Eric Scheske

Essayist Joseph Epstein once described reading as a "lovely, antisocial, splendidly selfish habit." Selfish? I suppose so, but could one be so unselfish as to deny himself the pleasures of the mind and strengthening of the soul that come from reading? I'm reminded of Josef Pieper&

"As soon as a man satisfies his desire by obtaining what he wants, he starts to desire something else and finds himself empty again; and if he satisfies his desire with this, he becomes empty once again and ready for still another. And this never stops until we depart

"When man's irrational passions are thriving he is not free to pray and to seek the word of God." Evagrius. Many others, including Augustine, would say that, when a man's irrational passions are thriving, he is not free, period.

Thoughts are serious. Don't entertain them, unless you want to be them.

"I used to believe, with regard to any problem whatever, that to know was to solve the problem; now I realize that it means to know how the problem concerns me." Simone Weil

You ever wonder why people on vacation often have a bad time? I do, and I've concluded that–absent obvious things, like flat tires, or missing one's plane, or getting abducted like that family in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard

"The intellect thinks more or less well according as the soul is more or less completely purified of its stains." Etienne Gilson

Monks, the cutting-edge Followers, have always made obedience central to their quest. The earliest order devoted to the higher life, the Greek Pythagoreans, required new pupils to listen and obey for five years before receiving full membership. The Jewish Essenes required its members to surrender all possessions and permit

It is often lamented that a prophet has no honor in his own village. I suspect it's because people closest to him are acquainted with his ordinariness, and his ordinariness blocks out the greatness, like dense trees block out a view of the forest. The people closest to

I've tried reading outside in all seasons, including winter, and I've concluded that spring is the best season for outdoor reading. It's not too hot and it's not too cold, the bugs aren't out yet, and when the rain walls