I stumbled across this the other day at work and just spent much of this afternoon finally listening to the two main segments: “Einstein’s God” and “Einstein’s Ethics“. Wow. It is truly amazing to see how very brilliant this man was, even setting his work in physics aside. In 1915, Einstein wrote a plea to the German public titled “My Opinion of the War.” In it he wrote: I will never forget the sincere hatred my schoolmates felt for the... Read more

My current classes: Sartre – PHIL 467Ethics & Evolution – PHIL 480Philosophy & Cosmology – PHIL 501Phil Forum Colloquium – PHIL 510(sitting in on) Comparative Religious Ethics – RELG 380 For Sartre I hope to work with his “ontology of freedom” – his own argument that no matter what our physical make-up and environment, we are always “condemned to freedom”. There is always some wiggle-room for our consciousness to choose, this way or that. I have (and have mentioned) a... Read more

I’m already through the second week of Spring semester, amazingly enough. Ten graduate-level credits, sitting in on one additional class, and working ~15 hours per week has me fairly well overwhelmed. Actually it wouldn’t be quite so bad if I hadn’t come down with a cold in the middle of the first week. Oh well, back on my feet again, marching forth. It’s been a while since I’ve been so very busy, and I can’t say I like it too... Read more

Thanks to a somewhat recent post on Nacho’s Woodmore Village Blog (“Buddhist Blogs and the Political” January 8th, 2006) I’ve added a new category to my blog, ‘Politics’. It’s no promise that I’ll say much of substance, of course, but I’ll try to say a few words here and there…. I’m reluctant to post on politics because I’m no political analyst, and I don’t care to pretend to be one. Philosophy and Buddhism I’ve studied with zeal for several years.... Read more

Part of my own love of wisdom is due to admiration for those who have pursued it before, the lives they lead. Successful philosophers, perhaps like poets and theologians, are those most sensitive to the world, whether that be expressed in the political treatise or existentialist novella. Unlike the poet, however, the philosopher must rely on some degree of coherency and argumentation, invoking and leading the rational mind toward some agreed conclusion. Unlike the theologian, the philosopher makes reason the... Read more

Relief… Three weeks without my god-given right (or hard-won privilege) of high-speed internet access in the convenience of my chilly basement has finally ended. Exiled to Hawaii, where I could only steel 10 minutes from an overfull conference internet room, I returned only to discover that my roommate’s attempt to cancel our phone (what Luddite still uses a land-line, anyway?), but keep the blessed DSL, had been boggled: there would be no DSL homecoming for Justin. Tears held at bay,... Read more

I’m back from Hawaii, (pictures to come soon), slightly tanned, well rested, more motivated, and all around happy (of course, I haven’t checked my credit card bill yet…). Two things, actually people, made my trip extremely enjoyable: my roommate, Dr. Balbinder Singh Bhogal, and the young Turkish woman I met on the plane to San Francisco, Filiz Kunuroglu. I have mentioned that I wanted to bring some of the ‘sunshine’ of Hawaii back to Montana with me, and in keeping... Read more

Aloha… I have only 5 minutes on the computer, so I’ll keep this brief: I’m in Honolulu now after a very long day of flying and waiting for broken airplanes; now in the conference hotel awaiting lunch. I met a very charming and brilliant young woman from Turkey on the flight from Salt Lake to San Fran, hung out with her there and then again today 🙂 The weather is, of course, perfect. The conference has just 1400 attendees, so... Read more

I haven’t posted much lately, due to numerous factors. One, I’ve been working, which has been fantastic (I love my job), but energy-consuming. Two, I’ve been drinking a ton this past week. It started on New Years, which is always a weird time for me, as with many people I suppose. I had a very nice New Year’s eve with friends this year, though I still finished the night somewhat unhappy, unsatisfied, and certainly drunk. When I finally got home,... Read more

In his first chapter of nothingness and emptiness: a buddhist engagement with the ontology of jean-paul sartre, Steven Laycock describes the enigmas of the lotus and kelp, both of whom live in dual worlds of muck and pure beauty (for the lotus) and rooted darkness and straining toward light (for kelp). He uses these as metaphors for life, for reality, and for spirituality. He states: The enigmas we have sensed– the interpenetration of temporality and the timeless, transparency and reflection,... Read more