#philosophy book review

[noodlenoises]

Nonfiction Book Review: The Amateur by Andy Merrifield

What is an “amateur,” and what distinguishes it from what we think of as an “expert,” a “professional,” a master of one’s craft; someone who deserves

[love-from-sasha]

The Fall

Albert Camus

“we are going forward, but nothing changes”

The Fall is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus, published in 1956. it follows the story of Jean-Baptiste Clamence - a soul in turmoil. over several drunken nights in an Amsterdam bar, he regales a chance acquaintance with his story, exploring themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth

Jean-Baptiste Clamence claims that he once lived a good, self-satisfied life, believing himself a model citizen. in his position as judge-penitent, he embodies the human necessity to condemn - the innate desire of human beings to judge acts as the very source of false morality. he creates an illusion around himself based on self-appeasing traits, but this soon falls apart with the collision of his true self with his inflated self-image, and the final realisation of his own hypocrisy becomes painfully obvious

 

“people hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves”

awakened to the reality of both his own, and the whole of humanity’s guilt, Clamance retreats from his settled life and chooses to spend his days recounting his story in the hope that others will be awakened as he has been, and so alleviate the burden he carries. he takes to this misanthropic life with ease, declaring himself a “judge-penitent”, both condemned and condemning. the face of ‘morality’ represented by Clamence, is built around false notions of righteousness as opposed to integrity. however, the narrative props up an underlining truth, which is that this facade takes birth out of necessity to live a seemingly virtuous life in the eyes of others, leading to an inauthentic, hollow existence

in this way, the 'fall' experienced by Jean-Baptiste Clamence is not just his fall, but the fall of humanity as a whole

“let's not worry. it's too late now. it will always be too late, fortunately!”

with love,

sasha

[belle-keys]

My Year of (Educational) Podcasts

I spent 12,000 minutes this year listening to podcasts according to Spotify. No, I do not listen to alphamale or girlboss or true crime podcasts– I mostly listen to history, philosophy, and literature podcasts i.e. educational podcasts. Here are 12 fun, well-executed podcasts I’d recommend if you’d like to learn more about your favourite (Humanities and Social Sciences) topics.

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. This is a podcast about the history of sex and sexuality. The podcast pays special attention to overlooked aspects of queer history, pop culture, and cultural superstitions. The love life and sex life of historical and artistic figures are also discussed with historians.

Dan Snow's History Hit. This podcasts discusses the most exciting and culturally relevant historical events and figures with expert panel guests. Clears up historical misconceptions and deals with the most interesting topics in an engaging way.

Occult Confessions. This podcast is about the history of the occult, witches, folklore, magicians, and conspiracies. There are discussions of folklore, religious history, and cults. The themes are dark but quite fascinating.

Intelligence Squared. This podcast is centered on cultural and academic debates and deep-dives into polemical topics among top UK experts. I really enjoy their episodes about writers, art, and artists.

The History of Literature. This is about, well, the history of literature i.e. the contexts that created impressive writers, literary movements, and literary works. It also debates and critically discusses classic works.

The Korea File. Y'all know I love kpop and kdramas and by extension, am quite fascinated by Korean culture and society given how much I interact with Korean media. This podcast, produced by a couple of Korean guys, critically explores Korean media, culture, society, and history.

Not Just the Tudors. A fun history podcast that doesn't only cover English Tudor history, but definitely covers a whole damn lot of English Tudor history. Mainly focuses on 13th-17th century global history.

Classical Stuff You Should Know. A podcast about the classical world, the Western Canon, and world philosophy. Discussions of the classics are in conversational layman terms. Topics not restricted to the Graeco-Roman world.

Why Theory. A podcast that uses philosophy and psychological theory to examine culture, history, art and human behavior. Lots of pertinent contemporary social topics are discussed.

Brown History. A podcast about South Asia and "brown" Asian demographics. A wide range of topics, from Pakistani history to the Indian diaspora to Afghan migration to the colonization of India by Great Britain.

Philosophize This!. This podcast covers philosophy, philosophies, and philosophers. I highly recommend listening to the episodes in order as much as possible. Breaks down the complex philosophical ideas using simple terms.

The Thing About Austen. This is a podcast about the world of Jane Austen from the time period to the people to the culture which influenced her big literary hits. Hits that sweet spot between literature and history in a creative way. Recommend for all the Pride and Prejudice (2005) fanatics.

[tbookblurbs]

The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Era 1, #1)

5/5 - fabulous characters, heist novel, Vin my beloved!! start of a truly fabulous trilogy, really innovative magic

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

This was the first Sanderson novel I read and it really captured my heart (as it probably obvious). As such, it holds a special place of honor To Me as one of his superior works.

The Final Empire is excellent for a number of reasons. First, it's a heist movie in a book. Think Ocean's 11 (2018). The crew is all very likeable and they come together to put together a truly insane plan. The best part is that, at several points in the story, key elements of the plan go completely wrong. It's delightful. Nothing is better than watching characters who are supposed to be clever actually act clever.

TFE is also distinct amongst many trilogy consisting of a fight against an evil overlord in that the fight happens and succeeds in the very first book. It doesn't take them the usual first attempt, minor success, second attempt horrific failure, and third attempt actual victory that usually happens over the course of fantasy trilogies. This also means they actually have to have the philosophical discussions that usually get tossed to the wayside regarding what to do after a revolution succeeds. Delicious I tell you.

Sanderson is also a master of describing places that are foreign compared to Earth and then sells these concepts by changing the way that characters behave. People thinking plants being green would just be weird? Extra notes of importance on the color white because of all the ash? The world doesn't only look different, which is common in most fantasy settings, but the characters feel like they're from somewhere totally different, which some books are not successful at.

Allomancy as a concept is also something that's super distinctive to me. Sanderson is pretty well-known in fantasy circles for defining "hard" and "soft" magic and he abides pretty strictly by those rules.

And the cherry on top of the cupcake is Vin. My beloved. Her struggle with identity, trust issues, her own power, it's just everything to me. She goes through a whole "I'm not like other girls" arc and yet she's still struggling. She's immensely powerful and yet so inexperienced. I love her. I would do anything for her.

Also Vin and Elend's romance is just so cute. You have to feel for Vin the whole time. They have my whole heart.

Now having read The Secret History, I still harbor some conflicted feelings towards Kelsier. He's such a good father figure to Vin (which makes him dying so heartbreaking) but his whole religious arc still leaves me feeling weird.

PS: If you would like some really good Vin art, or good Sanderson art in general, I highly recommend @lamaery their Vin design and their costume design is !!! crazy good

[thingsaboutphilosofy]

olá pessoal! essa semana eu quase nem tive aulas pois a maioria dos professores estão em conferencia pra fora do brasil, o que me deixa com um tempo a mais pro meu trabalho e pra minha casa.

resolvi reler um livro junto ao meu esposo, o livro se chama dominio dos deuses da escritora de romances Lynn Bartlett, ele é bem desconhecido mas desde que li pela primeira vez ele se tornou meu favorito 🖤

que livro vocês tem lido por prazer?

Hello, guys! This week I almost didn't even have classes because most of the teachers are in conference outside Brazil, which leaves me with more time for my work and my house.

I decided to reread a book with my husband, the book is called dominion of the gods the writer of novels Lynn Bartlett, he is very unknown but since I read it for the first time he has become my favorite 🖤

What book have you been reading for pleasure?

🖤📜🦇🖇️☕️✨📷🗞️

[kvothbloodless]

A incredibly weird problem I see in a good portion of fantasy stories these days is something Ive been calling "Inferna delenda est", and which my less pretentious friends (all of them) call "the hell problem". Its sort of something that, because its a genre convention, is almost always ignored, but once you see it, it cant be unseen.

I admittedly only started seeing this after reading UNSONG, which is literally About this problem. But now that its been pointed out, I cant unsee it elsewhere, and any media which runs into it but doesnt address it becomes almost entirely ruined for me.

The issue of Inferna delenda est is present in any setting which 1. Has real, proven afterlifes where most people literally go when they die and 2. Has one of those afterlifes be at all comparable to Hell, i.e. any place where a significant number of sapient creatures are tortured for all eternity.

If those two criteria are met, almost any plot becomes pointless and trivial. What does it matter that a hero saves a city from destruction when beneath their feet millions of people are burning, and many of those saved will join them? Who cares whether the ruler of a country is corrupt or not? The evil that would be stopped by replacing them with even a perfectly competent and benevolent ruler is staggeringly inconsequential compared to that of an eternity of torment.

Like, im not being vague or making an analogy here. Im just saying that its incredibly difficult to care about a plot to stop a war or kill an evil wizard when the story offhandedly mentions the fact that millions of people are 100% being tortured for eternity in a real place and no one is doing anything about it.

And even further, it makes it Really hard to view the heroes as...actual heroes. The degree of callousness required to keep the existance of hell in the background (from an in-universe perspective) is just ridiculous. Like, if youve got your high fantasy hero saving an entire continent from an evil demigod or whatever, the fact that theyre Not constantly thinking about hell is just... if you have that kinda power, and you literally know for a fact that Hell is a place, then you should be fucked up about it!

Like I can understand that growing up in that setting youd be resigned to it, not much a random soldier or whatever can do about it. But once they become super powerful? And they never even Mention Hell? That much callousness automatically moves you down a few notches from hero.

Obviously in a lot of settings hell just sorta Exists, and soul sorting is vague, but even then like. Break into Hell! Rescue people or at least relieve their pain! Its just so insane that the worst thing literally imaginable as a physical place (maximum pain that lasts literally forever with no hope of relief) is a staple of lots of fantasy settings and so many authors just do not in any way address that.

And like I said, its not that theyre writing Poorly because of this. Its a genre staple, and if you dont give it too much thought it doesnt seem to be an issue, especially given [gestures vaguely in the direction of christianity and its popularization of the concept of hell]. But god now that its been pointed out it drives me Nuts.

Anyways idk where i was going with this. Read unsong, i guess?

[popnovelspn]

Are villains really villains? Do you have to become a monster to slay a monster?

[nuitsmedia]

The Art of Loving

by Erich Fromm

For many years I have been on the quest for a piece of literature that would describe love to me. As a hopeless romantic, and as a lover of love I can finally say that I have found the closest description of love while relating it to important themes that evoke critical thinking. At first, I had a fair anxiety about finding this book to be nothing but a cliché self-help book that has a rather repetitive fashion and does not present new ideas to the question of "What essentially is love, and how can it be practiced?"

Erich Fromm succeeded in opening my mind up to the importance and the indispensability of self-discipline, of facing the harsh reality of things, and the way present socio-economic structures have affected our views on relationships. He proceeds to define the current human experience as an alienation of Man from his true essence; prioritizing pleasure that not only does not fulfill Man but empties him and leaves him shallow. On page 68, he states "Man's happiness today consists of 'having fun'. Having fun lies in the satisfaction of consuming and 'taking in' commodities, sights, food, drinks, cigarettes, people, lectures, books, movies - all are consumed, swallowed. The world is one great object for our appetite, a big apple, a big bottle, a big breast; we are the sucklers, the eternally expectant ones, the hopeful ones - and the eternally disappointed ones." We can sense bits of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in that quote as it can be correlated to how society, especially consumer culture, has allowed us to take in pleasures in life that aren’t that essential to our 'raison d'être' or meaning to life. Everything has become so accessible, it has been taken for granted. Additionally, capitalist society has turned love into a profitable project rather than a fundamental human and universal experience that needn’t be marketed.

The author has also debunked many myths about what a successful marriage can be based on and what it can consist of. "One of the most significant expressions of love, and especially of marriage with this alienated structure, is the idea of the 'team'," he writes. Marriage is an institution that has recently fallen victim to doubt and questioning by society. Is marriage the legitimate manifestation of love? Is it the last reachable goal in people's relationships? Why is it unsuccessful then? Questions with possible answers that Fromm has explored in his 3rd chapter (Love and Its Disintegration in Contemporary Western Society).

Furthermore, the discussion gets stretched to a very interesting and rather crucial point of any conversation or analysis; God's place within the topic of love. In the chapter 'The Theory of Love', Erich Fromm goes into all possible kinds of love, and the part called 'Love of God' is the most intriguing. The author writes about the religious and spiritual aspects of the phenomenon of love. Summoning Taoism, Man's relation to God, and so on. "Thus paradoxical logic leads to the conclusion that the love of God is neither the knowledge of God in thought, nor the thought of one's love of God, but the act of experiencing the oneness with God."

Overall, 'The Art of Loving' has imprinted its ideas and sentences in my brain like tattoos. It gave me incitement to take control over my life and my relationships; to exercise love in its purest form and wish nothing in return, and to practice the art of living as well as the art of loving.

[4gravitons]

Book Review: The Case Against Reality

Nima Arkani-Hamed shows up surprisingly rarely in popular science books. A major figure in my former field, Nima is extremely quotable (frequent examples include “spacetime is doomed” and “the universe is not a crappy metal”), but those quotes don’t seem to quite have reached the popular physics mainstream. He’s been interviewed in books by physicists, and has a major role in one popular physics…

[harshitjhamtani]

You are the youngest version of yourself right now, make the most of it. When you will be old, you would pay any amount of money to be this young again.

[srisrisriddd]

Until One Understands And Knows Machine Called One-Self One Cannot Be Free And Will Always Be Slave Unaware Sleeping

Good Morning

Quote / Poem / Poetry / Quotes Of

Bhagwan Sri Sri Sri Dr Devang H Dattani

Infinite SriSriSri DDD

Posted By TheBlissCity DDD Team

See The Media For Quoteoftheday

God Morning

Do You Know Spirit Soul Self Your-Self One-Self Or You Just Assume You Have And You Identify With Illusions Of It?

Is Your Understanding Your Own Or As Given By Society And Hearsay Read? From Books Tv Mobile Etc

[sandwich2451]

SYMPOSIUM ★★★☆☆

i wasn't expecting as much drama? I'm translating this rn in greek class and my teacher gave me a dutch copy to read and my god its so juicy what the fuck?? the gays are fighting y'all what is happening???

also some good thoughts, but I'm mostly here for the drama, specifically alkibiades. alibiades you will always be famous <3

[godzilla-reads]

🦆 A Short Philosophy of Birds by Philippe J. Dubois and Elise Rousseau (trans. Jennifer Higgins)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A French ornithologist and a French philosopher teach us to pause, look to the sky, and reconnect with the natural world, in twenty-two short lessons inspired by the secret lives of birds.

This was a thoughtful book to read, especially going through so many changes and questioning my own adaptability. This little book reminds us to stop, be in the moment, but also to think about our impact on the greater world ans how that affects our feathered friends.

I enjoyed the bits of wisdom but was mostly interested in the lives of the birds mentioned in this book and how vast and important they are. Some of the philosophical commentary wasn’t always something I agreed with, but I did like pondering how birds can inspire us.

[thelastalessamontgomery]

FEATURE | Into the Decadent Life of Dorian Gray: How Victorian Aestheticism Led to His Demise

Originally published as a serial in 1890 and in book form the following year, Oscar Wilde's only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the best examples of late Victorian Gothic horror. The late 19th century aestheticism and decadence are among the key concepts that Wilde creatively weaved into his novel.

Behind the Aesthetic movement

During the 19th century, aestheticism was an art movement known as "art for art's sake" which favors the aesthetic value of the arts, literature, and music rather than their socio-political purpose. This movement focuses on producing art that is deemed beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning. Its philosophy is meant for escaping the ugliness of the materialism brought by the Industrial Age, thus only absorbing beauty and good taste. It also challenges the norms during the period where Victorians would often associate ethical and moral roles to any form of art, which is the very opposite of the movement's perspective.

While a critical reflection on the arts with the aim of getting through the hardships of a new age by recognizing the necessity of beauty in everyday life, the movement also gave rise to ethical questions–creating a conflict between aestheticism and morality, which can be perfectly observed in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

A stirring and provocative introduction

The novel probably has one of the best prefaces ever written. Novel prefaces during the Victorian age were usually crowded with characters, with long paragraphs that are thickly plotted. Prefaces invite the readers inside the book by stating the purpose, and Wilde was successful in doing so. He wrote the preface without complicated words, it was written realistically and with much thought.

In reference to the Aesthetic movement, Wilde asserts in the preface that art's aim is to only reveal art and conceal its artist. He also talks about the critics of art, who he defines as those who can translate into another manner or material. Detesting people who find ugly meanings in beautiful things, he calls them corrupt and uncharming; this is a fault. Those who are cultivated are the ones who can find beautiful meanings in beautiful things. Then, he ends it strongly with, "All art is quite useless."

Such an introduction will put the readers into deep thought, challenging someone's beliefs on the matter whether one agrees or not. And with the intriguing notions laid upon them, one may argue against it or further interpret the concepts on their own.

Navigating the tenets of Aestheticism in the novel’s synopsis

Opening with a vivid image of the setting, artist Basil Hallward paints Dorian Gray's portrait in his London studio. With them, Lord Henry "Harry" Wotton is smoking an opium-tainted cigarette while taking a shine to the fine young man with an "extraordinary personal beauty." Speaking in aphorisms, and in mostly profound manner, he slowly encourages Dorian to indulge deep into life's greatest pleasures, advising him to look constantly after new sensations in life despite Basil's begging that he should not corrupt Dorian with his words that reek of hedonistic values. Lord Henry, depicted as a manipulator as he picks a flower's petals one by one, would soon have a large role in Dorian's way of life.

As Basil finishes Dorian's portrait, the painting reveals such beauty and is praised by Lord Henry as being the artist's finest work ever done. Suggesting that it must be shown in the best galleries possible, Basil quickly insists that he does not want the portrait to be seen. He says, "I have put too much of myself in it."

Basil worries that showing his work will reveal so much of himself, that spectators may uncover more of his personal and artistic idolatry of Dorian than the fair subject himself. This echoes Aestheticism's principles, where artists must be dismissed; create only a beautiful work and not put meaning into it. He refuses to have his work be explored by critics, and be seen as a biographical expression.

Looking at the artist's finished work, Dorian marvels at how young and beautiful he looks. He wishes that he would always remain young, and that the portrait must become the one to age and wane. In order for such a wish to be granted, he even declared he would sell his soul. And this is the moment as if he has made a pact with the devil.

Dorian coddles with a life of pleasure, living a life with his gift of youth, just as Lord Henry has advised him. Soon he meets Sibyl Vane, a theater actress, and falls in love with her art–performing on stage with different roles embodying the aspects of tragic love: Cordelia, Juliet, Desdemona, and Portia among others. She artistically acts on stage, as if completely losing herself and fully becoming the characters she plays. This is what Dorian falls in love with, her art as an actress. Sibyl falls in love with Dorian, she then experiences real love and realizes the falseness she has been doing onstage.

Sibyl initially inspired Dorian to turn away from decadence. Dorian discusses with Lord Henry the emotions that Sibyl makes him feel, "Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me." But when Sibyl performs as Juliet on stage, she seems artificial. She hopes that Dorian will take the hint that she does not want to act anymore after falling in love. Disappointed and ashamed, Dorian stays the whole play after everyone has left. "You have killed my love," he mutters. And then he leaves as Sibyl pleads and cries on the floor.

Sibyl symbolizes truth and purity, while Dorian is nothing but deceit and selfishness. Dorian, once again, is swayed by the values taught to him by Lord Henry. Soon, Sibyl becomes like the tragic characters she portrays, she meets a bitter end when she takes her own life after Dorian turns her down for losing her ability to act. Without this art of hers, she is now meaningless. Henry tells Dorian about the girl's death and says, "The girl never really lived, and so she has never really died."

Aestheticism's values deeply affect how Dorian sees people around him, same with how he treated Sibyl. He only saw value in her knowing that she was a brilliant actress. He mourned for her when she died as Cordelia. But never did he feel an ounce of sadness, when she died as Sibyl Vane.

After Sibyl's death, Dorian feels there is nothing more to stop him from treading a terrible path of sin and immorality. He goes on with self-indulgence, and there is no coming back. Sin after sin, he commits all things hideous. His physical body remains perfect but his portrait changes, becoming uglier as days of sin go by. Shocked by the changes in the portrait, he locks it away in his house's attic. Once again, after ceaselessly doing immoral things, he looks at the portrait and an old, evil face is revealed to him.

A tragic but fulfilling ending

13 years pass by and Dorian remains young and attractive. Dorian shows Basil his secret, the portrait that he is hiding, and the artist is appalled by the sight of his then beautiful work. Dorian then stabs Basil to death. Sibyl's brother, James, also went to exact revenge on him but is shot by one of the members of his shooting party. These events continue to disfigure his portrait. He tries to believe that the portrait may improve if he starts to behave, but he looks at the portrait again and his old self remains with the face of an evil man.

Dismayed and outraged by the loathsome sight, Dorian shoves a knife into the canvas to destroy the evidence of his sin. The sin he wants to destroy is himself. So when the servants arrive in the attic after hearing a blood-curdling sound, they witness Dorian's beautiful portrait just as Basil has painted it, but there lies on the floor a body of wrinkled old man with a horrid face.

The ending scene, as tragic as it appears on the surface, is perfectly constructed. All the events in the story, each circumstance of the characters that have different values and especially Dorian's journey of sin, led to this very end–to his ultimate demise. An ending he deserves, the moment of his death with the magical portrait at the scene that displayed strong symbols–him being one with the portrait maintaining his immortality, the depravity in the painting that he longs to kill instead of facing it.

Dorian Gray and the demise of his Aesthetic life

Dorian's ending is a reminder that no one can get away with everything. He went about in his life with the values of aestheticism imparted to him by Lord Henry, and that brought his downfall at the end. The movement should have only been a means to distract oneself from the industrialization and the physical harms it had on people. But too much indulgence in just beauty on a surface level gets rid of other things that are also important.

Living this life must also take some inspiration. Creating art can be both for the art and artist's sake, so as creating meaning or not having meaning at all. Sibyl is not meaningless when she loses her ability to act, it is not meagerness to finally embrace and see oneself as who they truly are. Basil should not have been shamed for keeping something so precious to him. Dorian would not have been put into a life of decadence if only he considered both having youth and not having youth as a gift, if only he considered to also put value in his attitude as he does in his looks.

It is mentioned how there is conflict between aestheticism and morality which is discernible in the novel. The very conflict presented there is Dorian Gray himself, who is such an exceptionally beautiful-looking young man but has a crooked and amoral attitude–which led to his own downfall. What lies beneath the surface is more worthwhile after all.

[shamandrummer]

"The Seven Generations and The Seven Grandfather Teachings"

Discover Indigenous wisdom for a life well lived in James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw's book The Seven Generations and the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Based on ancient teachings from the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe people, this self-published (2023) book about the Ojibwe language offers not just historical insight but valuable life lessons for modern times. The book's teachings emphasize the alignment of words with actions and the importance of leading a holistic life. The central theme is the concept of interconnectedness: "Aanji-Bimaadizing means, 'transforming your life'." This is no ordinary transformation. It extends far beyond the self, touching the lives of past, present, and future relatives. We live in a reciprocally interrelated world where every action we take ripples forward and backward in time.

Grandparents – family connections in general – figure largely in Kaagegaabaw's story of the way Ojibwe language was handed down by a people who understand the land and their place on it. He points out that when we hear a word like Nookomis (my grandmother), we hear a sound "created by a person who knew this land back when it was covered by ice a mile high, before Gichi-gami, the Great Lake, Lake Superior, existed. When we use the old words, we are using words that were spoken by someone who saw woolly mammoths, giant Mooz (moose) and Misamik (giant beaver)."

Kaagegaabaw is proficient at explaining the heart of the Ojibwe language. He demystifies the vocabulary, breaking words into small parts for a clear understanding of their meaning. The primal language conveys a "Great Law" that helps speakers live in peace, harmony and balance. He cites the ancient Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) philosophy of considering the impact of each decision on the next seven generations. Seven generation stewardship is a concept that urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future. As we navigate through the labyrinth of modern existence, how often do we stop and ask, "How do my actions today honor my past and pave the way for my future?"

The seven generation teachings, known as Gichi-dibaakonigwewinan, are truth, humility, respect, love, bravery, courage, honesty, and wisdom. The chapter about honesty indicates that just speaking the truth isn't enough; it's also imperative to align your words, actions, and intentions. Kaagegaabaw asks why would we use a sacred gift from the Creator, the Ojibwe language, to deceive others? The language demonstrates that the consequence of deceit is disorder. Only those who are out of balance will lie. As Kaagegaabaw put it,"Observe how I live, and the truth will invariably come out of it. It always does."

Kaagegaabaw concludes by pointing out that when we change and improve ourselves, we change and improve those who came before us and those to come – connecting them. As Kaagegaabaw so eloquently put it, "If I change myself, have I changed all of my relatives?" Though his ancestors were victims of colonization, genocide, and subjugation, Kaagegaabaw believes they can be healed through his interconnections with them. "I can still heal them," Kaagegaabaw asserts. "We are still writing our ancestors' stories."

About the Author

James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, a descendant of Turtle Mountain, is a renowned international speaker, author, educator and digital creator. His keen insights were developed through speaking with and recording elders and native language speakers across North America as part of the Ojibwe Language Dictionary Project. James is a passionate advocate for sharing how to live a life of 'mino-bimaadiziwin,' the good life. For over twenty years, he has facilitated community language tables, consulted with public and private organizations on language and cultural programs, and traveled internationally as a keynote speaker. He has been featured in numerous publications, podcasts, radio & television programs. James lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota with his wife and son.

[raffaellopalandri]

Book of the Day - Meditations

Today’s Book of the Day is Meditations, written by Marcus Aurelius from 161 to 180. Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the Five Good Emperors (the others were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the…