The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “philosophy”

Kierkegaard on the Value of Despair
Kierkegaard on the Value of Despair

“To despair over oneself, in despair to want to be rid of oneself, is the formula for all despair.”

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The Poetry of Reality: Robert Louis Stevenson on What Makes Life Worth Living
The Poetry of Reality: Robert Louis Stevenson on What Makes Life Worth Living

“The true realism, always and everywhere, is that of the poets: to find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing.”

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Enchantment and the Courage of Joy: René Magritte on the Antidote to the Banality of Pessimism
Enchantment and the Courage of Joy: René Magritte on the Antidote to the Banality of Pessimism

“Life is wasted when we make it more terrifying, precisely because it is so easy to do so.”

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What We Look for When We Are Looking: John Steinbeck on Wonder and the Relational Nature of the Universe
What We Look for When We Are Looking: John Steinbeck on Wonder and the Relational Nature of the Universe

Searching for “that principle which keys us deeply into the pattern of all life.”

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The Paradox of Free Will
The Paradox of Free Will

The neuroscience, physics, and philosophy of freedom in a universe of fixed laws.

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The Universe and the Soul: Richard Jefferies on Nature as Prayer for Presence
The Universe and the Soul: Richard Jefferies on Nature as Prayer for Presence

How to grow “absorbed into the being or existence of the universe.”

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The Art of Human Connection: Pioneering Psychologist and Philosopher William James on the Most Important Attitude for Relationships
The Art of Human Connection: Pioneering Psychologist and Philosopher William James on the Most Important Attitude for Relationships

“Neither the whole of truth nor the whole of good is revealed to any single observer.”

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Wholeness and the Implicate Order: Physicist David Bohm on Bridging Consciousness and Reality
Wholeness and the Implicate Order: Physicist David Bohm on Bridging Consciousness and Reality

How to “include everything coherently and harmoniously in an overall whole that is undivided, unbroken, and without a border.”

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What It Takes to Grow: Pioneering Psychoanalyst Karen Horney on the Key to Self-Realization
What It Takes to Grow: Pioneering Psychoanalyst Karen Horney on the Key to Self-Realization

“Self-knowledge… is not an aim in itself, but a means of liberating the forces of spontaneous growth. In this sense, to work at ourselves becomes not only the prime moral obligation, but… the prime moral privilege.”

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How We Render Reality: Attention as an Instrument of Love
How We Render Reality: Attention as an Instrument of Love

“Since our consciousness plays some part in what comes into being, the play of attention can both create and destroy, but it never leaves its object unchanged.”

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