On The Road

Bought Kerouac some time ago; as the seminal beat-generation road story, it seemed de-rigoeur to have read it, since it forms part of the backdrop to Pirsig. Anyway I’m well into it at last. (Thinking out loud – Plenty of parallels with Pirsig’s mid-west already, though Pirsig’s timing does not overlap – his back-packing days … Continue reading “On The Road”

Pickerell Strikes Again

Not been in the Pick much in recent weeks, but went in last night intending to continue reading Midgley’s “Myths We Live By”, and ended up spending the whole evening in deep conversation with another interesting punter. Ex boat-builder, putative journalist, everything from simplistic rationale missing age old issues to world politics, taking in Pirsig, … Continue reading “Pickerell Strikes Again”

We Believe In Science

The Mindful Universe by Henry Stapp, from the quantum physics edge of consciousness. [Quote] It is often claimed that science stands mute on questions of values: that science can help us to achieve what we value once our priorities are fixed, but can play no role in fixing these weightings. That claim is certainly incorrect: … Continue reading “We Believe In Science”

David Lavery’s Evil Genius

Just updated my link to David Lavery‘s Owen Barfield site a couple of days ago. Today Robert Pirsig himself recommended David Lavery’s “Evil Genius” site via Ant McWatt on the MoQ Discussion Board. Who is Joanna Climacus ? Real or fiction ? (Or is it Johanna Climacus – both spellings on the site ? The … Continue reading “David Lavery’s Evil Genius”

Blake was a Blogger

Almost finished reading Bronowski’s “Man Without a Mask”, about the life and works of William Blake, and was struck, by this summary … “We find [Blake’s life] eccentric, only if we miss it’s context, which is made by his writings and his times together [American and French and Industrial revolutions] … the context of a … Continue reading “Blake was a Blogger”

Words as Idols

Read Owen Barfield’s “Poetic Diction” and “History in English Words” a year or so ago, and blogged several items. [here][here][here]. I was doing a search on Barfield today in preparation for reading more of his work and came across two interesting sites. This review of Barfield’s “Saving the Appearances – A Study in Idolatry” on … Continue reading “Words as Idols”

Emergent Management

I thought emergence was going to be last year’s word, but it looks like it’s going to arrive this year at last. It’s been a thread on MoQ Discuss recently and I find this post from Seb Paquet too. Recipes for success are always doomed, in management just as anywhere else in life. Success is … Continue reading “Emergent Management”