Ezra Pound, True Culture Hero
Ezra Pound wanted to be a cultural hero. And he became one. He wrote a lyric epic, the Cantos, all about his heroic quest. And he was a true hero, an honest hero, a real hero, not a narrow little perfect media hero. The heroes are always deeply flawed. Odysseus, Achilles, Rāma… Some people don’t want to read his poetry because he was a fascist. That was surely his darkest side. But his light side was even greater and more intense than his dark side. He was a true hero, a poet-hero, an epic hero.
Power
To lose your legs or your eyes or your ears but still remain uncowed, high spirited, and cheerful: this is true power, an exalted siddhi.
Questions, Not Answers
We need questions, not answers. Answers are everywhere. Real questions are rare.
Low Opinion of Humanity
Why is there such a generally low opinion of humanity? Pyramids were created by aliens, the moon landing was a hoax: these and many other beliefs express nothing but a low opinion of human possibility.
We live in an age of unparalleled human material creation beyond even the imagination of people a few centuries ago. But the dominant American attitude is that nothing can be done, that we are helpless. When I was a child, the dominant American attitude was, "we can do it." Why can’t we do it anymore?
What crushed the American spirit? Was it media domination? Bad information overload? The oligarchy? Why does "Make America Great Again" inspire so many when what it’s really saying is, "America isn’t great"? What turned us into a country that can’t come together and solve our problems?
Student, Teacher, Peers
The teacher and the student must have similar levels of commitment to the process. A dedicated teacher and a negligent student, or a dedicated student and a negligent teacher must not come together. If the student won’t pursue his studies, he only deserves a teacher who isn’t interested in teaching. And the students with whom a student attends class must also have similar commitments to the student. If she is totally committed to learning, she should only spend time with others committed to learning. Those students who don’t care about learning should leave her alone.
50 years ago
It’s been 50 years since I fractured my skull, lost my left eye, and lost my smile to mid sagittal paralysis.
I noticed because I see people smiling, confident that their smile is pleasing to others. While my smile feels like a sinister commentary or a frequently noted smirk. Oh, yeah. That’s right. 50 years is a long time not to feel a smile is friendly.
July 4, 2024 12:59 EDT
Starting with the Declaration of Independence, our government was born from the leading intellectual ideas of its time. It wasn’t some anti-intellectual backwater that so many are so determined to turn it into.