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Monthly Archives: August 2010
Kalev’s Anti-Blog: A Poem
Across from the Roslyn Mill By Kalev Pehme Have you thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion? —Walt Whitman At Cedarmere where Byrant lived, lilies Impressionistically now splotch the pond. There are many red, ripe, wild … Continue reading
Posted in astrology, Poetry, Slow and Close Reading
Tagged Cedarmere, Roslyn, Walt Whitman, Washington, William Cullen Bryant
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Kalev’s Anti-Blog: Remarks on Cosmology: Part 1 The Eternal Cosmos
Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes, states in his epic Tahafut al-Tahafut (The Destruction of Destruction or Incoherence of Incoherence) that Aristotle’s great innovation was the speculation that the cosmos is eternal. This notion was decried especially by the mutakallimum and … Continue reading
Posted in Cosmology, Philosophy
Tagged Aristotle, cosmology, cosmos, eide, eidos, energeia, god, Plato, prime mover, spheres, theos, thought thinking itself
2 Comments
Kalev’s Anti-Blog: The Boy Toy and the End of History
I wrote this essay some years ago, but I still like it. I have up-dated and improved it a bit. My friend and former student Jenn Clarke in now of Las Vegas, a great place of speculation, referred to … Continue reading
Posted in Leo Strauss, Philosophy
Tagged Alexander, Bonjour Tristesse, boy-toy, Caesar, end of history, femininity, Hemingway, Kojeve, Last Man, Leo Strauss, masculinity, Nietzsche, Sagan, Socrates, tyranny, Univeral Homogenous State
20 Comments
Kalev’s Anti-Blog: Waiting and Needing and Eating
In the English translation of the German version of the Yijing (I Ching) Richard Wilhelm, the German translator, comments about the fifth hexagram: “Waiting is not mere empty hoping. It has the inner certainty of reaching the goal. Such certainty … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Slow and Close Reading
Tagged Beckett, eternal now, expectation, future, gua, Heidegger, hexagram, hope, I Ching, Needing, Nourishment, Richard Wilhelm, Waiting, Waiting for Godot, Yijing
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Kalev’s Anti-Blog: Bringing the Buddha and Plato Together
It might seem folly to bring the Buddha and Plato together, but I am going to do precisely that. At the heart of Mahayana Buddhism is the notion that there is an ultimate reality and an apparent and conventional reality. … Continue reading
Posted in Leo Strauss, Philosophy, Slow and Close Reading
Tagged Buddha, Buddhism, eidos, emptiness, empty, Good, Leo Strauss, nirvana, Plato, Plato's theory of ideas, samsara
1 Comment
Kalev’s Anti-Blog A Poem
Journey By Kalev Pehme Basho’s pupil paints a haiku so cruel. He writes: “A red firefly/Tear off its wings/ A pepper.” Zen compassion, the rule of syllables, moves his master. He sings: “A pepper/Give it wings/a red firefly.” The student’s … Continue reading
Kalev’s Anti-Blog: How to Read the Opening of Xenophon’s Symposium
Until the 19th century, Xenophon was considered one of the best writers ever. In Medieval times, his novel The Cyropedia was the favorite of the day. Julius Caesar imitated Xenophon’s style when he wrote his commentaries. What makes Xenophon … Continue reading
Posted in Leo Strauss, Philosophy, Slow and Close Reading
Tagged farce, homosexuality, Plato, pleasure, Socrates, sophistry, sophists, Symposium, virtue, Xenophon
2 Comments
Anti-Blog a Poem: Death in the KIss
Death in the Kiss By Kalev Pehme Long are the beats of the drumming heart, magic, love’s vision, palpitating rapturous, physical frenzy, quickly now, inner pulse. Falling in love sees eyes, ears to hear, songs secreting erotic glimpses, … Continue reading
Anti-Blog A Short Story: Flowers for Yasmin
By Kalev Pehme Dominique de Baumont hesitated before she sat down at the cafe table with her friends. She remembered what she had just told her professor: “I am very superficial, and I know it.” She had said … Continue reading
Anti-Blog A Short Story: The Best Sex Ever
By Kalev Pehme Camille was a woman or hundreds of sexual escapades. An exotic blend of East European filtered through an Argentine combination of Spanish, Italian, and English, Camille’s figure at twenty-seven was at its matured peak. Curvy, deliciously busted, … Continue reading
Poetry, Philosophy, Slow and Close Reading 