Some truths are uncomfortable! But they need to be told! — I did not want to write about geopolitics on this site. Plenty of people are doing that. Some are very good at it. …

“This is water!” — Most commencement speeches are humdrum. I sat through four. I can’t recall a single line from any of them. I used to think such addresses were a waste of time … motivational psychobabble passed off as elder wisdom. But then I came across “This Is Water,” presented to the Kenyon…

The First Two Weeks. My wife Gisela and I arrived on a weekday morning: our first Airbnb. I drove up in front of the house with no strong feelings about Airbnb one way or the other. What I’d seen was a cheaper option than staying in a hotel, given that we planned to spend…

Before judging, think and reflect. — I learned this morning that Naomi Judd, 75, of The Judds, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Apparently neither of her daughters, Ashley and Wynonna, saw tragedy coming. All they knew — or were willing to report — was that their mother had been battling mental illness. They were left…

How badly has it been compromised in our time? — I’ll start with what will doubtless sound a stupid question: are we, or are we not, better off knowing what is true, or at least part of the truth? Of course we are! No one needs a “theory of truth” to see this and understand it. Not even philosophers! Acting…

They miss the biggest threat to civilized living, and so can’t see the way out. — There are numerous writers on Medium I call doomers-gloomers. I won’t name names. I’ve no desire to embarrass anyone, or start a pointless war of words. You’ve surely seen them, though. Maybe you read them regularly — although I’ve had to unfollow all but a couple. Most publish far more…

Use all three branches of Stoic philosophy to improve your life and then the world. — Stoicism counsels distinguishing what we can control from what we can’t control, and focusing our energy on the former. This begs us to ask: can we increase the range of what we control, and if so, how? The early Stoics divided philosophy into three branches: physics, logic, and ethics. It…

Is the information glut at your fingertips from the world serving your world? Or is it harming you? Here’s what to do. At first blush, the world is a pretty complicated place. …

If you don’t master this, the rest of the philosophy won’t help you. — Stoicism is all over Medium. There must be hundreds of articles on the philosophy on this site. With that quantity, I wondered if there was any more to be said on the subject, or if I was the one to say it. The competition seems fierce, after all, and who…