Aristotle writes in his treatise On the Soul that the cause of movement is desire–not will, not reason, but desire, and that desire and movement (after the object of desire) are the characteristics of animate life. In other words, the one thing that differentiates animate from inanimate beings is the presence of desire. Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a beautifully written poem with one unifying theme: desire, articulated and immortalized. It’s a […]
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Plutarch: Divine Will and Free Choice of the Will
[Homer] does introduce divine agency, not to destroy, but to prompt the human will; not to create in us another agency, but offering images to stimulate our own; images that in no sort or kind make our action involuntary, but give occasion rather to spontaneous action, aided and sustained by feelings of confidence and hope. Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine beings actually and literally turn our bodies and […]
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The Divine Comedy: XIV. St. Francis of Assisi and Lady Poverty
Poverty as Lady Death for even as a youth, he ran to war against his father, on behalf of her- the lady unto whom, just as to death, none willingly unlocks the door; before his spiritual court et coram patre, he wed her; day by day he loved her more. She was bereft of her first husband; scorned, obscure, for some eleven hundred years, until that sun came, she had […]
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The Divine Comedy: XIII. Free Will and God’s Will
The essence of this blessed life consists in keeping to the boundaries of God’s will, through which our wills become one single will; so that, as we are ranged from step to step throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills that which will please the King whose will is rule. And in His will there is our peace: that sea to which all beings move-the beings He creates or nature […]
Read moreParting Poems
I had read this Chinese poem by Bai juyi (白居易) many years ago, but it hit me hard when I stumbled upon it returning from a trip visiting my aging parents. How many thoughts and emotions are packed in these few lines! 离离原上草， 一岁一枯荣。 野火烧不尽， 春风吹又生。 远芳侵古道， 晴翠接荒城。 又送王孙去， 萋萋满别情. My literal translation: Abounding with grass is the meadow. Per annum it ever withers and flourishes. Fire of the wild cannot utterly […]
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“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
This Roman play by Shakespeare is based on Plutarch’s Lives of Caesar and Marcus Brutus. One might call it an adapted stage play, since the majority of the plot and dialogues derive from Plutarch. There is a significant difference between the two renditions. For Shakespeare failed to capture the complexity, magnificence, and more importantly, the moral and political philosophy of the noble Romans. Depiction of Characters Julius Caesar, the title […]
Read more“The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare
[Posted on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing] The Tragedy of Macbeth is a psychological portrayal of two murderers, deceived by illusions, goaded by ambitions, and driven to despair. Two people, though alive, yet were long dead. Kierkegaard would characterize Macbeth as in despair wanting to be himself, because he was past the point of no return, and Lady Macbeth in despair not wanting to be herself, because she […]
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