One of the texts (and teachers) for a senior seminar on phenomenology

I must admit, it was not typical clickbait, the headline that caught my attention: Right-Hegel Meets Left-Hegel: The misreading of Hegel that Alexandre Kojève shared with Leo Strauss. But click I did; there was, after all,  51 years of guilt to assuage.

During the final term of my undergraduate years, spring of 1973, I enrolled in a senior seminar having to do with phenomenology. (The discipline of phenomenology may be defined initially as the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) If I remember correctly, I was invited to register for the class by one of the professors and was flattered by the invitation. There were probably a dozen students in the class and three or four full professors teaching it. Heady stuff. I wrote my final paper on Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and did well enough.

I have felt guilty about the decent grade ever since.

One of the professor’s books, The Journeying Self, was a primary text for the seminar, and I didn’t understand a word of it. I felt like my journeying fifth-grade self who did not understand the logic, the method, or the purpose of long division. But unlike my fifth-grade teacher who caught on to my confusion early, my PhD professors seemed not to notice how lost I was. They just kept on lecturing, and I just kept on not getting it.

Of course, if you’re going to understand phenomenology, at some point you’re going to have to deal with Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel. We read some Hegel, and I had no idea what the famous philosopher was talking about. But I kept showing up for the seminar and kept being confused.

For the past 51 years, I have come across Georg Wilhelm Frerich Hegel from time to time, and I always feel guilty when I do. I took that senior seminar, received a decent grade, but never really understood what was going on. I should apologize to my PhD professors, but they are all dead.

It turns out that reading about the ways Alexandre Kojève misread Hegel helped me understand Hegel, if only for a moment.  When I reread the article about the misread, I wasn’t so sure I actually got it.  But for one glorious moment…

It took a few agonizing weeks to get on top of long division, and fifth grade went pretty well after that. It’s taken 51 guilt-laden years to make the least bit of sense out of Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel. I’m glad for it, even if I can’t tell my professors about it.

It’s also nice to know that I’m still able to learn something new. Old dogs and all that.

John Calvin is reassuring when it comes to feeling guilty about the limits of our understanding. Writing in the Institutes about providence, he says, “It is not right for a person unrestrainedly to search out things that the Lord has willed to be hid in himself, and to unfold from eternity itself the sublimest wisdom, which he would have us revere but not understand that through this also he should fill us with wonder.”

Phenomenology and the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel may not be sublime wisdom or fill us with wonder, but they may be among those things it is not right for a person unrestrainedly to search out.

Finally getting the logic, method, and purpose of long division has turned out to be helpful in my life.  We’ll see about Hegel.

Vi’s House (l) and Mark’s Boat (r)

I was excited when I came across an article on a site called PsyPost, which promises to report “the latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.”  The report was titled “People Who Pledge 10% of Their Income to Charity are More Morally Expansive and Open-Minded.” I thought I knew exactly who they were talking about.  I have met many of these morally expansive people over the years.  They teach Sunday school and sing in the choir, they volunteer at the food bank and tutor kids in need of some extra help.  They live in the suburbs and the inner city, in Guatemala, Brazil, and Rwanda. Yes, I knew exactly who they had in mind when they wrote about “these extraordinary altruists, who often make significant personal sacrifices to help others, challenge traditional evolutionary theories of altruism, which suggest that helping behaviors are motivated by potential future benefits or kin relationships.”

But it turns out that the article was about a group of people inspired by Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Ted Turner.  Yes, those “extraordinary altruists” who give away 10%, sometimes 90%, of their fortune but still have enough left to gift themselves with a $300 million yacht for their 40^th birthday.  So that’s what a significant personal sacrifice looks like. Continue reading →

Rua Gustavo Cândido de Souza, Belo Horizonte, Brasil

The message arrived Sunday morning and I read it just after worship.  A note, an announcement from a friend in Brazil I first met 24 years ago this week.  He wrote:

Good morning, friend Bill.
How are you – everything okay?
And Becky, how is she doing?
I hope that everyone in your family is doing well.
I am writing to present the newest member of my family
She was born this morning! 7:58 a.m. our time.

The birth announcement included the newborn’s name along with a photo taken just a few hours after her birth.

Such joy.  But how do I tell the story of this joy?  The baby’s dad is a good friend.  A good friend in the ways that the best friendships are good, and good in the ways that some people are good. He is a good man.  And he is a faithful Christian. Continue reading →

It’s my birthday today, so happy birthday to me. And thanks to those who have or will wish me well on the day. Now, in most ways this is not a big deal birthday – not a decade milestone or a year to be marked with precious metals or stones. But it is my RMD birthday and my life will never be quite the same.

As some of you know and understand better than I do, RMD stands for Required Minimum Distribution, and it has to do with how the IRS gets at that money you put in a tax-deferred retirement account over the years. Deferred no more. Starting with today’s birthday, I am required to withdraw a certain minimum amount from a little tax-deferred nest egg that’s been happily protected from the taxman all these years. The IRS says I will have to take out at least so much every year for as long as I live, and that the “so much” will be subject to income tax – the tax that was deferred back then. I can put the money in the bank, take a trip, buy a toy, or give it to my favorite mission cause. I have to take it. Absolutely fair even if a bit annoying.

So how much is “so much”?  It has to do with how long the IRS thinks I am going to live.  I know, it is a little more complicated than that when you factor in designated beneficiaries and so forth, but, yes, the IRS thinks it knows how long I am going to live. They publish a table with just such information. Turns out, they say I will live to be 90. And if I live to be 90, they’ll tax me as if I am going to live to be 96. The life-expectancy table runs to age 99 (when they’ll tax me as if I am going to live to be 101). One of their tables goes to age 120. The taxman cometh. Ben Franklin was right about death and taxes. Continue reading →

In Proverbs 12:15 Solomon tells us that a wise person listens to advice. In 11:14 he has told us there is safety in an abundance of counselors. Life tells us that advice is often easier to give than receive.

I have been thinking about the giving and receiving of advice. I am reading a fascinating book on Harry Truman’s – yes, another Truman book – first term as president (Ascent to Power, David L. Roll, 2024). To be sure, the book presents Truman in a positive light, but not without acknowledging his weaknesses and shortcomings. Eighty years later I am left longing for as decent a person and able a leader as Truman to ascend to power. I don’t think my longings will be satisfied any time soon.

Harry Truman faced as many difficult decisions as any modern president. Almost immediately after Franklin Roosevelt’s death, he had to decide about the use of the atomic bomb to end World War II. In time he was confronted with decisions to be made about the rebuilding of Europe and the rebuilding of the American economy from its war footing to being able to satisfy pent up consumer demands. He would have to decide about programs for returning G.I.s and the assurance of civil rights to all Americans, especially to Black Americans.

Some of the most important decisions Harry Truman made had to do with the people who would serve the nation during his presidency. He made some great choices and some really poor choices. Continue reading →