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Recent entries from http://tomblock.blogspot.com/:
- Concerning Good and Evil?
These post-Modern Catholic thinkers (Maritain, Merton, Niebuhr) are always trapped by the tightening noose of their own necessary religious structure. When they bump up against the tawny strings of orthodoxy, they always choose to twist themselves in its loving embrace, instead of breaking through from... READ MORE
- The Death of Magic and the End of Time
We live in a time of circuses -- at the very least, we have this. Circuses still criss-cross the country: smelly, reprobate throw-backs to another era. The elephants are still horrendously treated, the acrobats are still mind-boggling and occasionally, in a minor circus orbiting at the edges of acceptable... READ MORE
- Thirteen Years Ago
Silver was the morning air outside of Lisbon that day. Along the quay between Estoril and Cascais, the flagstone walk by the sea was still damp from the high tide. The cafés were just opening for the day, white-aproned waiters wiped off the tables with dirty rags, the cooks fired up the grills where... READ MORE
- Letter to a Scientist
I hope that you will forgive the length of this reply, as well as the time that has elapsed since your simple question of a few days ago; it's just that I have been lying on the floor amazed since I saw your quick note. A more profound and even plaintive question, I can't imagine.
"Who said... READ MORE
- On God and Suffering
Dosteyevski said: "Suffering is the sole source of consciousness." And suffering is, indeed, the single unifying factor in human experience. After all, we all suffer from something -- and it is just this suffering that underpins the human experience. Pain is necessary for an awareness of "being"... READ MORE
- More or Less
I am reminded of a story:
A man shows up at the door one day, a strange little box-like mechanism, with a small handle on top of it in his hands. "Here," he says, insinuating the small apparatus into the world of an otherwise normal homeowner (Read: "you" or "me"). "It's really quite easy;... READ MORE
- Three Legislative Proposals to Make the World a Better Place
1. War: We could do much to stem war as being a viable and even easy option for politicians by passing one simple law. If politicians were forced to vote a single member from their own family into war at the head of the army -- from Chelsea Clinton to one of the little Bush twins -- we would do much... READ MORE
- Letters to a Mystic
Yes, indeed, unrequited love as the condition for true, mystical love. Easy to see even in our small, personal lives -- for instance, if we give a cup of coffee or a Danish to a homeless person and they treat us with disdain, how do we feel? This is indeed the mystical question -- threaded into our... READ MORE
- Letter to a Mentor
Well, well, well -- so you reappear. A voice from the wilderness, replete with quotes and references, interspersed with personal observation and gentle rebuttals. Reminds me of . . . myself! Except for the "gentle" part, of course.
My grandmother, rest her soul, used to refer to me as an "againster."... READ MORE
- A Few Musings Inspired by the Mid Atlantic Popular Culture Association Convention
I had the fortune -- either "good" or "bad," I'm not sure -- of presenting a paper at this conference in Philadelphia, this weekend. And I jotted a few notes down . . .
When we turn to "God" for help and sustenance -- we are really turning to ourselves. For it is the "god" within that... READ MORE
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