The Grand Praxis Series
A Sunday Reflection
Dear Readers,
As we navigate increasingly turbulent times, I wanted to take this Sunday to highlight what I consider the philosophical foundation of everything I write here at Notes From The Circus.
The Grand Praxis Series—now freely available to all readers—represents my attempt to articulate a framework for holding coherence in a fragmenting world. It’s a philosophy of truth without ideology, love without sentimentality, and meaning without surrender to spectacle.
For those who’ve joined recently, or for longtime readers who haven’t yet explored these essays, today offers an opportunity to engage with the deeper philosophical current that runs beneath my more topical analyses.
The Twelve Essays of The Grand Praxis:
A Treatise on Purpose: How meaning is made, not found, and why that matters
The Grand Praxis: A philosophy of creative tension and harmonization
The Mythology of The Matrix: Using popular narrative to understand our epistemic condition
A Treatise on Love: How love functions as an epistemic force, not just an emotion
Meaning and the Landscape of Consciousness: How meaning exists in the space between us
Filling The Space and Opening the Void: The dual movements of meaning-making
After Hours at the Circus: A meditation on what remains when the spectacle fades
The Sun Is Rising: Finding hope in an age of disorientation
An Evening Performance at the Circus: How we become conscious participants
Socrates at the Circus: Ancient wisdom for modern challenges
The Grand Finale: The last note from inside the ring
The Fifth Chair: An epilogue on philosophical inheritance
They are not an ideology. They are a stance.
A way of being with the world that doesn’t collapse under pressure, doesn’t surrender to cynicism, and doesn’t mistake detachment for clarity.
Two plus two equals four.
There are twenty-four hours in a day.
And as our shared reality strains under the weight of incoherence, these essays offer not answers, but orientation.
Whether you’re reading them for the first time or returning for deeper understanding, I hope they offer you something: a deeper grasp of the world, or moral ballast for what’s coming.
The center must be held—not because it is easy, but because it is ours to hold.
In solidarity,
Mike.
This is, after all, a philosophy blog.
In this period after a seismic shake-up, I’ve connected with scores of people I thought could help me regain my equilibrium again, to learn how to accept the new order. Fortunately I found you and I can stop searching. Thank you for all you write not only intellectually but with caring for your fellow human beings and your country.
Bookmarking for a rainy day read through. I’m thankful to have recently discovered your writing. Some days it gives hope, and other days a pause for reflection. A good stretching of the mind is useful exercise. I appreciate the opportunity to find something in your daily posts to keep hopeful, or sometimes just confirm I’m not crazy.