And so it goes.

I had a friend once who viewed my dedication or adherence to manners as a character flaw, or as some need in me to be liked by everybody and to be a “social butterfly.” I was also told by someone that they couldn’t fake who they were and that they placed their emphasis on “being themselves” – in being authentic. The implication was that manners are inherently inauthentic. Hmmmmmm?????



For me, good manners are a kind of custom of my Hispanic culture. And… Continue

The two main branches of modern philosophy, analytic and continental, each attack the other as irrelevant. I think they both may be right. Since philosophy endeavors to reveal the truth about everything, and since this is clearly impossible, the history of philosophy is nothing but a mish-mash of misconceptions, false starts, and blind alleys.



Honestly, I think while attempting to bring order and structure to the history of philosophy, professionals in modern universities have… Continue

I love that I stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.



Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I love that I prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.



I love that I can feel happy and sad in the same moment... and then choose happiness without losing touch with the bittersweet ironies of the human condition.



I love… Continue

Commenting on YES RASTA’s discussion about “Love and Sex with Robots,” wherein most of the participants seemed to accept the assumption that it was quite proper to pursue sexual gratification independent of a loving relationship, I took a contrary position and wrote:



I think I’ll take the contrarian view here and make a comment that does not presuppose that the pursuit of… Continue

Posted on May 5, 2008 at 8:52pm Do you believe fall in love at the first sight?



Max Douglas replied on May 23, 2008 at 11:28pm



I DEFINITELY DO NOT BELIEVE in "love at first sight." If you fall in love that quickly, than you are just as likely to fall out of love that quickly. It is not a "love" that is sustainable. It is something fleeting - lust, a fantasy, a whim, a delusion. In fact, you should not FALL in love at all. Falling is something you do… Continue

As a love song, it has a dreamy quality to it - as do most love songs. After all, they are meant to appeal to our dreams and to our fantasies. Here is the sad truth; few of us will ever achieve this “state of being” in any lasting way. Why?



Well, face it; love, for most of us, is an emotion. I mean, that is the terms in which it is defined in our dictionaries after all. And how many of us understand how to control our emotions? So, we dream about becoming partners with… Continue

I had a friend once who viewed my dedication or adherence to manners as a character flaw, or as some need in me to be liked by everybody and to be a “social butterfly.” I was also told by someone that they couldn’t fake who they were and that they placed their emphasis on “being themselves” – in being authentic. The implication was that manners are inherently inauthentic. Hmmmmmm?????



For me, good manners are a kind of custom of my Hispanic culture. And courtesy is the virtue that… Continue

The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born?
Where is your home?
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change.
My answer to [YES RASTA's] question: Seeker.

Seeker of truth.
Seeker of knowledge.
Seeker of meaning.
Seeker of beauty.
Seeker.

I have given serious thought about how best to proceed with my blog and how to most effectively put my current opinions and beliefs and choices into perspective and context. I was going to write, “… my current opinions and beliefs and choices…” about business, but as I thought about it, I don’t segregate my brain too well into a business part and a personal part. I have the same standards and ideals that I apply to all of my actions, whether they are business or personal. And IDEALS will be a… Continue