Of a Philosophical Nature

Lists of Philosophers

Wikipedia: Lists of Philosophers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_philosophers

Britannica: List of Philosophers

https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-philosophers-2027173

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Britannica: Philosophers Portal

https://www.britannica.com/browse/Philosophers

Here you'll find the thinkers and theorists who have expressed their own ideas about such topics as the nature of humankind's relationship with the metaphysical world, the definitions of truth and knowledge, and the conditions of existence. From ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to later notable philosophers such as René Descartes and Immanuel Kant, philosophy's great thinkers have approached sensitive ethical and existential issues from a variety of different angles. Their ideas have influenced the way we look at our world and the way we relate to one another as human beings.

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Philosophy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy

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philosophy |fəˈläsəfē|

noun

(pl. philosophies)

the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence,

especially when considered as an academic discipline.

See also natural philosophy.

• a particular system of philosophical thought: Schopenhauer’s philosophy.

• the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience:

the philosophy of science.

• a theory or attitude held by a person or organization

that acts as a guiding principle for behavior:

don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed, that's my philosophy.

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Of a Philosophical Nature Posts

Lists of Philosophers

This Is It

Stoicism

Why I Don't Believe in God

The Information Overload Paradox

Rick Ross – Cult Intervention Specialist

Thomas Robert Malthus

A Rabbit Hole of Odd 'n Ends

Invictus

Chief Seattle’s 1854 Oration

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The 5 Levels of Motivation

The Most Compassionate Thing

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Whatever Comes

Grandma Kurtz’s Christmas Candy

Eisenhower’s Chance for Peace Speech

Why The Older You Get, The More You Hate Everyone ...

Zoroastrianism

How to Be Happy Alone: 10 Ways to Become Your Own ...

A Rabbit Hole of Unposted Odd 'n Ends

Theism and Deism and Atheism and Agnosticism

12 Rules for Life

5 Parts of a Plot in a Story

The English Language

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Eternal Life

Nonduality.com

Sarlo's Guru Rating Service

Rationalism v. Religion

One of History’s Saddest Lessons

Life’s Longing for Itself

My Living Faith

The Master in the Art of Living

Before We Were Civilized

Maybe I Never Will Be

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The True Cost

The Curses of Frenzy and Apathy

Aloneness

The Counselor

All Existence is Repetition

The Blind Men and an Elephant

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: The Preludes

If—

How A Feral Monk Thinks

Siddhartha

Watching the Wheels

My Spiritual Condition

On Christianity and Its Origins

The Serenity Prayer

Eight Translations of the Ashtavakra Gita

Forgetting the Apocalypse

The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is

The Lottery

Friedrich Nietzsche

Forty Thoughts on Peaceful Living

Masters of Non-Duality

A Short List of Books for the Up and Coming

Alan Watts

Why Won't God Heal Amputees?

The Four Agreements

Books Worth Reading

Movies Worth Watching

How to Build Community

Groupthink

Some Favorite Spiritual Video Links and Websites

TED Speakers on a Variety of Issues and Ideas

unASLEEP

Stories, Legends & Folktales From Across the World

Vipassana Meditation

NPR's 'The Fingerprint of God' Series

The "Wei Wu Wei" Archives ... Bits and Pieces

The Confederacy of Dunces: The Tyranny of Compulso...

The Education of Little Tree: The Way

Why Schools Don't Educate

The Pedestrian

Atma Bodha

How to Work in Any Environment

Twelve Rules You Can Live By

Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights

50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Jiddu Krishnamurti

U.G. Krishnamurti

Puppetji's Words of Wizdumb

The Elephant and the Blind Men

Happiness Habits

Top The Truth About Yoga

Gangaji

The 48 Laws of Power

The Conscious Universe

On Women

The Shadow of the Divine Feminine

Witness to Inhumanity

The Myth of Sisyphus

Who Am I? (Nan Yar?)

Arthur Schopenhauer

225 Philosophical & Thought-Provoking Questions

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

All the World's a Stage

Song of Myself

The Thunder, Perfect Mind

Truth is a Pathless Land

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

My Living Faith

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

The Stranger

Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

The Clinging Creatures

If I Had My Life to Live Over (Three Versions)

The Beasts

Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai

The Difference between Heaven and Hell

Albert Schweitzer

Buddha's Lists

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

The True Believer

George Orwell

Animal Farm: The Seven Commandments

Gandhi's Seven Social Sins

Ecclesiastes 3, Verses 1 to 8

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Stillness Before Time

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Greetings,

Writing has been an enjoyable process ever since I first began toying with prose; scribbling poetry, keeping journals, corresponding with friends and acquaintances during the college daze. The philosophical/mystical/whatever-you-want-to-call-them thoughts, that have been popping into mind since 1989, have always been very out-of-the-blue spontaneous. Nothing planned or forced about them. They are being shared on the off chance that others may find them of interest, though, quite frankly, it really does not matter if no one else ever even reads them, for I am, first and foremost, my own audience. I got mine, so to speak. I played my little part. I had my share of fun. And it is, as it has ever been, up to each to discern their own, on their own. There are really no followers in this Don Quixote quest; only earnest seekers, who waylay their desires and fears and dreads, enough to discern that which is the end to doubt, the end to dueling with windmills. “Yay” if it is your fate to figure it out. “Oh well” if it is not. And “so it goes” either way, really. Ecclesiastes 1:2 is always a good reminder: “Vanity of vanities,” saith the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Awareness can only, with great effort, regain control, regain sovereignty, from the usurper, imagination, creator of all that is time, creator of all that is space. Creator of all that is illusion, has never has been anything more than illusion, will never be anything more than illusion. Only as real as the given moment.

“The Stillness Before Time” is the original work that came together in 1992, including mostly aphorisms, an essay, a newspaper question-and-answer, ten reflections, and lists of both movies and books. Though an early self-published version, long since edited and expanded, can be purchased at major booksellers, a downloadable copy is available, no charge, at the link below. There are also links to a variety of blogs of other creations by me, along with links to many writings of a similar nature, by thinkers and seers from across all times, across all geographies.

"The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim" is the second published book, and is both blogged and available as a PDF download.

The “Breadcrumbs” titles, published annually since 2015, all include the core chapters: Leftovers, Soundbites, Breadcrumbs. In the Breadcrumbs chapters, I unleash thoughts of a more personal nature than in the other two. All just to show I was ensconced in a living, breathing, relativity mundane, oftentimes foolish, mortal mind-body. An actor playing the hand that was dealt; same as everyone else, vain as everyone else. No need to sculpt me into more than I was. No need for myths, nor legends, nor fables, nor miracles, nor cult followings, nor any other fictions, any other absurdities, over to which the human mind, and all its imaginary history, has so often given itself. The Breadcrumbs chapters prove me again and again to be yet another Shakespearian player, as full of the limited and arbitrary as anyone else born into this dream of space and time. So please be sure not to shape me, or these many random thoughts, into some dogmatic absurdity. Use them as a launchpad, not an orbit.

“The Return to Wonder” blog is a compendium of aphorisms not included in the three other works: The Stillness Before Time, The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim, and Breadcrumbs. It originally totaled 3,000 pages formatted in 300 ten-page chapters written since 1990-ish. A gradual editing that will likely never be completed, is changing that dynamic into something of a mishmash.

Please note that this sort of wordplay is very haphazard, way too much work to put into any order. Probably best read it in bits and pieces in the here and there. One of those open-to-any-page works. Especially well-suited for coffee shops, coffee tables, and porcelain thrones.

Also note that all writings are always subject to updates and editing, so if you are interested in the most current version – before this house of cards comes tumbling down, and the world grows large again – downloading PDF copies every once and a while might be a reasonable discipline. This applies especially to the current year of Breadcrumbs, which could well be an annual project until the last wheezing breath, though frankly, the temptation to stop writing entirely is not off the table. It is a pleasant way to pass some of the countdown remaining, but it is unlikely there is much ground that has not been wandered by this frame of reference far more than enough already. No matter how many times Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the mountain, it is more than a little doubtful that the blind men and their true-believer followers, will ever discern, ever realize, ever embrace, the elephant in the middle of the room, without fabricating some new form of absurdity. It is the way we roll, it is the way we have always rolled, it is the way we will, far more than probably, always roll. Every species has its limitations, and we have in this mind’s eye, far-exceeded ours.

That said, if you do find these many thoughts at all worth preserving, for whatever times are ahead for this world and all its life forms, please feel free to share them with others who might also appreciate them. Else they may well swiftly slip back into the timeless oblivion from whence they came.

So it goes, either way. I played my part, I said my piece, I had my fun.

All the best,

P.S. For best viewing online, using the largest screen you have available to explore my little theme park, is suggested. Scrolling down and down on a phone screen is just not going to give you the same entrée.

P.P.S. Regarding the name Yaj Ekim ... It is just a reverse spelling of the first and middle names ... Michael Jay Holshouser ... Mike Jay ... Yaj Ekim.

P.P.P.S. Coincidently, make of it whatever you will, or will not, Yaj is an Indian boy’s name meaning worshipper, sacrifice, another name for Shiva, a sage. And Ekim is a Turkish name for October meaning “sowing” (of seeds). All kinds of absurdity can be read into that by the many, so-inclined – none of which was in mind when the idea came to reverse the letters to my name. See P.P.S. for details.

P.P.P.P.S. Yes, I am Shiva. And so are You. No, I am not Shiva. And neither are you. Irony and paradox rule.

The Stillness Before Time

Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner

https://thestillnessbeforetime.com/

One Through Thirty

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