With respect to the self, Humberto Maturana makes the following observations (in his essay “Biology of Self-Consciousness”): The distinction of the self is an overwhelming experience . . . once it takes place the distinction becomes the referential ground for all other distinctions . . . And perhaps most critically, he observes that the “experience of theContinue reading “Maturana on Self as Distinction”
Author Archives: Sean
Lenten Writing: Bird-Shaped Holes
This morning I watched two tufted titmice in the maple tree at the bedroom window. They sipped from icicles on limbs that nearly reached the porch roof which is still laden with snow from recent storms. They were quick and alert, the way it sometimes feels to be happy. They reminded me of the summerContinue reading “Lenten Writing: Bird-Shaped Holes”
Lenten Writing: Attention
By asking “what shall I do?” or “how shall I do something, anything at all?” I am displacing praxis with more study. And this is the move that I want to see myself making. Not to stop myself or correct myself but simply to see it. Not as a matter of what is right orContinue reading “Lenten Writing: Attention”
Freedom is Always Relational
It seems as we look into our experience of living that we are free to adopt various means of looking into our experience of living, each of which may provide a slightly different perspective of and thus experience of living. That is to say, the way we look at our living affects our living whichContinue reading “Freedom is Always Relational”
Lenten Writing: Remembering Unity
Yet this writing – which is thinking out loud – implies a division between praxis and study, which negates – or occludes, maybe – their unity, which is actually how they are given. It is not sufficient to say that study is praxical and praxis studious. That reflects a distinction subsequent to their appearance whichContinue reading “Lenten Writing: Remembering Unity”
Lenten Writing: Praxis as Application
In a sense, praxis has to do with the exercise – with the application – of ethics and morals. Through study we develop an intuitive sense of what is good and just, what is most likely to defuse conflict and elevate the collective, the all-of-us, rather than only the individual. Through praxis we seek meansContinue reading “Lenten Writing: Praxis as Application”