inspired by Benedictus de Spinoza
Whether it is the aloofness of corporate prestige, or the power of the monarch, or the subtlety of the religious leader, all great people seek the same thing – to be godlike. And what is this magnificent quality? It is unaffectedness. God is beyond the concern of human affairs and thereby [...]

There is no constraint more Procrustean than that imposed on contrivers of palindromes. Even a neatly apposite palindrome (for example, Napolean saying, “Able was I ere I saw Elba”) strikes one as aberrating from natural discourse. It is ironic that this supreme curtailment of language produces an effect not unlike that of surrealist automatism, ostensibly [...]

If my mother could request it at this time, she would probably prefer a wake to a dirge. She was always vivacious, quite capable of having fun, though sometimes impatient when she was not having it. So I would not wish by these proceedings to make her deal soul fidget too long in [...]

More from the religioblogathon–this in response to Kile insisting that intelligent design is scientific…

“It is quite amazing to me, the more I read on these topics, how you could possibly advance your intelligent-design position as in any way “scientific”. There is no contribution to the scientific understanding of nature; the only motivation is to [...]