BORDERS, COMMERCE, IMMIGRATION
Seyla Benhabib:
In the first two decades of the twenty-first century it is astonishing that the fate of refugees and asylum seekers would emerge as a worldwide problem. In an age when the movement of everything across borders, from capital to fashion, from information to news, from germs to money has intensified human mobility continues to be criminalized. The refugee is increasingly treated not only as an alien body but as the enemy who is interned in detention camps, held in deportation sites, or in absurd Euro-bureaucratic parlance, gathered in “hotspots.”
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STUDY THE SELF
Claude Anshin Thomas:
I often speak about the four essentials of Zen practice: silence, discipline, ritual, and study. When I mention study, most people immediately think about which books they need to read. They have an academic or intellectual association with the word “study.” I understand that, but the sense of “study” that has been conveyed to me is not limited to an intellectual pursuit. Study includes the intellect, however, study also includes the attention we pay to our thoughts, the attention we pay to our feelings, and the attention we pay to our perceptions as we move through our day. Zen practice is about being willing to study ourselves, to wake up to the causes and conditions that keep us trapped in cycles of suffering.
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THE TIME FOR ART IS NOW
Claire Messud:
There is glory in each day, for each of us. It is waiting to be illuminated and observed. Auden wrote that poetry makes nothing happen, but in our hearts and in our lives, we know that is not true. Art has the power to alter our interior selves, and in so doing to inspire, exhilarate, provoke, connect, and rouse us. As we are changed, our souls are awakened to possibility — immeasurable, yes, and potentially infinite. If ever there was a time for art, it’s now.
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READING, LEARNING, AND COMPASSION
My current strategy for selecting books to read reflects my hope to learn better how to live in these troubled times by reading works by and about people who lived in troubled times before now, focusing on those who challenged the power and authority of oppressors. One of the people on that list — the person on whose work and life I’m focusing at the moment — is Hannah Arendt. Interestingly, my reading of Arendt helps me to see value in my current strategy, even as she reminds me that I can and should cast the reading net more broadly. Consider this from Elisabeth Young-Bruehl’s biography:
Read moreCONFRONTING THE MADNESS OF FASCISM
Elie Wiesel:
The collective political madness of the twentieth century, in the forms of fascism and Communism, took over nations; millions of people were swept up in it. … How can we protect ourselves against this kind of madness? This is not just an abstract historical question. All roads lead back to Auschwitz. If there is violence today, suicide, mental illness, it may well be because seventy years ago, the world did nothing while six million innocent people were slaughtered. How can that not affect us? Confronting those events is essential in ensuring that our fate is not a malediction.
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TO BE EXPELLED FROM A STATE IS TO BE EXPELLED FROM HUMANITY
Hannah Arendt:
The basic issue involved is the following: As long as mankind is nationally and territorially organized in states, a stateless person is not simply expelled from one country, native or adopted, but from all countries — none being obliged to receive and naturalize him — which means he is actually expelled from humanity. Deprivation of citizenship consequently should be counted among the crimes against humanity, and some of the worst recognized crimes in this category have, in fact, and not incidentally, been preceded by mass expatriations. …
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LITTLE TIME FOR REFLECTION, BUT STILL HOLDING OUT HOPE
Karl Jaspers:
It is not easy to describe things here. It is a life of irreality. I’m eaten up by day-to-day chores. Reflection withers. I find myself slipping into a modern life ruled by haste. Things can’t go on this way. There seems to be no place at all for real thought. But we know that life goes on in spite of it all, even in famine, which has not touched us at all yet. Every day I say to myself: Patience, just be patient. Don’t be discouraged, no matter what. If we do what we can, the rewarding moments are bound to return.
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ECHOES OF THE PAST; RESPONDING IN THE PRESENT
I wrote this Saturday afternoon, before reading the news that Trump is sending the National Guard into Los Angeles. I’m posting it unchanged, though I’ll acknowledge here the step forward in the area of force and terror. Perhaps someday we’ll see this as a tipping point, though I wonder how we would recognize that now when the world is so slanted.
It’s become something of a cliché to describe similarities between Germany in the 1930s and the United States in the last few months. Many of those descriptions build on the work of Hannah Arendt — and, more often than not, include pithy quotations from her writings. I’m part of the pack here, having posted multiple Arendt passages on this site as commonplace entries. As important as these allusions to 1930s Germany are, I think we should acknowledge that we in the United States have similar episodes in our own history. I was reminded of one such time this morning by none other than Hannah Arendt. Consider this lengthy passage from a letter she wrote to Karl Jaspers, her mentor and friend in Switzerland:
Read moreMAY 2025 READING REPORT
As I wrap up another month of reading, I’ll pause to celebrate and appreciate the privileges of a comfortable retirement. These are troubled times, and there’s much to be concerned about, but at least I have the time and energy to bury myself in reading and thinking some of the time. I’m grateful.
I’ve now posted some notes about the books I finished reading in May. Some general comments: first, now that I look at the list as a whole I’m surprised at the number of books listed whose authors I knew absolutely nothing about when the month began. I discovered three of them (Craig Mod, Lauren Markham, and Andrea Barrett) while browsing bookstores on our recent trip to Texas and New York City. (Did I mention that one of my favorite pastimes is visiting bookstores?) I checked Solvej Balle’s novel out of the library after reading about it in the list of books shortlisted for this year’s International Booker prize. As I say in my comments, I think it’s one of the best novels I’ve read in quite a while. My wife has been pushing me to read Robin Wall Kimmerer for months, and I’m glad I finally followed her advice. Reading Rebecca Solnit is a treat — her latest collection of essays doesn’t disappoint.
Read moreTHE IRONY OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN A COMMUNITY OF DRIVERS
Rebecca Solnit:
Driverless cars are often called autonomous vehicles — but driving isn’t an autonomous activity. It’s a cooperative social activity, in which part of the job of whoever’s behind the wheel is to communicate with others on the road. Whether on foot, on my bike, or in a car, I engage in a lot of hand gestures — mostly meaning “Wait!” or “Go ahead!” — when I’m out and about, and I look for others’ signals.
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