Money can't buy

 

Dostoyevsky

 

Anais

 

To laugh often

 

 

"To laugh often;

to win the admiration of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

to earn the respect of honest critics

and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to apprehend beauty;

to find the best in others;

to leave this world a bit better

whether by a healthy child,

a garden patch

or a redeemed social condition;

to know that even one life

has breathed easier

because you have lived

that is said to have been successful.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Relativity

 

Suzuki

 

Cronkite

 

To Be or Not To Be

 

Miranda Marrott

 

Darwin

 

Hannah Arendt

 

Cultural Regions

 

Habbah

 

 

Socrates, the greatest philosopher of all time, was actually the most hated man in Athens. He was accused of cruelty and corruption of youth. The popular court, the Eliea, condemned him to death: and Socrates,  one of the most brilliant minds in history, died drinking hemlock. But why all this? Socrates apparently wasn't doing anything dangerous. He simply asked questions, spoke to anyone: with nobles, with common citizens, with young people. But his questions, in their frankness, in their simplicity demolished the certainties of his interlocutors, forcing them to confront the emptiness of their own certainties, with the incoherence of their reasoning. He taught us to doubt. Socrates was a character who was too uncomfortable with the doubts he inculcated. He had the audacity to expose corrupt politicians and false teachers who advocated false truths and false knowledge. For this he was sentenced to death. He was a threat to the status quo, a danger that needed to be eliminated. During the trial, Socrates did not want to repent or beg for mercy. He also refused to be assisted by a speaker. Intelligence is inconvenient, this is what the trial against Socrates teaches us. The masses want illusions and not truths; they want to be flattered and live happily in ignorance. Smart men are embarrassing. They are prohibited, ostracized, despised, because they disturb the sleep of the masses, question authority, reveal the deceptions of the institutions.

vonnegut

 

Like v. Love

 

Women Will

 

On Morals

 

Plato

 

Leo Tolstoy

 

Gore Vidal

 

Henry Wallace

 

Huxley

 

Aldous

 

Hemingway

 

Sanskrit

 

On Artiificial Intelligence

 

Jihn Fugelsang

 

Bertrand Russell

 

“All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer. These people can only be refuted by science: Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.“

Feed the Ravens

 

“I used to feed the ravens, usually a box of Kraft dinner. I’d just put the food in the front yard for them. Then one day I was miserable and tired, and when a raven tapped its beak on my window looking for food, I screamed at it, ‘I’m sick of feeding you! Bring ME something for a change!’. Then the raven looked at the food and then looked at me and took off without eating anything. In about half an hour it came back with this big white eagle feather and dropped it on the patio, then looked at me and then ate its food. My husband was flabbergasted. It kind of spooked me but I still love ravens.” — Lorna

GBShaw

 

Arthur C. Clarke

 

Carl J.

 

Pastor talk

 

Laurence Tribe

 

   “If you want endless repetition, see a lot of different people. If you want infinite variety, stay with one.” What happens when you date is you run all your best moves and tell all your best stories — and in a way, that routine is a method for falling in love with yourself over and over. You can’t do that with a longtime mate because he knows all that old material. With a long relationship, things die then are rekindled, and that shared process of rebirth deepens the love. It’s hard work, though, and a lot of people run at the first sign of trouble. You’re with this person, and suddenly you look like an asshole to them or they look like an asshole to you — it’s unpleasant, but if you can get through it you get closer and you learn a way of loving that’s different from the neurotic love enshrined in movies. It’s warmer and has more padding to it.” ~ Joni Mitchell

Ferlinghetti photo

 

Ferlinghetti

 

“The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind happiness

not always being

so very much fun

if you don't mind a touch of hell

now and then

just when everything is fine

because even in heaven

they don't sing

all the time

The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind some people dying

all the time

or maybe only starving

some of the time

which isn't half bad

if it isn't you

Oh the world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't much mind

a few dead minds

in the higher places

or a bomb or two

now and then

in your upturned faces

or such other improprieties

as our Name Brand society

is prey to

with its men of distinction

and its men of extinction

and its priests

and other patrolmen

and its various segregations

and congressional investigations

and other constipations

that our fool flesh

is heir to

Yes the world is the best place of all

for a lot of such things as

making the fun scene

and making the love scene

and making the sad scene

and singing low songs and having inspirations

and walking around

looking at everything

and smelling flowers

and goosing statues

and even thinking

and kissing people and

making babies and wearing pants

and waving hats and

dancing

and going swimming in rivers

on picnics

in the middle of the summer

and just generally

'living it up'

Yes

but then right in the middle of it

comes the smiling

mortician”

RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti ~ 1919-2021

 

Viktor Frankl

 

DuBois on Reading