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“One must always tell what one sees.” Charles Peguy So many great conversations never happen. There is nothing like sharing insights with a friend into things that matter, and even things that don’t matter so much. But why is it so difficult? One of the great...

The words ‘home at last’ are uniquely powerful. The desire to be at home is so deeply rooted in us that we don’t question it. If we see these words on a tombstone we scarcely notice; or we smile and think, of course. In the end where else would one want to be? It is...

It is perhaps a sign of our times that we speak of a hospitality ‘industry.’ Rooms-for-the-night and meals away from home can certainly be bought and sold. But hospitality is something no exchange of money will ever effect. Hospitality is intimately tied with being...

Our homes are overrun by machines. Our days are filled with the digital. The real is replaced by the virtual, and the natural by the artificial. Our situation is serious. One might ask: but what is really wrong here? And why do you call this ‘serious?’ In short, I’d...

The word ‘abstinence’ can evoke mixed feelings. Teetotalers breaking bottles of booze; young lovers straining to wait until marriage; observers of Lent giving up desirable foods; addicts making a stand against their addictions. Abstinence means a refraining from...

“The industry has to convince its consumers of the significance of today’s News, and it has to make them want to come back tomorrow for more News—more change.” C. John Sommerville, ‘Why the News Makes Us Dumb’ There are numerous reasons we should be concerned about...

“After tele-photography humanity will continually invent graphies and scopes and phones, all of which will be tele, and one will be able to go around the earth in less than no time. But it will always only be the temporal earth.” Charles Peguy (written circa 1912)...

“There is no greater blessing on earth than when husband and wife rule their home in harmony of mind and will.” Aristotle, Economics The notion of ‘ruling’ a home might seem outdated. We can wonder whether some other notion or term could better capture the blessing of...

“Well, you see, my property is enough to supply me with all my needs...” Socrates, in Xenophon’s Estate Manager While Socrates was not destitute, the value of his estate was relatively low. Yet he expresses gratitude for his financial situation. He assures his friend...

  “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Proverbs Our failure to see the natural roles of husband and wife has real consequences. This stands to reason. When we miss the difference and...

“Beautiful things are those which please when seen.” Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae This much is clear if we have eyes to see: beauty is a first principle in the formation of the world. We could even say it is the principle. The natural world and all its processes...

“And, to tell the truth, if I try to imagine a little how paradise will be, I think always of the time of my youth, of my childhood. In this context of confidence, of joy and love we were happy, and I think that paradise must be something like how it was in my youth....