The Existential Hamlet

This is one I wrote some thirty years ago, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, there might be an insight worth considering…. The existentialist theologian Martin Buber made what I consider to be an excellent analogy to the problems with which the human is faced: All around us swirls the ever-changing vortex of possibilities. Our freedom allows us to define ourselves by reaching out and grabbing the possibility that we choose; By actualizing... Read more

Shakespeare as Solomon

I am intrigued by two quotes from Christopher Hitchens via his recent book, “god is not Great”: “Shakespeare has much more moral salience than the Talmud or the Koran or any account of the fearful squabbles of Iron Age tribes.” and “The loss of faith can be compensated by the newer and finer wonders that we have before us, as well as by immersion in the near miraculous work of … Shakespeare…” So, what is this moral salience that is... Read more

The Trying of Men’s Souls

This is a re-posting of my October 31, 2008 blog. I posted it originally to demonstrate that Thomas Paine thought there was value in suffering, too. Read what Thomas Paine - who was a deist, but was oftened touted as an atheist - said about how reality arranges for the virtues to have a price. In other words, they’re not free, they are earned. This is an excerpt from The American Crisis, which he wrote to boost the morale of Washington’s... Read more