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Words, words, words!
I can’t remember when it first became evident to me that my mind was not alone in the universe I occupied; perhaps it wasn’t immediately clear to me that others, too, had thoughts and that they may well be different from my own. The Theory of Mind, as it’s now called, develops early in childhood […]
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The web of our life is of a mingled yarn
I’m getting old now and although I don’t regret the slow accumulation of the lately-wilting years, I’ve noticed that a lot of people do -or at least say they do. I’m not sure how well they’ve thought it through, however; even if they somehow managed to continue their lives in a candy shop, they’d soon […]
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We have seen better days
Things seem to change so quickly nowadays, don’t they? Of course we often grow impatient if they don’t; we expect a channel to change as soon as we press the button, the Google result to appear immediately; waiting for the red light to turn green at an intersection seems to take far too long. We […]
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When valour preys on reason, it eats the sword it fights with.
Have you ever wondered what it means to be reasonable? Is it actually an injunction to be fair and sensible about something, or merely to change your mind? Is it to consider the merits of whatever is being discussed and arrive at a compromise that takes both sides of the argument into consideration, so that […]
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Where do we go from here?
Quietism -in this time of wrath and tears, the very word is seductive. It conjures up the possibility of finding peace and tranquillity -of ataraxy, a state of serene calmness. A place -within oneself, perhaps, where one might find an acceptance of life’s vicissitudes, not necessarily an escape from them. It involves passivity. Surrender… When […]
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Timeo tenebris
There are some things of which we rarely speak; we did, at one time perhaps, but times have changed. Societal norms and cultural permissions have shifted; there are caveats, locked doors, and windows with blinds pulled down for our protection… or somebody’s protection -the people aren’t always named for fear that… for fear that what? […]
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The Path to Grandma’s house
There are many under-appreciated people in our lives, don’t you think? People without whom we might live a very different existence, or inhabit an unfamiliar mind. And, especially, there are those who have not only affected us, but also those who care for us: our families. I never thought of my grandmother like that, but […]
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What, what, what…?
Hear this now, O foolish people,Without understanding,Who have eyes and see not,And who have ears and hear not. Jeremiah I would not ordinarily open an essay with a biblical quote, but there can be wisdom in poetry, not to mention melody in sound. It may be hidden, unless it is pointed out -background only. A pentimento […]
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Say not ‘I have found the truth’, but rather ‘I have found a truth’.
When I was young, I knew everything -and yet nothing, really. Things change; there is no fixed star, and when I look up with autumned eyes, even the world looks different now. But is it really? Is reality so different now from when I was a child, or does an invisible shroud already cloud my […]