Category Archives: Splendor

You’ve been told your whole life that all the troubles of the world owe to selfishness, and that the only true path to happiness is to renounce the self and to damn the only life you have ever known. Who … Continue reading →

Let’s start with this idea: You are a sovereign soul. I have a lot more to say about the nature of the self, within this series of posts and throughout my writing, but, in a political context, this is the … Continue reading →

So: Let’s drop the shit-hammer, shall we? Greece is broke. So is England, and so is most of the rest of Europe. California is broke, Illinois is broke, and, if you count unfunded pension liabilities, not only are all the … Continue reading →

You can’t remember being born but I watched, awestruck and amazed with your determination, yes, and your beauty of course, but also of the things you did naturally. Things like learning, absorbing, growing, striving to enter the world on your own terms, as a baby you did that. You did it in part because of your own individual stubborn need to assert yourself into the world but more because we are born with a healthy and completely natural need to assert our selves into the world. These are survival skills that we cannot deny and to try to deny them is wholly unhealthy.

There are things we need in this life: Food, clothing, shelter in the physical, but there are also things we need that are baked into the cake of our DNA. Things like being productive, that is, productive problem solving. We need to produce, create, find solutions. That is us as healthy human beings and we cannot ignore this fact. Healthy humans are driven to be productive for themselves, to create their own lives and solve their own problems. We love doing this because it is what drives us. Perhaps it drives many animals on some level or another, but we can create solutions to our own problems and share them with others. That’s uniquely human and we see it in infants and young children who not only absorb tremendous amounts of information every single moment, but even babies insist on sharing most of what they’ve learned with the rest of the world. Fed, feedback. Fed information, feedback information, problems solved and production and creation accomplished: Be fruitful and multiply. Continue reading →

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story The very first thing she said to me was, “I’m Anastasia.” She had pronounced the name ‘Anna-stay-juh’ but I took care to be more formal. I nodded gravely and said, “‘Ah-nah-STAH-ziuh’. I’m honored.” She giggled … Continue reading →

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story Cinderella was in a snit, and who could blame her? She was an orphan swarmed by a family of strangers, accidental intimates, pushy and intrusive and unwelcome. And the most distant stranger of all was the original Prince Charming, the man she had expected would always be beside her. Physically […] Continue reading →

I hope I don’t seem to be a scold. It suits my ends to poke around in the trash can inside your brain, but I’m not doing it to be mean — nor to induce you to feel bad about … Continue reading →

Art is demanding, and that’s good. But art is petulant and importunate and presumptuous to a fault. Art is that damned nuisance of a snoopy neighbor who keeps knocking, knocking, knocking on your cellar door. Art goes straight for the … Continue reading →

Here’s an eye-opening item from the news feeds: Up to four out of five women are faking orgasms, at least some of the time. Last weekend, I was incredulous at Camille Paglia’s lamentations about sexlessness in the middle class, but, … Continue reading →

Arizona State Senate Bill 1070 — the “Welcome to the Hotel California” legislation that has drawn so much attention nation-wide — will take effect on July 29th, 2010. Two other bills that will become law that day are more interesting … Continue reading →