Eric Scheske

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Localism without Fundamentalism

Localism without Fundamentalism

We can applaud yesterday's small towns without worshipping them. We can appreciate the local without demonizing the central. But we also need to insist that today's progressives applaud yesterday and that today's centralizing gnostics respect the local. I'm afraid those just aren&

Are Saints Sent at Specific Times for Specific Reasons?

Are Saints Sent at Specific Times for Specific Reasons?

Every so often, spiritual lightning sears across a culture's landscape. The example of St. Francis of Assisi immediately comes to mind. So does St. Antony. Their intense holiness was bright and powerful, and left an indelible mark on the earth. We can't know for certain why

Zen in Brief

Zen in Brief

When Mahayana Buddhism traveled east out of India and into China, it mingled with Taoism. The offspring: Zen. Like all Buddhism, its ontology (i.e., its theory of what constitutes fundamental reality) is steeped in pantheistic monism. This means that the Buddhist believes all things are one. The same spirit

Dalrymple on the WNBA

Dalrymple on the WNBA

Anthony Daniels aims at three of my favorite targets: (1) The relentless propaganda to push the WNBA on the populace (but in Daniels' case, he marvels at the propaganda to push female soccer in Europe), (2) tattoo culture, and (3) ugly buildings ("brutalism"). Underlying these three seemingly

Bertrand Russell Summarizes the Left Hemisphere

Bertrand Russell Summarizes the Left Hemisphere

Science is "power-knowledge"

When Gods Fight, Men Die

When Gods Fight, Men Die

It is important for us to realize that mankind is doomed to live more and more under the spell of a new scientific, social, and political mythology, unless we resolutely exorcise these befuddled notions whose influence on modern life is becoming appalling. Millions of men are starving or bleeding to

Rabelais

Rabelais

One of my favorite writers, Albert Jay Nock, was a huge Rabelais fan. He wrote two books about him. From the first: It must be laid down once and for all, that the chief purpose of reading a classic like Rabelais is to prop and stay the spirit, especially in

Burkean Libertarianism

Burkean Libertarianism

I self-identify as a libertarian, which means I can play on libertarian sports teams even though I was born a conservative, but it bothers me that there's something eerily "religious" in many libertarians' fervor and uncompromising positions. I'm firmly convinced it's

The Importance of Free Speech

The Importance of Free Speech

Free speech is the most important issue today, and I don't say that because I loathe Democrats (I don't much care for Republicans, either). I say it because truth is fluid. It's not relative (put your genitals back in your pants, perverts), but it

Selections From John Wu's Translation of the Tao Teh Ching

Selections From John Wu's Translation of the Tao Teh Ching

Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. The highest excellence is like water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,