Poupouri

Good quote from Keynes courtesy of Corey Robin: 

“The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject compared with the higher branches of philosophy and pure science? Yet good, or even competent, economists are the rarest of birds. An easy subject, at which very few excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that the master-economist must possess a rare combination  of gifts. He must reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents not often found together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man’s nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician.”

—John Maynard Keynes, “Alfred Marshall,” in Essays in Biography (New York: Norton, 1963), pp. 140-141.

 Probably true of a lot of callings. 

Checking out a new blog (to me) from a Nichiren Buddhist physician Alex Likerman, who practices at the University of Chicago. What do we think? I think that David Reynolds of Playing Ball on Running Water fame came out of the tradition as well, if I recall correctly. It originates from Japan.

 I read this (quote below) on the most recent post from Ken Wilber's blogsite, which would be good news indeed. After writing an incredible amount, Wilber seemed to have stopped and concentrated on getting his message out through other media. When it comes to understanding and synthesizing vast amounts of deep thinking over distances of disciplines, eras, practices, and so on, no one beats this master of bringing it all together to make some sense of it. Anyway, here's what he wrote: 

The following are two long endnotes, and one excerpt, from my recently finished book, Sex, Karma, Creativity, which is volume 2 of the Kosmos Trilogy, whose first volume is Sex, Ecology, Spirituality.  

At this point, however, I don't see anything on Amazon. 

9/20 The Double Vision by Northrup Frye

The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion by Northrup Frye (1991). Frye was one of the outstanding literary critics and scholars of the 20^th century, and he published a large number of works, including The Anatomy of Criticism, The Great Code, and Fearful Symmetry, his fascinating study of William Blake, each of which I’ve read with great pleasure and reward. However, this small book really captures what for me is most intriguing about his work, this sense of “double vision”. It’s hard to describe, but the book holds many rewards for those who plunge in to it.