December 2010
8 posts
10 tags
4 tags
Spiritual Gains
by: Thomas Meaney and Yascha Mounk
Religion, politics, and ignorance past: philosopher Charles Taylor in discussion with The Utopian.
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Charles Taylor in conversation with The Utopian.
Is it possible to be religious in today’s world?
What did Aquinas say? From being to possibility? I think I am religious, so it...
3 tags
Religion for Immortals
By Michel Houellebecq.
(Translated by Thomas Meaney.)
“Sexual needs are more urgent than spiritual needs. But what if our sexual needs are satisfied and our spiritual needs take over?”
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1. The Disappearance of Metaphysics
We still haven’t quit the state of metaphysics. Never have we had less intention of quitting...
2 tags
A Holiday in North Korea
By Michael Goldstein.
“You have not seen many shades of grey until you have seen Pyongyang.” Our correspondent reports from the Hermit Kingdom.
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We crossed the border by train on a May morning. At 9:05 the train shunts into motion, crawls forward, and rattles on, rail by rail, until we reach the bridge separating...
2 tags
The Impossibility of Sexual Consensus
By Damon Linker.
“The liberal state is not predisposed to defend and enforce sexual liberation.”
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What do religious traditionalists think about when they think about sex? To judge from the flurry of emails and blast faxes launched daily by the interdenominational coalition of religious groups that claim to speak for...
2 tags
A Short History of Desire
By Alexander Lee.
“Is it better to be chaste and restrained but moral and sociable, or promiscuous and free but atomised and isolated?”
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Of the myriad impulses which bind humans to one another, desire — and specifically sexual desire—is unique. Unlike love or friendship it touches on our most basic, feral...
2 tags
Those Wings of Yours
By David Hayes.
A new translation of Theognis 236-54.
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Those wings of yours have been my gift to you: Take them and fly from party to party. Land Upon the lips of all the beauties and listen. The song they sing will be the song of you, Kurnus. I’m sad to say that death is just Around the corner. Human beings end As...
2 tags
White Flower
By Sam Munson.
A new translation of Heinrich Heine’s poem “Die weiße Blume.”
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White Flower
In my father’s garden grew A secret flower. White and sad. Winter’s end. Spring wind. Our flower, by frost or thaw Unchanged … Pale, pale. A sick bride.
She spoke: Brother, pluck me. Hoarse and quiet. My...