Writing; separately also perseverance and freedom as a condition of personal happiness x.com/i/spaces/1djGX…

I don't know why accepting the existence of time is controversial. All I have to do is look at my watch and it tells me the time. This implies that there is such a thing as time, and therefore proves that time exists. Q.E.D.

Therefore, be unapologetic in your style.

It was Kepler. A man with deep interest in mysticism and Platonism.

More simply, those who are posed against the Regime.

There's an asymmetry in the disciplines where many believe they hold valid and arguable positions in politics and ethics, but never in metaphysics and science. No amateur tells an engineer how to build a skyscraper, but they will speak with conviction on how best to govern.

“If tools could make anyone who picked them up an expert, they’d be valuable indeed.”

Among the reasons for this is due to the subtle, which is in no way small or negligible, distinction between τέχνη and φρόνησις as they regard human knowledge and judgement.

To be fair, Locke is not free from rebuke himself, and many of his contemporaries held similar religious positions.

“If study we must, let us study something suitable to our circumstances, so that we can make the same reply as that man who was asked what use were his studies in decrepit old age: That I may better and more happily leave it behind.” Montaigne

Many ask how do smart or rational people go from being reasonable to poor judgement and believing in falsehoods. Part of the answer is their friends and colleagues, which most don't want to admit. It's yet another reason why good friendship is paramount for a good life.

Free markets have their merits, but when unchecked they have untold societal harms. No regulations, no legal prosecution, deceiving inexperienced customers who lack the discretion, physical dangers, wasting resources, and makes the world uglier.

"We don't have the talent here", well it turns out neither do they. This is the problem. Companies make up excuses, when the real reason is to hire cheap, cut corners, and exploit market dynamics. The talent is always there, ready to be cultivated. It's a leadership issue.

The older you get, the easier it is to understand why the ancients held philosophy to be, for the most part, esoteric.

Aesthetics are the manifest spirit of a nation, down to the smallest detail. The buildings, the rail, the clothes, the clock. All built from nothing.