TWE

"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 a

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

"The tongue requires a strict guard over it, by reason of the inclination we have of talking about everything agreeable to our senses." Lorenzo Scupoli

"The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving toward the grand fallacy." Marshall McLuhan

I don't write many reviews, but this stunner of a movie deserves a brief mention. Van Helsing may be the worst movie I've ever seen. It's a 135 minute trailer. There is a plot, I guess, or two plots, or possibly five plots, none

"I believe that the purpose of pornography is to produce excitement in the human mind not by the depiction of nudity or even of sexuality but by the depiction of human degradation." John Lukacs

"One of the things that make pornography so damnable, in my view, is its humorlessness." Joseph Epstein

The other four guys got to the bar first. Scott was putting money in the jukebox. The regulars at the bar were giving him dirty looks. "What the heck," Scott said as he came and sat down. "You see those decrepits at the bar? They were looking