sam

The US military is burning the planet and poisoning everything on it to sustain an imperial death machine. Our film Earth's Greatest Enemy exposes the environmental cost of global military empire and why dismantling it is a matter of survival. Watch now: vimeo.com/ondemand/earth…

@davenewworld_2 Yes, and… the Pope’s choice of the name Leo indicates an emphasis on Catholic Social Teaching (started by Pope Leo XIII in the 19th century). He’s able to focus on poverty and injustice without invoking liberation theology as explicitly as Francis. A strategic rhetorical shift.

It's abundantly clear to me that the Pope is a supporter of Liberation Theology, which is a huge deal because the Vatican had previously condemned this interpretation of the Bible, and now it appears as if they are embracing it

this

“We need to create sober, patient people, who do not despair in the face of the worst horror and who do not get excited about every little thing. Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” — Antonio Gramsci

“All mistranslations are good—always provided that they do not consist in interpretations, but relate to the use of the book, that they multiply its use, that they create yet another language inside its language.” Deleuze

@AlexCaswen Being funny is the strongest predictor of cogsec in the 21st century

“exciting news” is an understatement about something that has me in tears

@grantmaxwell I’m very excited for this. A much needed contribution!

I’m happy to share that my new book, The Philosophy of Isabelle Stengers, is out today. A paperback edition will follow. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-philo…

“A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.” ― Jean Genet

“Religion and climate (in)action: Assessing the obstacles and prospects for effective mobilization in response to the climate emergency . . . and facing up to our apocalyptic moment" is more personal than most of what I write and available for free at doi.org/10.1515/978311…

“Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life.” — Hunter S. Thompson

Happy Birthday, Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), born January 18.

"be matter itself!" (from the conclusion of The Temptation of Saint Anthony, by Gustave Flaubert)

Just finished - brilliant! A fantastic book, highlighting the powerful, and often dark, work done by terms such as “pre-history”, “civilisation”, and “barbarism” throughout history.

From Longchenpa's death poem, Immaculate Radiance: "Now it is time to go, like a traveller upon the way. The delight I have in death is far, far greater than The delight of traders who find their fortune at sea, Or the lords of devas who prove victorious in battle, Or adepts who find ecstasy in dhyāna concentration. Now, I, Pema Ledrel Tsal, shall remain no longer, But go to capture the deathless state of great bliss. Life is finished, karma complete, prayer has no more power. All worldly things are done with, this life’s show has ended. Soon I will recognize in a single instant the extensive visions Of the bardo realms as manifestations of my awareness And take my place forevermore in the ground primordial. Let my own fortune inspire happiness in the minds of others, And let this illusory life realize the benefit of liberation’s isle."

Adorno states that since humanity as a self-conscious subject does not exist, progress doesn't exist either. We can not "advance" or "progress" in any way because there is nothing to advance. Humanity and progress would have to be invented together.

I spoke at Yale. I pointed out a few things. 1. There is a “time before time” in the Buddhist cosmogenesis. Between the awakening of Brahma (the first being to appear after the reemergence of the world) and the rise of the Sun out of the sea, there is technically a time before time. The length of this is not stated, but timekeeping only begins when the Sun begins to move and days are constituted. Buddhist time is calibrated to a worldly Sun (and then the Moon). 2. Buddhist timekeeping is not a consistent system. Buddhist traditions across history did not follow a single or standardized system of timekeeping and calendrical science. What was done in India was very different from China and Tibet. 3. There is no one Buddhist calendar. People didn't agree on the number of years elapsed since the Buddha's death. 4. Buddhists added elements to timekeeping. The most obvious example is the seven-day week, which is Greco-Egyptian in origin. Why does this matter? If something so fundamental as timekeeping was never consistently formulated and applied across Buddhist traditions, should we expect coherence for abstract doctrines such as karma, the Noble Truths, emptiness, non-self, etc.?

Kurt Vonnegut was once asked why he wrote books when presidents and senators don’t read; he replied, “You catch people before they become generals and presidents and so forth and poison their minds with humanity … to encourage them to make a better world.”