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A whole family of self-flattering words serves as benedictions for the vision of the anointed. “Progress” and “progressive” are prominent examples. But everyone is for “progress,” by definition. They differ only on specifics, though these differences may be extreme and even violent. Words like “progress” or “progressive” preempt these specific issues by arbitrarily assuming the differential desirability of one’s own preferred changes, without having to debate substance—or even acknowledge its relevance.
The Vision of the Anointed
Thomas Sowell
The goals were power and wealth; the cultural capital that could secure those goals was courtly elegance or refinement (miyabi). The more elegant the person, the more desirable. An expression of that courtly elegance was an enhanced sensitivity called aware, later commonly expressed more fully as mono no aware. Deriving from a common exclamation meaning “ah!,” it signals coming across something striking. Mixed with attentiveness to the ephemeral, aware transformed the traditional Buddhist resignation toward impermanence into an aesthetic of poignancy. The cherry blossoms, for example, are all the more stunning because they bloom for such a short time.
Engaging Japanese Philosophy – A Short History
Thomas P. Kasulis
Pure democracies can degenerate into autocracies. Republics are what you want.
Tweets From Naval
@naval on Twitter
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