Tag: life
-
Portrait of a Man
“Who am I, Gamling?” King Théoden asks of his lieutenant in a calm-before-the-storm moment of hopelessness and self-doubt. I like to consider my identity as that of a Renaissance Man of the People. This may be considered a compound epithet merging, of course, the phrases Renaissance Man and Man of the People. A Renaissance Man…
-
I am a puzzle
A maelstrom of identities To be flipped and sorted and examined Five hundred, a thousand, and more hats to wear In each moment Some too proud Others too timid Few just right But each eventually finds its place Only to be determined Through trial and good intent The true work begins As attention finally shifts…
-
Fever Dreams & Delusions of Grandeur – Part 2
“Dark have been my dreams of late,” King Theoden says, triumphing against depression as Gandalf literally shows him the light, “but I feel as one new-awakened.” The more I read and live, the more I realize that the meaning of life is art. Centering art as the meaning of life entails the following prescriptions: 1)…
-
Art not Power
J.R.R. Tolkien was a prolific letter writer, so much so that there is an entire tome compiling his correspondence. In Letter 131, Tolkien writes that “[Elvish] ‘magic’ is Art… and its object is Art not Power, sub-creation not domination.” Distilling this into a theme of Art versus Power, this magic of Tolkien had already meant…
-
Free will v. Determinism
I do not believe in fate/destiny. I’ve no background in philosophy (so I’ll happy concede that I have no idea what I’m talking about), but I do not believe in it simply because all things occur within the law of probability. For example, if event X only has a 1% chance of occurring but still…
-
Hope in Decline
Decline is something I find myself thinking a lot about these days, for obvious reasons as I gesture at the state of the world, at the state of America. A few weeks ago, I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in theaters for its 25th anniversary. Having seen it so many times,…
-
Into the Dragon’s Den
After many months – oh, how I’ve grown – my contract job comes to an end. Ahead of me are two interviews and either a job or limitless opportunities – oh, how liberating. I do not put all my hope in these interviews; the future is my imagination. My hope is in myself, and I…
The AM Intrigue 