In 1862, at twenty-one, my great-great-grandfather John Hodges Wadhams left Goshen, Connecticut, to seek his fortune in the West. In 1992, almost exactly 130 years later, I began keeping seriously the journal of my own early adulthood. John was the son of an old Connecticut farming family. Church, town, party, father and Civil War suppliedContinue reading “The Court of Final Appeal”
Tag Archives: St. Augustine
The Locus of Human Action
The funniest critique of Cartesian dualism ever put to film occurs on the moon. In Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Robin Williams plays the King of the Moon: a giant disembodied head floating serenely above his own detached body. The head is refined, articulate, and philosophical. The body, meanwhile, rampages below: lustful,Continue reading “The Locus of Human Action”
Delphi: Know Thyself
Delphi emerges as a Panhellenic sanctuary around 650 BCE but it started earlier, much earlier. Inscribed on the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo was the threshold admonition: γνῶθι σεαυτόν, gnōthi seauton, know thyself. It was never therapeutic advice. It does not mean discover your preferences or honor your feelings. It means: know what kindContinue reading “Delphi: Know Thyself”
Protective Arts 