Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
The great Philosophers have long thought about how to live a good life; good not only for ourselves but for the betterment of others and the world around us. One of the tenets of the Buddhist Eight-Fold Path is the concept of Right Living. I think this would have been far easier and less complex … Continue reading Thoughts About “Right Living”
I know this year has been very strange for most of us but please remember... Life is Short. If you're fortunate enough to live with the means and privilege and food security, consider yourself lucky. When I feel low or unhappy, I always want to remember the people subjected to abject poverty worldwide through no … Continue reading Don’t Forget to Enjoy the Ride
Does this mean we should neglect our intellect? Absolutely not. In fact, the opposite. We should strive to cultivate both mind and body to become the most perfect specimen we can become, daily. I came across this passage while reading a bit this morning from Amateur Joinery in the Home (1916) by George and Berthold … Continue reading Everyone Should Cultivate Manual Training
"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." Wise words from a wise man. Stay safe...
New Year's resolutions from Woody Guthrie's notebook 1943. It was an interesting time; the world was at war, America was coming out of an economic depression coupled with huge crop failures and sleazy bank practices, and the Guthries had made their way West to California with record numbers of displaced migrants looking for a better … Continue reading Woody Guthrie’s New Year Rulin’s
"One of the reasons for its success is is that science has a built-in, error correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when … Continue reading Science and Self-Correction
On Loneliness "When you feel you are sleeping on the breast of your mother, the earth, while your father, the sky, with his millions of eyes is watching over you, and that you are surrounded by your brother, the plants, the wilderness is no longer lonesome even to the solitary traveler." ~Dan Beard
"Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." via "Oscar Wilde Says"
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. G.K. Chesterton I've had an interest in Chesterton for quite a few years now and have really enjoyed reading his philosophy. I'm no expert, but know that I find myself in congruence with many … Continue reading Your Rights vs. Doing the Right Thing
"The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get "a good job," but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, … Continue reading Thoughts on Labor – 1854
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of … Continue reading Wilderness Time – Wise Words from John Muir
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Henry David Thoreau, Walden. Take some advice from an unlikely hero, Don Quixote. Do your own thing... Have an adventure, go live … Continue reading Dream On and March to the Beat of Your Own Drummer
"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind." Henry David Thoreau, Walden. Heavy words when you think about them. I like nice stuff. I buy good clothes, decent shoes, and drive a new(ish) vehicle. We all like new, … Continue reading Real Comforts
"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone." Henry David Thoreau, Walden. Possessions don't make us happy! Situations do. Possessions, desire, covetousness, craving, yearning, lust; these forces drive humanity. Somehow each generation of moral thinkers know these things are ultimately wrong and look for something … Continue reading Jobs, Work, and Taking Control of Possessions (an updated ramble)
An old look at the life of man - Seven years to childhood's sport and play, Seven years in school from day to day, Seven years at Trade or College life, Seven years to find a Virtuous Wife. Seven years to pleasure's follies given, Seven years to labour hardly driven, Seven years for some a … Continue reading Seven Years at a Time…
Most people that know me are aware that I owe much of my foundation and success in life to a very positive experience in the Boy Scouts of America. There were many lame troops and leaders not worth their salt but I, and several of my closest friends, were fortunate in finding ourselves thrown together … Continue reading Baden-Powell’s Last Message to Scouts
Thomas Jefferson wrote reams of good advice, important political philosophy, the Declaration of Independence, and many other things (which is why we know so much about him). To some of his younger relations he sent his favorite "Rules of Conduct" to help the people he cared for better and more insightful humans. These thoughts evolved … Continue reading Rules of Conduct – From the Pen of Thomas Jefferson
Get after it! Great things aren’t coming to you unbidden.
” Don’t loaf
and invite
inspiration;
light out
after it
with a club. “
This thought feels more pertinent than ever right now. Instead of just finding faults in others, I think it wise to examine who else stands on the side you are on. Are these the people you want to be? The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to … Continue reading Escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane…
I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted. W.C. Fields was a wise philosopher with a great sense of humor.
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 