciated by one other person. It will be more than enough if one completely knew, understood, loved, and appreciated one other person. That will suffice for whatever meaning or purpose … Continue reading →

“ Narcotics cannot still the Tooth/That nibbles at the soul–“–Emily Dickinson And often one just works hard and long, endlessly giving, doing for others, sacrificing one’s own inner self, giving many performances (many of them hollow, ephemeral) giving, turning oneself … Continue reading →

Nothing left unsaid, undone.No risk regretted.Freeing self and soul for the home stretch. “To refuse the call means stagnation.” “When the refusal of the call happens, there is a kind of drying up, a sense of life lost.”–Joseph Campbell “He … Continue reading →

(Reading an unforgettable story in a grade 1 reader; shared last evening with my older grandson–stands/stood the test of time) “God is in the detail/s.”–Gustave Flaubert, “The bien Dieu est dans le detail.” Moments of being are those more elusive … Continue reading →