Philosophy Archives - Alexander Art

What We Know

"The only thing I know is that I know nothing." "For we can only know that we know nothing, and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." One of these quotes is attributed to Socrates. The other is … [Read more...]

The Master’s Apprentice

Duane began his martial arts career as a teenager. He progressed through the ranks until he became a black belt in Isshinryu Karate. The more he studied, though, the more he felt something was … [Read more...]

Kung Fu and Painting

Do you remember watching television on Saturdays when you were a kid? Saturday mornings were cowboy shows like Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, and Sky King. But the afternoons were those full-length … [Read more...]

Allowed to Fail

I was listening to my audiobook on Creativity today while walking Maxie. This book is a long one - fourteen hours. At twenty minutes per walk, times three walks per day, I'll finish it in about two … [Read more...]

Purpose

"There is no purpose to purpose." -- Michael Gerber That quote sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? Isn't purpose what all the "gurus" tell us we need to discover? A popular book title is, "Find your … [Read more...]

The last Renaissance Man?

A "polymath" is a person whose expertise spans many domains - or subject areas. Leonardo was a polymath. He lived during the Renaissance, so Leonardo is the quintessential "Renaissance … [Read more...]

The principles of mastery

Learning a foreign language was one of the requirements when I went to college. I had Latin and French in high school - I hated both. The reason was simple. Most of the kids in my class came from … [Read more...]

Walking with God

There is a neat part of Genesis where God and Adam are walking together around the world. This passage, by the way, helps explain what artists do. Or instead what artists do not do. So from the soil … [Read more...]

Finding serenity in a chaotic world.

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do … [Read more...]

All aboard!

Laurie and I were talking the other day about our love of model trains. I shared some stories of the train set my dad bought me for Christmas when I was six or seven. On reflection, he, most likely, … [Read more...]