Topic
The Hemisphere Hypothesis
Iain McGilchrist explains how our left hemispheres have gone rogue. The left hemisphere is meant to serve the right hemisphere, but it has usurped its master's position. This usurpation is the essence of modernity. It cripples society and each one of us individually because it disconnects people from full reality: only the right hemisphere connects to the Tao and the full spectrum of reality that it leads to.
"[T]he god who got things done bore the name of Moloch." GKC
Your Opinions Stink
John of Montmirail liked to fight. He was a leading knight in battle; he jousted in peace.
But then he had a religious conversion and dedicated his resources to helping the poor, including the establishment of a hospice in his castle.
He once went to help a woman whose dying
First Things' Feature Essay: Resist the Machine Apocalypse
The March 2024 issue of First Things arrived Tuesday. The feature essay: Iain McGilchrist, "Resist the Machine Apocalypse."
It's great.
But it's not online yet. When it is, I'll post an excerpt and a link to the full essay, but I suspect
1273: Apex of Western Civilization
December 6, 1273.
That's the date St. Thomas Aquinas had such an intense experience or vision during Mass, that he stopped writing.
For 35 years, Aquinas had used the written word to explain pretty much everything. He provided proofs of God's existence that atheists still struggle
Western Civilization Hit Its Apex During Advent 1273
A civilization can, indeed, advance and decline at the same time. Eric Voegelin, New Science of Politics, 132.
As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Abraham Heschel, God in Search of Man
Modern civilization is gnostic civilization. Gnostic civilization is left-hemispheric civilization.
Gnosis: Knowledge. Specifically, explicit knowledge, the
The Difference between "Reason" and "Rationality"
Reason
Greek nous
Latin intellectus
Reason is flexible. It resists fixed formulation. It is shaped by experience. It involves the whole living being, combining the mental and physical . . . the spiritual and material. It is the intellectual glue of sacramental existence. It is characterized by intuition.
Reason is "congenial to
How to Make a Cocktail
Start by approaching it with your right hemisphere
Don't Let Your Left Hemisphere Ruin Christmas
"I wouldn’t upset my plan for anything. I’d rather upset life than the plan." The Anonymous Schoizoid
The left hemisphere doesn't live. It thinks.
It plans: "How to do this?" "How to tackle that?"
The best way to develop a
Traveling with Your Left Hemisphere
In The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton describes traveling to an island paradise. The first morning, he sat on the beach, coconut trees leaning toward the sea, jungle-covered hills behind him. He then began to think about
a sore throat I had developed during the flight, worry over
Clearing Ground
Adam Smith at Front Porch Republic