Entries Tagged as 'that’s what he said, by Frank Wilson'

that's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Plain and simple kindness is true and real

One of the great passages in modern poetry occurs in the opening section of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” the section called “The Burial of the Dead”:

… There is shadow under this red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),

And I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

I remember when I first read this in college. It struck me then — as it still does — as a most ingenious and effective representation of existential terror. I thought of it again early one morning last week. [Read more →]

that's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Blessed are they that remain uncertain

I have been pondering Robert Benchley’s Law of Distinction: “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.”

I don’t know how many people today remember Robert Benchley, but that he titled one of his essay collections 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or David Copperfield should tell you a good deal about how funny he could be. [Read more →]

all workthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Back at work

“Work,” Noël Coward once said, “is so much more fun than fun.”

Thomas Aquinas would have agreed. “Agere sequitur esse,” he declared. Action follows from being. You are as you do.

I also agree, especially now that I have returned to work (last week, I started a part-time, presumably temporary gig at the Philadelphia Inquirer). [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Is the “real Me” real?

Last week I came upon this quote from the English novelist John Fowles: “There comes a time in each life like a point of fulcrum. At that time you must accept yourself. It is not anymore what you will become. It is what you are and always will be.” [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

More interesting than a watchmaker

It is always nice to get up to date, even it takes some time. In my case, the process seems to be proceeding apace. I’m not up to date yet, but I have at least caught up with the 13th century.

Let me explain how I discovered this. In my last column I made the point that what is called creation is not something that took place several billion years ago, but something that is taking place now. [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Start with those laborers in the vineyard

My last column concluded with the notion of discovering islands of meaning in the sea of information we find ourselves adrift in these days. I have since been pondering this, and have come to realize that I didn’t really think the matter through.

There is, to begin with, a problem with the metaphor. We discover real islands in real seas because they are unmistakably there on the horizon. But islands of meaning in the sea of information are not as immediately and irrefutably evident as an island in the Pacific. The fact is, different people can derive different meanings from exactly the same information. [Read more →]

that's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Most people think little

“Most people think little.” So Somerset Maugham observed in his quasi-autobiography, The Summing Up.

I was reminded of this recently when a couple of people I was talking with made some casual remarks of a political nature. It was obvious that they were simply parroting something they had read in the New York Times, or seen on PBS News, or heard on NPR. Liberal platitudes, in other words.

The problem, of course, was not that the views expressed were liberal (one encounters the same thing with conservatives), but that they were platitudes. [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Thinking is magical to begin with

Many years ago I was having a conversation with a friend who happened to be a psychiatrist. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I do remember that something I said prompted him to say, “That’s magical thinking.” I don’t think I had ever heard the phrase “magical thinking” before, and I wasn’t sure what it meant. But I thought for a moment, and replied, “Probably. So what? That can probably be just as good as any other kind.”

I’m still not exactly sure what magical thinking is. [Read more →]

that's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Look fear directly in the eye

Last week, in his column at When Falls the Coliseum, Michael Cade concluded by presenting his readers with what is surely an important question: How do YOU deal with fear?

Daniel Kalder posted a comment wondering what I might think about the question and later on Michael himself posted a comment wondering the same thing. So I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days. [Read more →]

sciencethat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Unsettled science — knowledge and certainty

Mark Vernon recently posted three quotations on his excellent blog Philosophy & Life.

The first was from physicist Carlo Rovelli: “The notion of ‘scientifically proven’. Nearly an oxymoron. The very foundation of science is to keep the door open to doubt.” [Read more →]

getting olderthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Life looks very strange

Recently, I found myself thinking of Caterina Valente, a singer who had some hits back in the ’50s. One of those hits was “Jalousie,” by the Danish composer Jacob Gade. This may not be the only tango written by a Dane, but it certainly is the most famous one. In fact, “Jalousie” is one of the most popular songs ever.

I mention this because a few days after Valente’s named popped into my head — for no discernible reason — I happened to hear an instrumental version of “Jalousie” on the radio. [Read more →]

art & entertainmentthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Still life and the alchemy of art

My wife and I did things differently this Christmas. We had some friends over for a Vigilia supper on Christmas Eve. That means a meatless meal, in this case a large mixed salad with a mustard mayonnaise dressing, Sonny D’Angelo’s wondrous seven-fish sausages, mushroom caps stuffed with crabmeat, lots of shrimp, and some brie de meaux from DiBruno’s. That’s the advantage of living a few feet away from the Italian Market.

Anyway, that was Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, having no one visiting and visiting no one ourselves, Debbie and I went Jewish: We joined out friends Kass and Eric Mencher for Chinese food at Mustard Greens. [Read more →]

that's what he said, by Frank Wilson

The artistry of memory

I have been blessed with an uncommonly good memory. I can not take credit for this, of course, no more than I can for the color of my eyes or hair. It’s just one of the good things that happened to come my way. [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

On the God instinct

In a blog post titled The God Instinct. Some notes , Mark Vernon quotes William James: “Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see ‘the liver’ determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul.” Vernon then adds a gloss to this: “Only atheists don’t usually consider dismissing their own convictions on evolutionary grounds. Funny that.” [Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Why religious discussions usually lead nowhere

The poet Rilke had a brief encounter with psychoanalysis, but proved wary of it. “I am afraid,” he said, “that if my demons leave me, my angels will take flight as well.”

His remark popped into my mind recently under somewhat odd circumstances: at Sunday Mass during the reading of the Gospel. [Read more →]

getting olderpolitics & government

Setting limits on old people running for office

Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.

So wrote T.S. Eliot in “East Coker,” the second of his Four Quartets. I was reminded of these lines while thinking about a conversation I had recently with a friend and former colleague. It was a couple of weeks before the recent election and had to do with Christine O’Donnell, the Republican senatorial candidate in Delaware.

[Read more →]

religion & philosophythat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

The unfortunate persistence of “fear of the Lord”

Recently I linked, as I frequently do, to something Bill Vallicella posted on his Maverick Philosopher blog. Vallicella quoted the philosopher Thomas Nagel as saying that “I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

I went on to comment that this suggested that Nagel entertained “a very primitive notion of God.”

I have since regretted that turn of phrase, not only because it is an insult to primitives everywhere, but also because it is simply wrong. Nagel’s notion of God is in fact all-too-civilized. [Read more →]

getting olderthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

The most disconcerting thing about growing old

I have begun writing this just after midnight on Thursday, October 14. At 8:30 this morning I will turn 69, which means that I will enter upon my 70th year, at the end of which I will arrive at the so-called Biblical age of three score and ten. [Read more →]

politics & governmentthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Extremism in the defense of liberty

The other day I came upon a reference to a statement that, when first uttered, immediately became notorious: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

This was, of course, part of Barry Goldwater’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for President in 1964. [Read more →]

language & grammarthat's what he said, by Frank Wilson

Bumper sticker mentality, self-esteem and second-rate art

I harbor a distinct antipathy toward what a friend of mine used to call “the bumper-sticker mentality,” which disdains thinking and settles instead for sloganeering.

You’ve probably seen this one: “Arms are for hugging.” This isn’t wit. It’s plain old-fashioned equivocation — taking a word that has multiple meanings and pretending it only has one. Whoever came up with this should run out right now and hug a howitzer. [Read more →]

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