Miscellania

Some odd stray thoughts I've had over the past couple of day that I can remember:

Know what would be a great way to study philosophy? List all the established "greats" in the field (Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, etc, etc) and then forget about them. Consider their lesser contemporaries, and study them. History, the cliche goes, is written by the victors. But it is only one version of "history." Might the same not apply to the history of Thought? What were those who are not considered "victors" thinking?

Finally got myself wired up to them thar internets in my newly renovated basement office. No, its not wireless. There are no routers. Not even a cable modem. Nope. Got me a phone line going up through the ceiling above my desk that I plugs into the kitchen jack whenever I want to go online. State of the art, 1993 or so. Kinda like when I had my Windows 3.1 PC.

Went to the library today and returned all the books I currently have out. Thirteen in all. Can you believe that? I can't. What the H am I thinking? Do I lead a life of leisure where I can spend all my free discretionary time reading esoterica? I have a full-time stressful job, no money, a toddler who goes half-the-week to daycare, half-the-week to preschool, an eight-week-old baby. Thirteen books! You know what they were? In a nutshell, a book on post-modern philosophy, three books on physics and quantum-type stuff, two books on how to re-create your life, a book on creativity, a Catholic scripture commentary, a book on how the human mind is constructed, an overview of poetry, and three books on economics. I feel like Frank Sinatra's character from The Manchurian Candidate. All I need is a book on horse diseases.

Who said: "Perhaps literature will forever give far deeper insight into 'the full human person' than any model of scientific inquiry can hope to do."? PS, an anagram of his name is No Hammy Sock, and to some of my fellow travelers he's considered the Devil enfleshed.

I started this blog to hold myself publicly accountable (to the extent that an anonymous blogger can be considered 'publicly accountable') in my efforts to overcome hopping. Lots of two steps forward, one step back and one step forward, two steps back. See two paragraphs above - yeesh, thirteen library books out at once! - but now, I swear on this stack o' Bibles, no more than two books at a time! One fiction, one non-fiction. And the winners are ... Aquinas by Chesterton and a medium-sized paperback entitled Mythago Wood by one Robert Holdstock that I've been itching to read for a while. No other external peripheral reading!

Perhaps this is a subject for another post, but a large segment of my life is simply now unbearable. But I am taking baby steps to correct it. I hold the analogy of an ocean liner changing course firmly in my mind. A half-degree change may mean nothing a mile into the voyage, but after a thousand miles you're something like 35 miles farther than you would previously have been. I think. Well, you get the point. More details to follow.

Well, after a busy day gonna settle down and watch some Deadwood tonight, on DVD. Don't know much about it except that it's supposed to be violent and vulgar. But several reputable people have recommended it to us, so after the kiddies are down for good, we'll crack open a pint of ice cream and watch. Thoughts to follow down the trail.