Dissensus, Hygiene, Quality, Rhetoric, and Integration; a Stab at a Synthesis…

Dissensus is a tough master. If I choose to follow dissensus I pledge that though what I espouse holds no intent to violate any other, I will refrain from destroying anyone, though they espouse my destruction and this refusal might lead to my own death. I see no other way to make a break with

Economic Viability, a contradiction

We spread poison and paralysis around us …in that we want to educate all the world around us into reason. C. G. Jung Economic viability, I came across this expression in one of JMG’s comments. A commonplace of Peak Oil debate. I think it deserves a closer look. It is a grounding assumption for just about

After Comfort

We have resigned ourselves to accept that life’s purpose is to chase after comfort. This leaves us in a very uncomfortable position. We begin to prod and peer to see what might come after comfort…. Money, power, agreement, advantage; these all promise comfort. The key here is in promise. In our appetite for comfort we

What Realism…?

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglas Looking at a history of Europe and its entry into Modernity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries one factor stands out. The legacy that lead to Modernism was filled with internalized violence and the passing down of abusive behavior and the

300th Post, Horizons of Significance

This is the three hundredth post on Horizons of Significance. Milestones encourage us to look backwards. We look at a span of time as having had a beginning, if not also an end, at least a comparison of that beginning with the present moment. What you see, looking at this screen are two identical images,

Communication, driven by assumptions

We cannot connect or communicate intentionally without some assurance of common assumptions to buoy us through the effort. I find that through subtle hints – the sort of unintended communication that takes place whenever there is one organism perceiving another and “making sense” of what they see. Through these hints, if I feel the gap

Complicity, not conspiracy

The subject of the last post, questions around exploring our vulnerability and finding the sources of violence, leads to, implies, an examination of the questions of complicity in relation to conspiracy. As the objectivization of thought sends us following projections placing what we strive against outside us, we find it easy to see conspiracies everywhere.

Ecocidal Suicide, Where does the violence begin? The Gulf Between a Trail and a Path

Recent misunderstandings have helped breed a new insight. I’ve been reluctant to post on the subject as I’ve looked for ways to write about it that do not remain focused within the drama that incited them. Driving down what passes for the loveliest lane in the area the other day brought to mind the way

From Efficient to Effective

Efficiency, at best, in my most charitable moments, I would recognize as an accumulation of tips and attitudes that make things work well during times when expected practices are useful. At such times to be effective is at least in some degree to be efficient. The key here is in recognizing what it means to

The Currency of Trust

The last post has brought us to the point of examining trust. This phrase, the currency of trust, appears to hold some promise. Let’s begin with another word, seriousness. Serious, trust, compassion; these are among a suite of terms we fear today, or hide our fear behind disdain at their current condition and denatured meanings.

Itching for a Fight!

I keep returning to the centrality of the simple fact that all that we actually have is our attention. The ramifications and repercussions of this realization are profound. This continues to strike at our preoccupation with futures. Seen in this light these are just another set of behaviors that siphon our attention away from the

An extended reply…

John Cline commented on the last post, Coherence is Provisional: I really like what you are saying. I wonder, though, what would happen to human personality if this model of thinking was the norm. We are mostly tribal in our actions. We gravitate too easily toward charismatics, and like lemmings will follow a bad idea