Philosophy Wire: Close to the Sun…

Using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, an international team has discovered a new exoplanet twice the size of Earth. It orbits its star every six days and is thus very close to it, about 10 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun. [1] How close are you to the Sun? Or, how close is the Sun to you? It really doesn’t matter. For rationality kills the Sun. Not the Sun you see. But the Sun you used to have burning inside your heart. Stop staring at the stars with awe. No, you do not shine because the stars are near you. The stars burn because you are close to them…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Shrinking sparrows.

The sparrows seem to be shrinking.
Rising temperatures are breeding smaller birds. [1]

This is how the cosmos operates.
Balloons inflate.
Wise people shrink.

Leader with over-inflated ego. Ruling the world.
Old men with burned out ego. Ruling the cosmos.

Look at that sparrow.
So small…
So powerful…
It is not looking for anything in the world.
And yet the world is always looking for it…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Viruses, phytoplankton, clouds.

Microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton support the diversity of life in the ocean. Scientists now report that one species, Emiliania huxleyi, and a virus closely associated with it, might be responsible for changes in cloud properties as well. When infected, E. huxleyi releases its chalky shell into the air, where it acts as an aerosol reflecting sunlight and even affecting cloud creation and movement. [1] [2]

Small creatures. Ruling the skies.
That was always the case.
What is big to be ruled by the small.

Kings.
Listening to ‘powerless’ monks.
Nations.
Following a man crucified to death.

That was always the case.
Earthly creatures. Ruling the skies.
A small worm crawling.
All the gods watching…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: What does the soul seek? Or else: The importance of being powerless.

Immigrating birds passing through Greece, having a small stop to rest...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2015-05-07]: We live and we die. In all of our lives we know what to do because someone told us, to whom their parents told them in turn and so on and so forth. We all behave in specific ways, act and react to specific things, try to do “something”. And while many wander about the great goals life has set for us, in reality what we want is simple: Love. A touch, a smile, a hug, the sense that someone cares for us. Even the most powerful man of the world does everything he does in order to feel something. Something the most powerless men of the world already have. Some people believe they have power, but it is the people under their power, the “simple people”, who actually have it. Why should anyone be involved in politics, if he has people who love him and care about him? People who no matter how bad things are, will hold him tight and smile at him? Our soul seeks the unification with One, the unification with others. When you achieve that, you become invincible. You may die, be poor, be sick, but you are loved. Why change things when you already have everything? What would you seek if you have found what you want? From the rooms of Congress, to the dirty streets of Bronx, the truth is somewhere in the middle… Nuh. Just kidding! It is in the Bronx! Think about it. What do you seek?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…