Carry on regardless...I believe most people recognise your honesty...even as far as in the remote part of Scotland where I reside. Solidarity and peace to you.
Ah, a Scot among us. This is my week. First, a lover of Fernando Pessoa. Then, Joe McKenna, a lad from the wonderland of Scotland, home of one of my most favorite people, William H. Murray. I have to toss in a poem that Murray's writing inspired.
To Be in Scotland
Stephen B. Strum
Medford, Oregon
April 16, 2025
I yearn to be in Glencoe and see its lands aglow
to bealachs, moors, and, per chance, a buttress of gabbro
I want my heart to pound, with muscles all afire,
to reach a pinnacle, or cairn that I aspire.
To tread the ground that Murray walked,
and share thoughts he might have talked
with mates opined on ‘remembered beauty’
Oh, that would be such special booty.
Yes, to Glencoe I must run
And with luck alongside my son
A Scot would say needs be anon
Ere your days be gone and done.
p.s. for those who love the most beautiful writing, W.H. Murray's first book, Moutaineering in Scotland is a gem.
Mike, I have followed you and on a number of occasions have recommended you to my readers. I appreciate your thoughtful deliberations and your frankness in sharing not only your conclusions, but you process even when it includes anguish and uncertainty. It's very human and not narcissistic. I'm disapointed that some readers seem to have taken it that way. I feel your pain and share your anguish. Keep on keeping on.
Dear Mike keep being honest. We need you to keep saying the true. We are in a very dangerous times and most of people in USA are not getting it. Thank you 💙💙
Mike, the mirror’s job is a kind and/or relentless one, depending on the mind of the face looking in the mirror. The mirror never has to apologize for what it reflects-it’s the duty of the mind of the face looking in the mirror to discern what is what.
Keep being a mirror.
Oh, and anyone’s notion that you have come undone is actually a complete compliment to you - it means you are somewhere in the realm of unconditioning. There is a great deal of peace when caring about contrived reality morphs into knowing the truth and, quite frankly, how ridiculous much of the world’s “knowledge” is.
There's nothing like a little introspection to get yourself right, and a good mind and heart need not bear the added burdens of everyone else's considerations, even as a "public" person. The world is a little nuts, thanks to the wayward brains and hears of too many, and it's a briar patch at best. I have every confidence that clarity will ensue. Einstein favored walks in the wilderness, as did John Muir, and so do I. After about a week, inevitably the voice in the back of my head says I'm finally all there. No thought, just presence. No-mind.
“Your mind is a beautiful space. All of our minds. Inside our heads is a cosmology of meaning. We sit on a stage from behind our eyes, floating some distance from the ground, moving about the world. And none of that experience is ever something you really share with anyone else in your life. You use words to tell them about it. But you don’t really get to show them.
There’s no “share my desktop” option inside my brain, that allows an interlocutor to see into the space where your thoughts confront the sensory landscape. It’s a fascinating place, let me tell you.”
Exactly.
This is you speaking about yourself. You have worked on this “project” (your own words) on Substack for a year, that is a growth process. You have experimented with writing styles (again your own words) and love the process. You have opened yourself up to share this process.
But there is more to it, you have assigned yourself a task to tackle difficult topics in a chaotic time and point out the difference between humane and inhumane, the difference between honesty and artifice, the difference between good and evil. You have in the simplest language “stuck your neck out for what you believe in”.
And here you open yourself up once again, this time to describe how you feel about criticism which is personal in nature and not germane to what you are trying to accomplish. As you write here:
“I’m reflecting on our cultural condition, and using my personal experience as a case study, shared with you—you don’t have to keep reading—to illuminate a particular corruption in our culture.”
Exactly.
And you know what? This is your reason, your passion and your life’s work at this point in time. And you have readers who realize where you are coming from and how much this means to you. So you better keep going because you need to understand how much it means to them.
Lastly a thought on philosophy: tell me how many philosophers produced their work online to be read practically real time everyday? That is what you are doing producing your work and putting it out every day. And you are open and sharing because you love what you are doing and as you describe you are witnessing a “cosmology of meaning” and attempting to describe it. It’s what philosophers do.
I suppose it can be said that we are all proven to be selfish with our every act, and may only be considered "good" when our selfish intents align with others in coincidentally similar need.
Still, I was raised with a narcissist who, as an international pilot, had the world and its inhabitants as his "blank canvas" to express his narcissism (and rarely, if ever, to even the accidental benefit of others.)
Within a year of losing the geometric progressive of all the planet to sustain his indifference to others (also known as "retirement"), he had managed to drink himself to death...seemingly without regret.
"All or nothing" seems to equally sum up our BELOVED LEADER(sic). Hopefully he will also run out of room for expansion VERY soon.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing a lifetime of pondering what you've studied. And your lived experience as you get older. An unexamined life is not worth living.
You have given me daily ideas to think about on a deeper level than thinking about my anxiety and fears
During that 8 months, I lost about 15% of my body weight (almost 30 pounds), and during the first 6 months I may have NEVER gotten more than 3 hours sleep out of each 24 while sleeping on the tile floor next to the hospice bed in her dining room so I would never sleep too deeply to miss a sound (and often no sleep at all. And toward the end I was (literally) unsure which of us might pass sooner.)
Yet Mom may have provided more "value" to me than I did for her. And I'd start again tomorrow, just to try to do better.
I sort of "bristle" that the entire remainder of my message was ignored, so I guess we all have adjustments to make.
I apologize, and I will avoid the possibility of something like this happening again. I honestly thought I was helping by showing the other side of an issue that people quite often find confusing or conflicting. (If you didn't care... a LOT...you wouldn't be doing this.)
I am radicalized against the fascists and their enablers as well. Most people are not angry enough about all the harm that has been done to this country this past year. In my eyes you are one of the few writers out there reacting appropriately.
Hey Mike, I think we're all feeling this way inside so don't apologize. At least I know I am. I think it's part of your appeal. You have the gift of articulation and a capacity for human honesty that I frankly find refreshing. I'm not always so good with self expression. Reading your work is cathartic for me and helps me feel less alone in the struggle...as do the people that respond to your posts in a genuine way, even when they disagree. I think negative reponses to your honesty or concerns about mental health are part of the problematic glossy veneer of social media. You're breaking down barriers and keeping it real. Kudos.
Honesty, Courage, Integrity, the essence of Character, in short, a beautiful mind is rare and not everyone can have it or get it. But when I see it, I'm going to pass it along.
Mike, the human in me recognizes the human in you. Each of us is full of tangled etheric cords of experiences, assumptions, thoughts, beliefs—both our own and others'. Pretense boxes this up and kicks it out of the way. In sharing ourselves, we reveal these etheric cords to others. We reveal the heart of what makes us human.
Narcissist-- that phrase is thrown around far too much by people with no training whatsoever n mental health disorders... As someone who is a mental health professional and reads the DSM-V-TR for fun and to fall asleep, I get annoyed by people calling others narcissist when the reality is that most people have no idea what the diagnostic criteria are for this diagnosis. From everything that I've read, Mike, the writings aren't fitting the diagnostic criteria of narcissism; our society is just very much about "Don't talk about yourself at all" and "If you're talking and trying to educate people, you must be this or that" or whatever. This post hurt my heart to read because I would rather your honesty, even if it isn't always comfortable. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and writing!
Carry on regardless...I believe most people recognise your honesty...even as far as in the remote part of Scotland where I reside. Solidarity and peace to you.
Ah, a Scot among us. This is my week. First, a lover of Fernando Pessoa. Then, Joe McKenna, a lad from the wonderland of Scotland, home of one of my most favorite people, William H. Murray. I have to toss in a poem that Murray's writing inspired.
To Be in Scotland
Stephen B. Strum
Medford, Oregon
April 16, 2025
I yearn to be in Glencoe and see its lands aglow
to bealachs, moors, and, per chance, a buttress of gabbro
I want my heart to pound, with muscles all afire,
to reach a pinnacle, or cairn that I aspire.
To tread the ground that Murray walked,
and share thoughts he might have talked
with mates opined on ‘remembered beauty’
Oh, that would be such special booty.
Yes, to Glencoe I must run
And with luck alongside my son
A Scot would say needs be anon
Ere your days be gone and done.
p.s. for those who love the most beautiful writing, W.H. Murray's first book, Moutaineering in Scotland is a gem.
Mike, I have followed you and on a number of occasions have recommended you to my readers. I appreciate your thoughtful deliberations and your frankness in sharing not only your conclusions, but you process even when it includes anguish and uncertainty. It's very human and not narcissistic. I'm disapointed that some readers seem to have taken it that way. I feel your pain and share your anguish. Keep on keeping on.
You’re ok Mike. We are in it together. Be human. Be your True Self.
Dear Mike keep being honest. We need you to keep saying the true. We are in a very dangerous times and most of people in USA are not getting it. Thank you 💙💙
Mike, the mirror’s job is a kind and/or relentless one, depending on the mind of the face looking in the mirror. The mirror never has to apologize for what it reflects-it’s the duty of the mind of the face looking in the mirror to discern what is what.
Keep being a mirror.
Oh, and anyone’s notion that you have come undone is actually a complete compliment to you - it means you are somewhere in the realm of unconditioning. There is a great deal of peace when caring about contrived reality morphs into knowing the truth and, quite frankly, how ridiculous much of the world’s “knowledge” is.
Carry on. 🤲
There's nothing like a little introspection to get yourself right, and a good mind and heart need not bear the added burdens of everyone else's considerations, even as a "public" person. The world is a little nuts, thanks to the wayward brains and hears of too many, and it's a briar patch at best. I have every confidence that clarity will ensue. Einstein favored walks in the wilderness, as did John Muir, and so do I. After about a week, inevitably the voice in the back of my head says I'm finally all there. No thought, just presence. No-mind.
“Your mind is a beautiful space. All of our minds. Inside our heads is a cosmology of meaning. We sit on a stage from behind our eyes, floating some distance from the ground, moving about the world. And none of that experience is ever something you really share with anyone else in your life. You use words to tell them about it. But you don’t really get to show them.
There’s no “share my desktop” option inside my brain, that allows an interlocutor to see into the space where your thoughts confront the sensory landscape. It’s a fascinating place, let me tell you.”
Exactly.
This is you speaking about yourself. You have worked on this “project” (your own words) on Substack for a year, that is a growth process. You have experimented with writing styles (again your own words) and love the process. You have opened yourself up to share this process.
But there is more to it, you have assigned yourself a task to tackle difficult topics in a chaotic time and point out the difference between humane and inhumane, the difference between honesty and artifice, the difference between good and evil. You have in the simplest language “stuck your neck out for what you believe in”.
And here you open yourself up once again, this time to describe how you feel about criticism which is personal in nature and not germane to what you are trying to accomplish. As you write here:
“I’m reflecting on our cultural condition, and using my personal experience as a case study, shared with you—you don’t have to keep reading—to illuminate a particular corruption in our culture.”
Exactly.
And you know what? This is your reason, your passion and your life’s work at this point in time. And you have readers who realize where you are coming from and how much this means to you. So you better keep going because you need to understand how much it means to them.
Lastly a thought on philosophy: tell me how many philosophers produced their work online to be read practically real time everyday? That is what you are doing producing your work and putting it out every day. And you are open and sharing because you love what you are doing and as you describe you are witnessing a “cosmology of meaning” and attempting to describe it. It’s what philosophers do.
Ah ... to dishonor myself in order to honor others ... hmmm. No thanks.
b/c its easier to attack a person than an unwanted idea. same as its ever been.
Thank you, Mike.
I suppose it can be said that we are all proven to be selfish with our every act, and may only be considered "good" when our selfish intents align with others in coincidentally similar need.
Still, I was raised with a narcissist who, as an international pilot, had the world and its inhabitants as his "blank canvas" to express his narcissism (and rarely, if ever, to even the accidental benefit of others.)
Within a year of losing the geometric progressive of all the planet to sustain his indifference to others (also known as "retirement"), he had managed to drink himself to death...seemingly without regret.
"All or nothing" seems to equally sum up our BELOVED LEADER(sic). Hopefully he will also run out of room for expansion VERY soon.
I bristle at the suggestion, that I am acting selfishly right now.
I get it, Mike.
I just spent 8 months as sole caretaker form my 93 year old mother, and every second of it was for me. And I'd start all over again tomorrow...
Thanks, Mike.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing a lifetime of pondering what you've studied. And your lived experience as you get older. An unexamined life is not worth living.
You have given me daily ideas to think about on a deeper level than thinking about my anxiety and fears
;)
Don't bristle. Being true to yourself is, in at least one sense, selfish! :)
Exactly my point!
Thank you, RR.
During that 8 months, I lost about 15% of my body weight (almost 30 pounds), and during the first 6 months I may have NEVER gotten more than 3 hours sleep out of each 24 while sleeping on the tile floor next to the hospice bed in her dining room so I would never sleep too deeply to miss a sound (and often no sleep at all. And toward the end I was (literally) unsure which of us might pass sooner.)
Yet Mom may have provided more "value" to me than I did for her. And I'd start again tomorrow, just to try to do better.
Mike,
I sort of "bristle" that the entire remainder of my message was ignored, so I guess we all have adjustments to make.
I apologize, and I will avoid the possibility of something like this happening again. I honestly thought I was helping by showing the other side of an issue that people quite often find confusing or conflicting. (If you didn't care... a LOT...you wouldn't be doing this.)
Peace, safety and long life, Mike.
As you should.
And not in the ‘lame hope’ variety of the word ‘should’ that is too often peppered in other’s talk.
Montaigne is cheering you on,Mike. Thank you.
I am radicalized against the fascists and their enablers as well. Most people are not angry enough about all the harm that has been done to this country this past year. In my eyes you are one of the few writers out there reacting appropriately.
Hey Mike, I think we're all feeling this way inside so don't apologize. At least I know I am. I think it's part of your appeal. You have the gift of articulation and a capacity for human honesty that I frankly find refreshing. I'm not always so good with self expression. Reading your work is cathartic for me and helps me feel less alone in the struggle...as do the people that respond to your posts in a genuine way, even when they disagree. I think negative reponses to your honesty or concerns about mental health are part of the problematic glossy veneer of social media. You're breaking down barriers and keeping it real. Kudos.
Honesty, Courage, Integrity, the essence of Character, in short, a beautiful mind is rare and not everyone can have it or get it. But when I see it, I'm going to pass it along.
It don't get no better than this.
Thankyou for your effort, Stay Relentless.
Mike, the human in me recognizes the human in you. Each of us is full of tangled etheric cords of experiences, assumptions, thoughts, beliefs—both our own and others'. Pretense boxes this up and kicks it out of the way. In sharing ourselves, we reveal these etheric cords to others. We reveal the heart of what makes us human.
Narcissist-- that phrase is thrown around far too much by people with no training whatsoever n mental health disorders... As someone who is a mental health professional and reads the DSM-V-TR for fun and to fall asleep, I get annoyed by people calling others narcissist when the reality is that most people have no idea what the diagnostic criteria are for this diagnosis. From everything that I've read, Mike, the writings aren't fitting the diagnostic criteria of narcissism; our society is just very much about "Don't talk about yourself at all" and "If you're talking and trying to educate people, you must be this or that" or whatever. This post hurt my heart to read because I would rather your honesty, even if it isn't always comfortable. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and writing!