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Showing posts from July, 2014

Tolstoy, after Rousseau, on Knowledge and Wisdom

“Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well, that is, how to produce the least possible evil and the greatest goodness in one’s life. At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge.”

Snow . . . in July?

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When we were recently moving, our son found some snow he collected during our last snowstorm, which he kept (and forgot) in the freezer.

Perfect Morning

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Worry and "The Sugar Cookie"

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“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27) This is one of the most profound statements of wisdom, and perhaps one of the most difficult to abide. Worry comes so easily yet makes nothing easier. Life gets no longer by doing it. Former Navy SEAL, Admiral McRaven said in his speech to the 2014 University of Texas graduating class what could very easily be the present-day equivalent of our Lord’s timeless words. Admiral McRaven said, “get used to being a sugar cookie.” The “Sugar Cookie” refers to the Navy Seal practice of running the SEAL trainees into the surf for a total drenching, then rolling around in the sand until well coated. The trainees then spend the rest of the day (doing PT, running, etc) in this state of intense discomfort. They must grow accustomed to the grit, the pain, to every undesirable distraction that will cause a man to divert from his mission. When a man quits, he has worried--and he has worried because he

"The Declaration of Independence In American" by H.L. Mencken (pub. 1921)

"When things get so balled up that the people of a country have to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are on the level, and not trying to put nothing over on nobody. All we got to say on this proposition is this: first, you and me is as good as anybody else, and maybe a damn sight better; second, nobody ain’t got no right to take away none of our rights; third, every man has got a right to live, to come and go as he pleases, and to have a good time however he likes, so long as he don’t interfere with nobody else. That any government that don’t give a man these rights ain’t worth a damn; also, people ought to choose the kind of goverment they want themselves, and nobody else ought to have no say in the matter. That whenever any goverment don’t do this, then the people have got a right to can it a