On the Boundaries

My Fifth Value Over the years I’ve become aware that at a certain stage of life for most of us, some ideas and controlling metaphors begin to “settle in,” and one finds them reappearing in varying incarnations.  One of those themes that keeps popping up in my life is the notion of paradox, which has…

My Fourth Value As hard as it has been to choose among my values, I cannot possibly omit the value I place upon my family.  My Dad & Mom, who died 30 and 35 years ago, are still vivid in my memory and were crucially important to me. I often hear stories of unhappy, even…

Reflections on Some of My Primary Values. 1st Post In reading over the previous post on my principles, the following statement “jumped out” at me: “It’s obviously important to be able to distinguish between principles on the one hand and values, interests, desires, inclinations, etc. on the other, and I hope I have done that.”…

Reflections on Three Major Principles I Seek to Live By. 2nd Post After going on too long on my first principle and prime value, the supreme importance of human personality, I’ll turn now without further comment to offer another of my principles, and that is our responsibility to nature. This could be, in one sense,…

After a “hiatus” of eight weeks or so—a couple of which I owe to some physical difficulties of my own—this blog must begin with both an explanation and a caveat. After completing my World View posts back in late September, I was “wandering and wondering” a bit and when I told my wife that I…

V. THE NATURE OF GOD: Part Three So What? What Difference Does Acceptance or Rejection of These Beliefs Make? And so we move on to the final point: So what? are there any practical, reproducible consequences to be drawn and, if so, what might they be? Here, again, I turn to what I know/don’t know…

V. THE NATURE OF GOD: Part Two In what I had promised would be the final post of this World View blog, with apologies, I’m afraid that I have gone on too long. So I will divide it into two posts, the second of which will appear in just a few days! As promised, I…

V. THE NATURE OF GOD: Part One This final section of my World View, in two posts, could have as easily been titled The Nature of “Ultimate Reality” or a “Supreme Being” or, in John Claypool’s attractive phrase, “The Great Mystery,” because I have reached that point where my intellectual humility—my reverent agnosticism—is at high…

IV. THE NATURE OF NATURE In some sense, I have already been speaking of nature, since persons are, at least, a part of nature. But on any definition, there is a great deal more to nature than humanity. Anyone who happened to be reading my blogs two years ago might well have noticed a series…

III. THE NATURE OF PERSONS I suppose this could be titled, “The Nature of Humanity,” but that seems too generic and, well, impersonal, or “The Nature of Man,” although it’s hard to cleanse that of its sexist overtones. In any case, I have already said more about persons in the two previous posts than anything…