ThinkBlog

A few notes.

The more I read of Heidegger, the more I am reminded of the eros of Socrates or, more generally, of the ancient Greek philosophers. In Socratic thinking, dialogue of a specifically creative nature in a sense “impregnates” others whose minds are fertile with new ideas. These conversations, or “Socratic dialogs,” are said to be “erotic” but not in the sense we [ab]use that word these days to mean merely, and only, sexual love—rather, philosophical inquiry is the “sum of all desires” (eros) for Wisdom and, in the course of dialogue, new ideas are planted, come to fruition, and are “birthed” in a sense.

[If this startles your sensibilities, no doubt it’s because the preface that need be put on an explanation of this concept is conspicuously absent from this terse post; be not embarrassed by the metaphor, or at least, humor me.]

Heidegger is a remarkable conversationalist. You sit down with Being and Time and, if you’re willing to let your desire for insight rivet your attention to the text, new connections and new ideas will form and come to fruition as you sit there reading.

“Dude,” one young professor said to me last semester when I signed up for this philosophy class, “Being and Time is going to blow your mind.” He was right, but pleasantly not in the sense that a Schedule I controlled substance “blows one’s mind.” As I let these ideas marinate a while, I’m looking forward to what new connections I’ll make from them.

---

In other news, the annual sinusitis has paid a visit. Nothing like a little azithromycin to knock it out, though.

And the old dragon came back tonight for just a moment, exhaling slyly through a half-grin. He promised me, like he always does, the absolute vanquishment of any trouble, if only I would yield for “as long as it takes”. But I remembered the price he exacted those times before, and prayed instead of yielding; and his fire was quenched.

It makes me think of all the cycles that take place, year after year, or situation after situation. Each moment is a choice to react in old familiar patterns or to change for the better. Old things have been made new—overall and eternally because of Christ, but presently and in another sense because of the recently-entered X factor in my life. Jesus is good about giving His sons and daughters X factors: those perfectly unpredictable, delightfully unexpected opportunities to do, be, create, think, love, and play in ways theretofore incomprehensible.

The November air is crisp like it always is; but crisp in a different way this year. Conversations unfold as conversations have; but lately unfolding, not like folded sheets of notebook paper, but like so many roses in the spring dew.

A few notes.

The more I read of Heidegger, the more I am reminded of the eros of Socrates or, more generally, of the ancient Greek philosophers. In Socratic thinking, dialogue of a specifically creative nature in a sense “impregnates” others whose minds are fertile with new ideas. These conversations, or “Socratic dialogs,” are said to be “erotic” but not in the sense we [ab]use that word these days to mean merely, and only, sexual love—rather, philosophical inquiry is the “sum of all desires” (eros) for Wisdom and, in the course of dialogue, new ideas are planted, come to fruition, and are “birthed” in a sense.

[If this startles your sensibilities, no doubt it’s because the preface that need be put on an explanation of this concept is conspicuously absent from this terse post; be not embarrassed by the metaphor, or at least, humor me.]

Heidegger is a remarkable conversationalist. You sit down with Being and Time and, if you’re willing to let your desire for insight rivet your attention to the text, new connections and new ideas will form and come to fruition as you sit there reading.

“Dude,” one young professor said to me last semester when I signed up for this philosophy class, “Being and Time is going to blow your mind.” He was right, but pleasantly not in the sense that a Schedule I controlled substance “blows one’s mind.” As I let these ideas marinate a while, I’m looking forward to what new connections I’ll make from them.

---

In other news, the annual sinusitis has paid a visit. Nothing like a little azithromycin to knock it out, though.

And the old dragon came back tonight for just a moment, exhaling slyly through a half-grin. He promised me, like he always does, the absolute vanquishment of any trouble, if only I would yield for “as long as it takes”. But I remembered the price he exacted those times before, and prayed instead of yielding; and his fire was quenched.

It makes me think of all the cycles that take place, year after year, or situation after situation. Each moment is a choice to react in old familiar patterns or to change for the better. Old things have been made new—overall and eternally because of Christ, but presently and in another sense because of the recently-entered X factor in my life. Jesus is good about giving His sons and daughters X factors: those perfectly unpredictable, delightfully unexpected opportunities to do, be, create, think, love, and play in ways theretofore incomprehensible.

The November air is crisp like it always is; but crisp in a different way this year. Conversations unfold as conversations have; but lately unfolding, not like folded sheets of notebook paper, but like so many roses in the spring dew.