Author Archives: Lee

One Life

“Always merry and bright!” is the ironic refrain throughout Henry Miller’s “The Tailor Shop.” Miller doesn’t hide the bad in those times, the dark and the grim; he doesn’t hide his own “bad heart” or the bad in the other … Continue reading

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Paradox and Buffoonery

“You gotta fight for peace.” And some in the audience must have agreed. If bad people will do bad things you’ve got to do something to stop them. But others just saw the paradox and laughed. One of those who … Continue reading

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The Conscientious One

“I am the one I must be,” says Zarathustra. He accepts himself fully the way he is. And he walks with a carefree step. So carefree that in fact he is sometimes careless. And walking through the swamp he steps … Continue reading

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Waiting

It’s difficult to wait for something. How many times in your life have you really had to wait? Usually if something you look forward to is happening in the future, you pass the time until then. The show is on … Continue reading

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Monsters

I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) quite regularly for five years or so now, and so I spend a lot of time thinking about monsters. But what is a monster? I’ve been looking through Medieval Monsters by Damien Kempf … Continue reading

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The Bag Thief

There’s a story in the Arabian Nights in which two men are being interrogated in the office of the police chief. One of the men had snatched the bag of the other but, when the victim called for help, the … Continue reading

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Kalganov and Karamazov (Notes on Book 9)

Mitya says: I am guilty of murder. Not because I have killed; I have not. But because I am capable of killing. And we are all capable of cruelty. While there is any crime in the world, each and every … Continue reading

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Orchid

“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower / Drives my green age” writes Dylan Thomas. The same force that makes a plant grow flows within me and makes me alive. To be young is to feel close … Continue reading

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The Conduct of Life

“Kant’s philosophy represented an uncompromising philosophical criticism; and Spinoza’s philosophy stood for a radical scientific naturalism. But their philosophies also illustrated the dangerous consequences of rational enquiry and criticism. The consequence of Kant’s philosophy, if it were to drop its … Continue reading

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Giant

Why are giants so cruel? Because they are made of ice and poison. Before the earth was created there was Niflheim, a dark and cold place from which poisonous rivers flowed and which had existed forever. Far to the south … Continue reading

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