Category: Blague

　A No-No Nse-Nse by Bā-bē-bi-bo-bu There once was a lad named Judas SpreeWhose heart was overflowing with glee　His spirits were so high　He thought he could flyAnd he leaped off a cliff for all to see. He glided aloft, tumbled end over end,And so gyred and gamboled on the wind　That birds were amazed　Spectators were dazedAs they… Continue reading Judas Spree

Hyatt Carter Way back in the thirteenth century, over 700 years ago, Zen Master Dōgen expressed an insight that seems a foreshadowing of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: When one side is illumined, the other is darkened.* 一方ヲ證スルトキハ。一方ハクラシ。(Ippo o shosuru toki wa, ippo wa kurashi.) This does not entail dualism, nor, in denying dualism, does it imply… Continue reading The Uncertainty Principle: Heisenberg or Dōgen?

　　A No-No Nse-Nse 　　　by Bā-Bē There once was a zany bloke in a long harlequin cloakWhose only gist he daily spoke was a jesting gibberish joke　One morn while rhapsodizing utterly　In sounds so barmy sweet and butterly　That cuckoos swarmed round him flutterly　Leaving him thereafter quite stutterlyFrom this avian absurdity he never awoke And the next day… Continue reading A Zany Bloke in a Harlequin Cloak

Liùhébāfǎ (六合八法) I’ve just begun looking into a form of Qigong called Liuhebafa (六合八法). In a primary text it is said that . . . The essence of our mind-intention art is that the six unions provide the theory.吾宗心意法。六合為體。 . . . and then gives this interesting progression: 六合The Six Unions （一）體合於心1. Body unites with… Continue reading Liuhebafa (六合八法)

The Philosophers at Finnegans Wake The following are sixty-five (plus one) philosophers present at the Wake. They appear here chronologically by date of birth. Several associates of philosophy are included, such as Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, as they have had significant influence on philosophy. Numbers following the names represent page and line numbers in FW.… Continue reading The Philosophers at Finnegans Wake

A No-No Nse-Nse by Bā-bē I’ll sing for Thee a simple song,That You may listen all day long: May I wonder all wise humblehow a bee so wee can bumbleor a bug in glee can tumbleand wind in a seashell mumbleawesome thunder roar and rumblelightning zigzag hiss and grumblelofty mountains rise and crumblesummer storms jostle… Continue reading A Ba-ba-babble-ing Song

How is it that people, even very smart people, even people of genius, can come to hold radically contrasting worldviews? Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, two pivotal intellectual figures of the 20th century whose fundamental views were as different as night and day, present an illustrative case. In their younger days, Whitehead and Russell… Continue reading Muddleheaded and Simpleminded

“Let outers pray” (482.18):oura vatarsthat arred in Himmal,harruad bathar namas, (599.5-6)In kingdome goneor power to comeor gloria be to them farther? (213.31-32Bring us this days our maily bag! (603.7-8)the foregiver of trosstpassers (345.28)I have not left temptation (311.13)That they take no chill (259.5)Forsin. Thy thingdome (18.21)in guilt and in glory (627.23-24)her heavens for ever (29.14)… Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer in Wakese

The mind of Charles Hartshorne was of such high genius that over the course of his long philosophical career he came up with insights that are so elegant, and of such beauty, that they can be thought of as conceptual miracles. This is not to say that these miracles of thought are supernatural, rather, they… Continue reading The Conceptual Miracles of Charles Hartshorne

The famous name was accidental. In 1938, when almost the only well-defined character on the lot was Porky Pig, a director who answered to Bugs Hardaway thought a rabbit might play nicely opposite Porky, and commissioned one from the resident character designer. The designer, a Disney alumnus named Charles Thorson, sent back a model sheet… Continue reading How Bugs Bunny Got His Name