Welcome to The Rambling Blog.
A personal blog that explores philosophy, psychology, history, poetry, current events, books, movies, and more.
New Posts
Uprooted
I have always grown in the soil where I was planted. My roots took hold as sunlight and water powered triggered my birth. From a seed I quickly sprouted, groping the soil as my roots began to grow. As my roots absorbed nutrients from the soil I grew a few small branches. These eventually spawned bright green leaves. Throughout my life my foliage has been pleasant to observe and I have never felt out of place bed of plants with whom I associate.
One day, a strange man came to our soil. His hair was graying with his advanced age. His wizened face was framed by an a beard black as shoe polish, contrasting with his top of his head. His clothes were old and worn and been mended many times. His wrinkled eyes cut to the truth of whatever he saw…
A Reading for Independence Day:
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
On July 4th, I always want to reflect on the ideals which inspire the holiday—freedom, liberty, and justice. On a day like July 4th, the most logical place to turn for readings on these topics would be the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Or, perhaps, the very document we are celebrating, the Declaration of Independence. I find the most honest discussion of freedom, liberty, and justice, especially on a holiday such as July 4th, to be Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”…
Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits - Book Review
In the late 19th century, Europe was in a period of transformation. Countries found themselves moving away from monarchal rule to democratic rule. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection had shaken the foundations of theology and of the origin of the human species and taken hold in the minds of the intelligentsia; trains now stretched from France to Germany and all around Europe; the Church was experiencing a decline in political power, under threat from the new scientific innovations spreading across the continent; everywhere one looked, one saw signs of an ever increasing rate of change that would come to be the norm in the 20th and 21st centuries…
Featured Post
Art in 27 Seconds
How much time does a single person spend engaging with a single piece of art? According to a 2001 study conducted by Jeffrey K. Smith and Lisa F. Smith, the mean time spent viewing a piece of art was 27 seconds, with a median time of 17 seconds. And while some paintings may capture a person’s attention for longer, the longest time they observed was a mere three and a half minutes…
Recent Posts
Is ‘Spiritual’ a Meaningful Term for Atheists?
Can the term spiritual be compatible with a materialist, naturalist, atheist worldview?
On Suicide and the Monopoly of Suffering - A Reading from Cioran
What drives people to suicide? How can we convince someone to stay? This reading of the work of Emil Cioran explores the difficult topic and provides a potential solution to monopoly of suffering…
Discussing Death:
Breaking the Stigma
The raging pandemic over the last year has, for many folks, brought an uncomfortable spotlight to bear on mortality…
Travel Writing
In 2016, I backpacked across Japan, documenting my experience as I walked, hiked, and rode trains around the country. In August 2022, I am traveling to Ireland with my girlfriend.
Both of these trips were milestones to cross off of my bucket list, so feel free to read through the archive and follow our journey in Ireland!
