Heschel: “The grandeur and mystery of the world that surrounds us is not something which is perceptible only to the elect. All [of us] are endowed with a sense of wonder, with a sense of mystery. But our system of education fails to develop it and the anti-intellectual climate of our civilization does much toContinue reading “No Wonder”
Author Archives: tractsofrevolution
Overcoming Morality
Nietzsche: “The overcoming of morality, in a certain sense even the self-overcoming of morality: let this be the name for that protracted secret labor which has been reserved for the subtlest, most honest and also most malicious consciences as living touchstones of the soul.” The terms “morality” and “moral” are rooted in the notion ofContinue reading “Overcoming Morality”
Insecurity and Freedom
Heschel: “Freedom is the liberation from the tyranny of the self-centered ego. It comes about in moments of transcending the self as an act of spiritual ecstasy, of stepping out of the confining framework of routine reflexive concern. Freedom presupposes the capacity for sacrifice.” The human being is body and soul. The part of usContinue reading “Insecurity and Freedom”
Why We Do It
Watts: “It has been possible to make the insecurity of human life supportable by belief in unchanging things beyond the reach of calamity – in God, in [the] immortal soul, and in the government of the universe by eternal laws of right. Today such convictions are rare, even in religious circles.” If we lived foreverContinue reading “Why We Do It”
Is the Game Over?
Watts: “Once there is the suspicion that a religion is a myth, its power is gone.” In reflecting on the first part of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, I have already considered the idea that religion is based in or at least largely conditioned by myth – the language, stories, beliefs and judgments we useContinue reading “Is the Game Over?”
The Usefulness of Untruth
Nietzsche: “To recognize untruth as a condition of life: that, to be sure, means to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, by that act alone, beyond good and evil.” Nietzsche’s suspicion that all we have is the finite life we are living now andContinue reading “The Usefulness of Untruth”
A Matter of Perspective
Nietzsche: “Perspective [is] the basic condition of all life.” To see anything involves observing from a specific vantage point. The philosophical worldview called postmodernism got a big push in motion by Nietzsche’s challenge to the long-standing (mythological) idea that humans – especially those who believe in God – have a view on reality that isContinue reading “A Matter of Perspective”
A Conversation Across Time
Recently I was browsing the bookstore (an actual one, with books!), when my eyes fell on three of my favorite authors. Like a spark across the gap, my mind was inspired. Months ago I had chosen a blog domain name “Tracts of Revolution,” with a vague intention of what I would do with it. RevolutionContinue reading “A Conversation Across Time”
Tracts of Revolution 