Author: Mark J. Chmiel

Choosing Guiding Means

A few years ago I read Amos Oz’s trenchant book, How to Cure a Fanatic.  His context was the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Therein, Oz noted that “the essence of fanaticism lies in…

Perduring Truth

It is, indeed, not necessary to shew by many instances what all mankind confess, by an incessant call for variety, and restless pursuit of enjoyments, which they value only because unpossessed.  –Dr. Samuel Johnson, The…

Intellectual Superiority Complex

Ivan Karamazov has lost his faith precisely because he has elevated himself above the people. In this case, “the people” are not necessarily peasants, but are what Ivan, a modern intellectual, is not: human beings…

One Kind Gesture

I am grateful to Gary Saul Morson, for his book that has engaged me over the last year, Wisdom Confronts Certainty, as well as many of his articles and essays. Thanks to Morson’s insights here…

Hold It All

Joseph Needham has described the unity of Chinese civilisation as organismic, with the various parts functioning like those of a living organism. We think of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and even of popular religion. These…

Fire/3

We are full of craving, always running after things. We want to become a director or president of a company, we want to buy a beautiful car or a nice house, or go on an…

Camerados

I swore an oath of eternal brotherhood with Yuan-ruo, and pledged him my everlasting allegiance, as an expression of my lifelong loyalty to him.  Chinese people have always treated their friends with this sort of…

Kindred Spirits

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. But I try to work one day at a time. If we just worry about the big picture, we are powerless. So my secret is to start right away doing whatever…