Tag: philosophy

by jad

IN BLOOM: Desperate Refusal

“Utopia, for me, is a beyond; an earthly beyond. I hesitate to say “mundane”. Because the world today identifies itself with this world: precisely what repels me and which pushes me to search for a world beyond. I feel close therefore to any transcendent measure or dimension. Without identifying with the theological forms that it takes, I find here, and I use, a form of thinking, and a form of speaking, with a political dimension, which metaphorically, or allegorically, alludes to something other than what is here, to something other than that. Even if only in this choice, there is … Continue reading “IN BLOOM: Desperate Refusal” →

by jad

IN BLOOM: Ghostly Alignment

I had the opportunity to try acupuncture for the first time this weekend; I long ago unpacked the biases that name some medicines “alternative” and some sciences “pseudo,” but I was yet to go under the needle, so to speak, and experience the deconstruction (or reintegration) for myself. I was nervous. Not only because I’m actually a touch sensitive and pain averse wimp, but because this particular practice was more than poking and prodding; there was going to be talk involved too, and I was bursting at the seams with things to say. Lucky for me, this practitioner is the … Continue reading “IN BLOOM: Ghostly Alignment” →

by jad

Salt of the Earth

Who are the “salt of the earth”? The working class, the poor, the ordinary people who sustain the world through unrecognized labor and quiet endurance. We get this phrase from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13, where Jesus is alluding to the high value of salt in the Judeo-Roman economy. It was so valuable that Roman soldiers were paid with it, giving us the word “salary,” from the Latin “sal” for salt. Salt is valuable because it preserves and gives flavor, so Jesus uses it as a metaphor for his disciples’ role in the world. Today, Christians take … Continue reading “Salt of the Earth” →

by jad

Let My Mouth Be Ever-Fresh With Praise

“Each morning newEach day shot throughWith all the sharp, small shards of shrapnelThat seem to burst out of me and you. Head down toward KansasWe will get there when we get there,don’t you worryFeel bad about the things we do along the wayBut not really that badWe inhaledthe frozen airLord, send me a mechanicif I’m not beyond repair.“ I wrote copy in the recent past that evoked the notion of “Seattle nice.” Maybe you’ve seen it. The idea was to grab the attention of the connection and community starved in this city and invite them to a thing that would … Continue reading “Let My Mouth Be Ever-Fresh With Praise” →

by jad

Humility

humility humility humilityhumility humility humilityhumility humility humility (an entry from Yves Klein’s diary) I thought you might like to see more from my “60 megapixel” bargain bin buy off of AliExpress. Every once in a while, it does something right. Still mostly misses though. I’m realizing that I’ve really outgrown the drive towards correctness at all times; I find myself less and less interested in thinkers and movements that figured it out, and more and more curious about failures and fuck ups who didn’t. Or, more accurately, people who don’t think they know it all but might be on to … Continue reading “Humility” →

by jad

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

We’re not supposed to talk about asteroids in spooky quadrants of the sky as hardcore materialists and dialecticians, but the mind likes to color outside the lines. I read something the other day that made me think about my need for ordering chaos and how that connects to my nurturing side. The suggestion there was love and care tends to be expressed practically, through communication and intellectual engagement; that, for this personality type, devotion comes from attention to detail and makes one primed for a vocation in education, social work, or even healthcare. But what drew my eye was the … Continue reading “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” →

by jad

Fragile Frames

The tension between slowing down and keeping up the fight; between becoming useful and being left the hell alone; between caring less and caring so much more. That’s what how this feels. Like springtime in Seattle: the tension between two fronts. There’s a season for all things; a time for expansion and a time for contraction; a time for exploration and a time to make up your mind; a time to think and a time to act. That’s how this feels. Like an inflection point. A nonlinear timeline in the upper-left corner. “Do you feel fragmented?” A friend asked me … Continue reading “Fragile Frames” →

by jad

The Really-Real

Another cultural anxiety that Apple’s ‘Severance’ cashes in on is the impermanence of self; are we who we think we are? Will we always be that way? What makes me “me”, anyhow? Is an “innie” a real person or are they merely the really-real person out there ‘under the influence’? Which experience gets to have agency? Which actor is ultimately accountable? In the background of all these questions is the fundamental paradox of individuality: inviolable and sacrosanct, yet conditioned, if not determined. “Individual” literally means that which cannot be divided, and yet, we all know that our human experience contains … Continue reading “The Really-Real” →

by jad

Commitments and Crossings

I decided to throw myself into the fray and deepen my intellectual commitments by actually getting off my ass and doing the work around the same time that many of us felt that same pang in our hearts. That’s when we realized that now is the time for commitments—maybe even extremes. And how that’s playing out looks differently across this city, but a whirlwind has been kicked up, for sure. These are three separate but interconnected rallies that happened on the same day, #IWD2025, representing the broad and messy “fight back” that many of us are participating in. I stood … Continue reading “Commitments and Crossings” →

by jad

Revolutionary Re-Enchantment

I’m fascinated by what draws people to occupy particular positions. In two very different organizations, I’ve heard bristling against the bogey of “identity politics,” which seems to act as shorthand for everything from managerialist “DEI” box-ticking tactics and the whole of Kamala’s campaign to the very erasure of class. It also borders on being a thought-terminating cliché. More interestingly, though, is when it seems to name a kind of permission for some to “speak again,” with all the problematics that come with that. It’s not just a racist dog-whistle; it’s a grasping at words in between stutters and hesitations. I’ve … Continue reading “Revolutionary Re-Enchantment” →