Confucius on reclusion II

In the Analects, Confucius writes: “What I call a great minister is one who will only serve the emperor when it can be done without infringement of the Wa...

Confucius on reclusion I

From the Analects of Confucius comes this hallmark statement of reclusion: “Best of all is to withdraw from one’s generation; next to withdraw to an...

Wabi tea house

In his classic Book of Tea, Kakuzo Okakura describes the tea house as no more than a cottage or thatched hut. The original ideographs for “tea house”...

Skunk and fox

Two unusual sights: a spotted Eastern skunk and a gray fox. Despite years living at this location, we had never seen a skunk. When traveling, the skunk seems ve...

Birds and bugs

Outside, fresh water in the ceramic “saucers” and stone bird bath is a summons to all kinds of birds to drink and bathe. Among the drinkers are blue...

Epicurus II

Epicurus explains (in the Letter to Menoeceus) that when he considers pleasure the basis of happiness he does not mean the pleasures of the profligate or the di...

Epicurus

Epicurus does not sound like a hedonist but perhaps a discrete voluptuary. Rejecting the Stoic moral duty, he is free to pursue the course of least resistance, ...

Simplicity V

Simplicity cannot be understood without complicity. In our attempts to achieve simplicity in the material sense, we must also be conscious of the source of our ...