To worry is to be. To be is to worry.
On a recent train trip from Toronto to Ottawa (for those readers from outside of Canada, yes, these are real cities), while listening to the train’s rhythmic clickety-clack – a symphony of locomotion that has been portrayed romantically by authors possessing a talent I lack – I found myself thinking big thoughts. That is to [...]
Life is like an orange. It comes in a number of varieties. Its outer surface is rough, pimply and orange in color, not just in name. It doesn’t start off orange-colored, but matures into its namesake hue from its original green. The thickness of the skin varies from orange to orange. Peel off the bumpy [...]
As I check out the news media and read about the myriad murders and mayhem going on throughout the world, not to mention the chaotic and often catastrophic climatic and tectonic events across the globe, I’ve come to one profound, although admittedly not entirely original realization: In the grand scheme of things, there is no [...]
Philosophers are a funny lot. They often expound endlessly on ideas that, for the rest of us, are difficult to understand or appear exceptionally arcane or, sometimes, bizarre to the extreme, but which are indeed accurate and relevant. For example, René Descartes, a seventeenth century philosopher said that supposedly flesh and blood politicians, politicians who, [...]
What is the primary difference between optimists, pessimists, and realists? When it comes to optimists and pessimists, it’s typically illustrated using the water-in-a-glass adage. You know how it goes: A thirsty optimist and pessimist are each presented with a glass that contains one half of its maximum water capacity. The optimist says, “The glass is [...]
If a philosopher is walking alone in an otherwise deserted forest and a tree falls on his head, splitting it wide open, does he make a sound?