Geoff's Miscellany

Of the two, neither is good. But both are entertaining:

The first is somewhat controversial, but it's essentially a guy giving a ted-talk as a ridiculous caricature of certain segments of the college type. For instance, he voices his (not real) support of euthanasia with this line, "In 2070, there won't be any old or sick people, cause WE'RE JUST GONNA KILL 'EM." It's definitely worth a listen if you like wry humour. 

In What is Ancient Philosohy?, Pierre Hadot argues that ancient philosophers were offering ways of life that eschewed the pull of the passions and instead aimed at optimal human existence (happiness or ευδαιμονια).   In order to accomplish this, philosophers weren't just offering arguments or proposing ideas just to change people's ideas, they were trying to help people obtain a vision of ultimate reality and then live their lives in conformity to that reality. And so, the philosophers offered philosophical or spiritual exercises, which Hadot defines as:

Schools purporting to offer a classical education are cropping up around the country. Is this recent trend good or bad? To answer this question, I propose that classical education is Lindy-compatible, and therefore minimally not harmful, but likely helpful.

Here is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's description of the Lindy effect:

“Lindy is a deli in New York, now a tourist trap, that proudly claims to be famous for its cheesecake, but in fact has been known for the fifty or so years of interpretation by physicists and mathematicians of the heuristic that developed there. Actors who hung out there gossiping about other actors discovered that Broadway shows that lasted, say one hundred days, had a future life expectancy of a hundred more. For those that lasted two hundred days, two hundred more. The heuristic became known as the Lindy Effect.“

The Christian version of the afterlife is unique in two respects. It is so unlike our present existence that the Bible says that it can only be seen dimly and is best expressed in images. But it is very much like our present existence in that our present self will be preserved and will have attributes and levels of flourishing which depend upon our virtue in this life.

I stumbled upon Scripture, revelation, and Platonism in C.S. Lewis by Andrew Walker. I finally had time to read it today. The first 15 pages or so are pretty good. In them, he describes Lewis' six categories of revelation: the numinous, Sehnsucht/desire, conscience, Israel, pagan dreams/myths, and Jesus himself. After that, Walker attempts to critique Lewis' view of the Incarnation and appears to miss Lewis' point, at one point evidently critiquing a view Lewis explicitly rejects as Lewis' own view (29 and 32). But if you want to learn about Lewis' understanding of divine revelation and perhaps inform your own, it's still worth a read. 

Socrates was so useful in all circumstances and in all ways, that any observer gifted with ordinary perception can see that nothing was more useful than the companionship of Socrates, and time spent with him in any place and in any circumstances. The very recollection of him in absence brought no small good to his constant companions and followers; for even in his light moods they gained no less from his society than when he was serious. 

2 Timothy 1:6-7 Therefore, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which was given you by the laying on of my [Paul] hands. For, God has not given us a cowardly spirit, but a spirit of power, love, and discipline.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord [to which I’ve been referring] is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Everybody puts on the brakes before acting when they consider what others will think.

I would guess that many refuse to do what is best because of what they think.

I am often amazed at how each man loves himself more than others, but cares more for the opinions of others than of himself. If a god should appear to a man, or a wise teacher and charge him to cease to think or imagine anything which which he would not make known as soon as he thought it, he would not last one day [without breaking the command]. This is because we have more respect for the thoughts of others about us than for our own thoughts of ourselves. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book XII Chapter IV*