Good! SMCI has no right to deprive Inmates of reading and educational material needed for the Rehabilitation process.No one has the right to keep available knowledge from anyone. We all know that knowledge is found in Books.
Good! SMCI needs not to deprive Prisoners of needed reading and educational material they need as part of their rehabilitation process. No one has the right to take knowledge away from anyone. We all know knowledge is found in Books.
Hey Eric, I've enjoyed reading your BLOG and glad that your staying positive in the situation that you are in. I've signed up to get notifications of your future writings. Stay well!
SFCsunshineState (Childhood friend of your brother Mike)
I will try checking out “Becoming Ms. Burton” sometime soon. It sounds like it will be a very informative and deepening read, something to meditate on. Speaking of which, I’ll try checking out “prisonyoga.com” as well. Nice tips, William.
I typed “Damian Kevitt” into Google, and found a couple of articles on his “Finish the Ride” project. I’m pretty sure he’s the same individual that you mention. You can let me know if I’m talking about the same individual. Apparently, while on an ordinary biking trip, he was almost killed in a hit-and-run! Though his leg was amputated, he survived with spirit more than intact. He continues to cycle, hosting a “Finish the Ride” bike race in L.A. The race seems to be focused on raising awareness for bike safety, calling upon lawmakers to make roads bike-friendly, and nurturing spiritual strength and character in the face and aftermath of unexpected adversities. I admire Kevitt’s perseverance and courage in rebounding after his accident. He took his tragedy as an opportunity to spread love to others. Amazing. It sounds like he might be one of your inspirations for bringing mental collectedness and wholeness to your fellow inmates.
A quick update on my front: My birthday was about a week ago, at the time of writing this letter. One of my good friends got me a book called “Logicomix”. It’s a comic about Bertrand Russell, who was one of the foremost logicians, philosophers, and mathematicians of the 20th century. The comic has been a fun read so far. It details the personal journey of the man himself, one of the few who could justifiably claim the title to “Most Interesting Person”. But the comic also introduces the fundamentals of logic and mathematics to lay audiences. Perhaps works like “Logicomix” are a good way to stimulate intellectual and spiritual interest in contemporary consumerist culture.
Alright, that’s all for now. I will talk to you later, William.
You raise a very deep question about our spiritual essence. I’m not sure I know very much about it. But I do hazard a guess every now and then. I think you are right that we almost always fail to “cultivate” our most valuable potentials. Almost all of us could become better, across various dimensions of value, if we only seriously tried: learning sculpting, developing altruistic kindness, growing a passion for scientific knowledge or spiritual truths, becoming a good singer or composer, cultivating tolerance and compassion, and the like. I am worried that almost all of us are beholden to superficial pursuits that lack spiritual and intellectual depth. Although entertainments such as televised sports and blockbuster films have their place in a happy life, providing relaxation every now and then, they shouldn’t be the source for one’s meaning in life. Rather, we should find meaning in the spiritual and intellectual aspects of life. We should break free of the superficial and artificial, and instead break for the truth, in this sense trying to stand heroically without fig leaf. Once we do so, we might begin to realize the multitudinous possibilities that you have us imagine.
I think your latest comments about the “insanity of a consumer society” might also link up here. Consumerism is spiritually and intellectually distracting. Even though the existentialist philosophers were divided on many fronts, they all more or less agreed that contemporary society has been led astray by the false currency of complacency. The individual’s appropriate response to society is to authentically seek herself out. For Kierkegaard in particular, this amounted to a deeply subjective and personal relationship with God. You might like these two slogans from Kierkegaard: “Truth is subjectivity”, and “Subjectivity is truth”. (Wonder why he splits them up?) You might be able to connect with these thoughts of his.
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I've enjoyed reading your BLOG and glad that your staying positive in the situation that you are in. I've signed up to get notifications of your future writings.
Stay well!
SFCsunshineState
(Childhood friend of your brother Mike)
I typed “Damian Kevitt” into Google, and found a couple of articles on his “Finish the Ride” project. I’m pretty sure he’s the same individual that you mention. You can let me know if I’m talking about the same individual. Apparently, while on an ordinary biking trip, he was almost killed in a hit-and-run! Though his leg was amputated, he survived with spirit more than intact. He continues to cycle, hosting a “Finish the Ride” bike race in L.A. The race seems to be focused on raising awareness for bike safety, calling upon lawmakers to make roads bike-friendly, and nurturing spiritual strength and character in the face and aftermath of unexpected adversities. I admire Kevitt’s perseverance and courage in rebounding after his accident. He took his tragedy as an opportunity to spread love to others. Amazing. It sounds like he might be one of your inspirations for bringing mental collectedness and wholeness to your fellow inmates.
A quick update on my front: My birthday was about a week ago, at the time of writing this letter. One of my good friends got me a book called “Logicomix”. It’s a comic about Bertrand Russell, who was one of the foremost logicians, philosophers, and mathematicians of the 20th century. The comic has been a fun read so far. It details the personal journey of the man himself, one of the few who could justifiably claim the title to “Most Interesting Person”. But the comic also introduces the fundamentals of logic and mathematics to lay audiences. Perhaps works like “Logicomix” are a good way to stimulate intellectual and spiritual interest in contemporary consumerist culture.
Alright, that’s all for now. I will talk to you later, William.
--Calhoun25
I think your latest comments about the “insanity of a consumer society” might also link up here. Consumerism is spiritually and intellectually distracting. Even though the existentialist philosophers were divided on many fronts, they all more or less agreed that contemporary society has been led astray by the false currency of complacency. The individual’s appropriate response to society is to authentically seek herself out. For Kierkegaard in particular, this amounted to a deeply subjective and personal relationship with God. You might like these two slogans from Kierkegaard: “Truth is subjectivity”, and “Subjectivity is truth”. (Wonder why he splits them up?) You might be able to connect with these thoughts of his.