I would like to welcome everyone visiting here from 3QuarksDaily where one of my posts has been selected as a Finalist for the Politics Quark prize. I am honored. Wisdom of the West is not strictly a political blog, but it makes no bones about its views. Please browse around. There are personal essays, literary essays, critical pieces, philosophical musing, aggregations, responses to other blogs, etc. on here as well—as stated in the header. There are also a number of theme posts, such as my fifteen part personal essay "Thyraphobia" about skydiving or the ongoing "Ur-story" series which has close readings and critical essays on interesting and what I take to be important works of fiction. The "Labels" list on the right side should give you a sense of the breadth of discussion topics you can find here.
Comments are welcome, even if just to alert me to the existence of your own blog—so long as it has interests reasonably related to those herein. (For example, I will delete Spam and trolling-for-porn comments. I've been getting quite a few of those lately and hope not to have to resort to those annoying passwords and comment-blocking mechanisms and such.) I try to respond to each and every comment, as reasoned discourse is something I prize.
You will note that my blogroll comprises mostly institutional blogs, including 3QuarksDaily, and hasn't changed much in the two years I've been operating WoW. My two-year anniversary is later this month, and one of the changes I've been contemplating is to add a blogroll of other blogs I read regularly. Look for it.
Again, thanks for reading.
Best,
Jim H.
Showing posts with label welcome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label welcome. Show all posts
12 December 2009
22 December 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to my Blog!
We often hear tales about seekers trekking to the mountains of Tibet or the ashrams of India or the temples of China or the monasteries of Japan hoping to find some mysterious Wisdom of the East only to come away with a riddle or an impenetrable koan. Or the seeker is told he must scrub floors or peel potatoes or beg or sit contemplatively for decades before he can even begin to understand the nature of his pursuit. Indeed, this is what we often think about first when we think about wisdom.
I believe we here in the West also have a form of wisdom to offer the seeker. Some comes from traditional philosophy. Some from religion. And some from literature. These, of course, are not the only sources. Nor do any of them have a monopoly on the topic. Much can be gleaned from mere objective observation and reflection. Much more can develop through dialogue.
For the past few years I have been writing a book with the title of this blog. Its subjects include such things as first principles, faith vs. reason, life on earth, meaning, communication, love, work, diversity, controversy, knowledge, time, change, power, law, freedom, technology, history, property, economics and markets, the environment, war and peace, religion, and government. I will post my thoughts on these and many other topics in the hope of engaging you, the readers here, in a dialogue about what wisdom our Western civilization is contributing to the great project of humankind here on planet Earth.
Please join me!
We often hear tales about seekers trekking to the mountains of Tibet or the ashrams of India or the temples of China or the monasteries of Japan hoping to find some mysterious Wisdom of the East only to come away with a riddle or an impenetrable koan. Or the seeker is told he must scrub floors or peel potatoes or beg or sit contemplatively for decades before he can even begin to understand the nature of his pursuit. Indeed, this is what we often think about first when we think about wisdom.
I believe we here in the West also have a form of wisdom to offer the seeker. Some comes from traditional philosophy. Some from religion. And some from literature. These, of course, are not the only sources. Nor do any of them have a monopoly on the topic. Much can be gleaned from mere objective observation and reflection. Much more can develop through dialogue.
For the past few years I have been writing a book with the title of this blog. Its subjects include such things as first principles, faith vs. reason, life on earth, meaning, communication, love, work, diversity, controversy, knowledge, time, change, power, law, freedom, technology, history, property, economics and markets, the environment, war and peace, religion, and government. I will post my thoughts on these and many other topics in the hope of engaging you, the readers here, in a dialogue about what wisdom our Western civilization is contributing to the great project of humankind here on planet Earth.
Please join me!
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