Sign in Subscribe

Eric Scheske

We Don't Know What Consciousness is Because We Don't Know What the Tao Is

Your consciousness is what it’s like to be you. It’s your experiences of color and sound and smell; your feelings of pain, joy, excitement or tiredness. It’s what makes you a thinking, sentient being rather than an unfeeling mechanism. Philip Goff, Scientific American Science is stumped: It

When Drunkenness is a Mortal Sin Redux

Aquinas appears to make it pretty hard to get so drunk that inebriation, by itself, is mortal A reader sent this link to me. Is getting drunk a sin? [https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/is-getting-drunk-a-sin/] The site’s conclusion: Yup, getting drunk is a serious sin. But the site doesn’

Dorsey: Gudge Slayer? Hudge Crippler?

From the TDE Archives (early 2022)

A Narcissus at Christmas: Received: The Complete Guide to Middle Earth

Robert Foster: The Complete Guide to Middle Earth. My sons pooled their money to buy me this deluxe edition of Robert Foster’s classic Middle Earth reference book. I’m not even sure where they found it, but it’s a beautiful book. After opening it, I said, “Wow, I

A Narcissus at Christmas: Received: The Eighth Day Book Catalogue

The 23rd Eighth Day Books Catalogue. The retail price says “$7,” but the link says “$5.50.” It’s worth it either way. It came out in 2020, and my youngest daughter was pretty disgusted with Marie when it came in. “This is all I’m giving him?!?!” Marie assured

A Narcissus at Christmas: Received Jack Kerouac: Scattered Poems

Jack Kerouac: Scattered Poems

My Family Calls it "Exercise Bulimia"

People who work out regularly and are aerobically fit tend to guzzle a surprising amount of alcohol, according to a new study, well timed for the holidays, [https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/2022/01000/Fit_and_Tipsy__The_Interrelationship_between.15.aspx] of the interplay between fitness, exercise and

Weigel and the Celebration of Christmas

A massive, sixteen-volume Lives of the Saints, first published between 1872 and 1877, informs me that, here in the Eternal City, the feast of Christmas first became a celebration distinct from the ancient feast of the Epiphany in the mid-fourth century—and that St. John Chrysostom, one of the four

Miscellaneous: My First Written Words about McGilchrist. Plus: The Golden Hour and Abstinence

Written and published on December 19, 2021

A Key Modern School of Philosophy Looked a Lot Like an Ancient School of Heresy

The pagan cosmic system of late antiquity put the earth at the center of creation, surrounded by eight heavenly spheres: (sun, moon, first five planets, and their stars). The ancient Christian heresy of gnosticism accepted this view of the cosmos but added a few things. The eight heavenly spheres, the