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STOIC POETRY | Walking the shore with seashells in my hand
I have such a small and precious set of values - objectives and principles to guide my life. So very few. Each one is precious to me, as...

Kurt Bell
Jul 23, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Tracing consciousness
I wonder how far down the tree of life consciousness goes? Like us, dogs are clearly aware of themselves relative to the world, and can...

Kurt Bell
Jul 22, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | Necessary and sufficient
Necessity suggests a condition which must be met in order for a proposition to be true, while sufficiency guarantees the proposition is,...

Kurt Bell
Jul 21, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Arguing with myself over free will
How best might I prove myself wrong? I have this suspicion, not quite yet a belief perhaps, that free will is an illusion. How can I...

Kurt Bell
Jul 20, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Wiping glasses with an empty mind
It is a difficult thing to wipe my glasses while doing nothing else. My mind, my deep and inner mind, knows how to do this chore without...

Kurt Bell
Jul 19, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | Swimming to a park bench by the sea
I swam yesterday in the sea. I swam possibly too far yesterday in the sea, as I am today quite worn and spent. I expect that this is a...

Kurt Bell
Jul 18, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | The grounding of goodness
It is said that good actions are their own reward; bearing an immediate and lasting fruit of nearly tangible well-being unto at least the...

Kurt Bell
Jul 17, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | An uncomplaining camp
Emotions are a curious thing to ride upon. They jump and jostle and jolt and then rest, before picking up again and tossing all about. As...

Kurt Bell
Jul 16, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Such a life to live
How much more decorous a possession than honest self-reflection; though there is nothing to see in such wealth besides the owner's...

Kurt Bell
Jul 15, 20201 min read


STOIC POETRY | Finding a new nest
Yumiko and I decided to downsize after Emily left to begin life on her own. Our own move began just two days after Emily left our home on...

Kurt Bell
Jul 14, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | The pain of the empty nest
Who knew becoming empty-nesters was so painful? Surely, neither Yumiko or I did. And who knew how fast the sense of absence and loss...

Kurt Bell
Jul 13, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | Moving Emily into her new place
July 11th, 2020 was the last day our daughter lived at home with Yumiko and me. Emily has been with us a long time, since November 25th,...

Kurt Bell
Jul 12, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | The work I do before the work I must do
All memorable events, I should say, transpire in the morning time and in morning atmosphere. -Henry David Thoreau There is a season in...

Kurt Bell
Jul 10, 20201 min read


STOIC POETRY | A time for reinvention
I believe that Yumiko and I are as prepared for our new life together as we might hope to be. With our daughter leaving us this coming...

Kurt Bell
Jul 8, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Ad Aster and The Great Indifference
Yumiko and I watched a movie last night called Ad Aster, starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. We enjoyed the film, which is a science...

Kurt Bell
Jul 7, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | My retirement mission
Next week, our daughter Emily will leave us. As a family, on Saturday, July 11th, we will spend a day moving her few things to an...

Kurt Bell
Jul 6, 20203 min read


STOIC POETRY | A time for philosophy
It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark, and that he may live in all respects so...

Kurt Bell
Jul 5, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | A passenger on a bus
The principle of The Pirate Ride suggests that free will is an illusion created by our seeming sense of the options which life presents...

Kurt Bell
Jul 4, 20202 min read


STOIC POETRY | Holding my tongue
During a discussion with a coworker today I realized I had said too much. It would have been better if I had left off speaking after my...

Kurt Bell
Jul 3, 20201 min read


STOIC POETRY | Best by date
I think our expiration date is roughly our fiftieth birthday. What I mean, is that if we have not yet observed and said anything original...

Kurt Bell
Jul 2, 20201 min read
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