1,904 words

Ever since Monday
I’ve seen it comin’
When I say what’s wrong
She just says nothin’ (more…)

First page and inset of Ernest Hemingway’s War Department-issued overseas visa

1,173 words

As I stroll lackadaisically through life’s pollen-belching daffodil fields, it occurs to me that I’ve never seen a depressed person with Down syndrome. No matter how sad their lives may look to outsiders, down to the last pumpkin-headed man and woman they seem blissfully ignorant of how they may appear to others. They happily embrace life as if they are clutching a fistful of multicolored balloons. (more…)

Canaletto, The Return of the Bucentaur to the Molo on Ascension Day, 1730.

1,648 words

On the train ride home this weekend, I ended up talking with a drunk woman about the concept of happiness. Although brief, the conversation reminded me of Giacomo Casanova’s memoir The Story of My Life. As I have gotten older, this memoir has reminded me not to let certain vices ruin my life. While each person (more…)

2,258 words

Thomas Jefferson

The first sentence of Preamble to the Declaration of Independence reads: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence is not a legal document or even a formal declaration of independence. By the time of its adoption, twelve of the thirteen colonies had already declared independence with the passage of the Lee Resolution.  (more…)

5,808 words

The subtitle of the English translation of Julius Evola’s Ride the Tiger (Cavalcare la Tigre) promises that it offers “A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul.”[1] As a result, one comes to the work with the expectation that it will constitute a kind of “self-help book” for Traditionalists, for “men against time.” (more…)

Socrates and Xanthippe

7,763 words

Part 1 of 2

Author’s Note:

On August 24th, 1999 I began a lecture course called “What Socrates Knew” with a lecture called “Thirty Socratic Theses.” What follows is a transcription of the first half of the lecture by V.S. The thirty theses are listed below, as are links to the audio of the lecture. 

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Peter Paul Rubens: „Die vier Philosophen“, mit einer Büste von Seneca, 1611-1612

3,851 words

Übersetzt von Deep Roots

English original here

Vor ein paar Jahren entschied ich, daß ich einen Kodex brauchte, um danach zu leben: eine Reihe von Prinzipien, die mein Leben leiten. Nun, es ist nicht so, als hätte ich nicht bereits einige Prinzipien entdeckt, die mir als richtig erschienen; es war nicht so, als ob ich im Blindflug unterwegs gewesen wäre, ohne irgendwelche Überzeugungen. Aber ich hatte mich nie hingesetzt und darüber nachgedacht, woraus genau mein „Kodex“ bestand, und das alles zu Papier gebracht. (more…)

Peter Paul Rubens, “The Four Philosophers,” with a bust of Seneca, 1611-1612

3,739 words

German translation here

A few years ago, I decided I needed a code to live by: a set of principles to guide my life. Now, it’s not as if I hadn’t already discovered some principles that seemed right to me; it wasn’t as if I was flying blind, without any convictions. But I had never sat down and reflected on exactly what my “code” consisted in, and put it all on paper. So, I decided one day to do just that.

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40:01 / 150 words

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Beginning in August of 1999, I gave a series of eight lectures on “The Pursuit of Happiness: (more…)

Hieronymus Bosch, "The Haywain," after. 1510

1,673 words

A few days ago I had dinner with a co-worker. She knows nothing of my secret identity (i.e., Jef Costello) and I have never clued her in to the full extent of my political incorrectness. Nevertheless, as I do with so many others, I relish little opportunities to slip something into the conversation to make her think. Usually it consists in unfurling a bit of my colossal pessimism – my sense that everything is going to complete and utter hell. On this particular occasion she listened to me for awhile and then said, wearing a look of grave concern, “Are you happy?”

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