Ebola is unlikely ever to kill as many people as this disease strikes down. Social isolation is as potent a cause of early death as smoking 15 cigarettes a day; loneliness, research suggests, is twice as deadly as obesity. Dementia, … Continue reading New Things, That kill us
It is a matter of common experience that it is possible for a man to devote a whole life time to the study of art, without having once experienced aesthetic emotion: “historical research” as Croce expresses it, “directed to illumine a work of … Continue reading On Experience and Appreciation
When to write? When is the right time to write? “Is there an algorithm that will predict the moment when a writer can begin productively to translate life experience into nonfiction? Must a certain number of years go by? Or … Continue reading On Not Being Able to Write It
What is the ideal which we must set before us? The first and foremost is the ideal of nationalism. Now what is Nationalism? It is, I conceive, a process through which a nation expresses itself and finds itself, not in … Continue reading On Nationalism
Excerpts from “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge,” by Carlos Castaneda As I was getting ready to leave, I decided to ask him once more about the enemies of a man of knowledge. I argued that I … Continue reading Four Enemies of a Man of Knowledge
I gazed spitefully at Istanbul. The snow-capped domes shone bright in the sunlight that broke abruptly through the clouds. The larger and more colorful a city is, the more places there are to hide one’s guilt and sin; the more … Continue reading Of Intelligent Cities
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth … Continue reading Of Travel
“We were men with our brains in a fever heat with the thoughts of the degraded condition of our country and after long cogitation we had formed the opinion that the salvation of our motherland was to be found in education alone. ~ Bal Gangadhar Tilak, describing his and GG Agarkar’s thoughts, in 1919; Lokmanya Tilak: A Biography by A.K. Bhagwat, G.P. Pradhan Continue reading On Salvation
“I am of the firm belief that everybody could write books and I never understand why they don’t. After all, everyone speaks. Once the grammar has been learnt it is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not … Continue reading On Writing Books
Many years ago, I had seen these signs in Singapore. They were remembered because of this post by Joe Escobedo. Continue reading Unintentional Humour
Square Peg/Round Hole 