wingedcentaur

Because I am always seeking to conform, to go with the flow, to not rock the boat, to fit in, win friends and influence people, to be all around pal, and Steady Eddie, I...... (any more cliched troupes?......No?, okay) am writing this biography. And indeed, contrary to my natural inclination, I shall even be vaguely self-promotional. Just a couple more sentences to fill out this first paragraph. And after this one, we shall be "on to the next one".... and so on and so forth, as the song says.

Right! The most important thing to know about what "makes me tick," as it were, as it pertains to the kinds of things I write here at HubPages (and I love HubPages!) is that I am a self-teaching (that's teaching not taught [ing]) philosopher. A consistent thematic concern of mine are three disciplines of modern philosophy: Existentialism, Pragmatism (which is much more dynamic than the common usage of the ordinary term 'pragmatism' or 'pragmatic' would suggest); and Idealism (which, paradoxically, is actually much more 'pragmatic' than the ordinary usage of the word 'idealism' or 'idealistic' would suggest) -- and their application, variously, to metaphysical questions, politics, social and economic questions; and to a lesser extent, culture and the arts.

I'll echo a legendary hubber called Paraglider who said that we all have the power and the responsibility to reason our way to a better world.That is a sentiment I fully endorse. Okay, we're just filling out this paragraph here. They say that a respectable paragraph is four to seven sentences long, you know.

My approach to "spirituality" (and one thing you'll find out about me is that I put words in quotes a lot) comes from the perspective of what I think of as a religious naturalism. This, in short, means that any sense of the "divine" (see what I mean?) we get must come from direct observation of nature, science, actually. What makes us religious as opposed to secular naturalists, is perhaps our greater sympathy for religious myth -- I happen to think this dimension of culture is crucial to study from both a literary and psychoanalytic perspective. For us, there is no dividing line between the so-called supernatural world and the natural one; for me, anyway, the natural world is super!

Anyway, moving on, and coming into the home stretch, I'll just mention that my politics are on the left (that's Left, not liberal or progressive). Not that there's anything wrong with being a liberal or progressive. Those are fine things to be. Why, some of my best friends are....

I am one of the fifty-four percent of the participating American electorate who voted for Barack Hussein Obama for President. How could I not? It was historic, magical, the culmination of centuries of struggle of a peole, the vindication of America as a place where dreams come true, where "you can be anything you want to be if you just work hard," proof, even, that we are not white America, black America, Republican America, Democrat America, straight America, gay, lesbian, and transgender America, [How much longer? Are we there yet?]  conservative America or liberal America, but the United States of America; and so on and so forth.

Oh and there's a good chance I would have been excommunicated from the family if I hadn't voted for Obama! I wish I could have voted for someone more progressive like John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, or Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, or Santa Claus. I could have just voted for Ralph Nader and said I voted for Obama. But unfortunately mother always knows when I'm lying! :-(

Anyway, that's a little of what makes me tick. And now, as promised (I know you were waiting!) a list of some of my greatest hits here on HubPages (and I love HubPages!).

http://hubpages.com/hub/Hey-Workers-You-All-Are-Not-Concerned-Enough

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Myth-of-the-Rugged-Individual

http://wingedcentaur.hubpages.com/hub/Can-God-Create-A-Boulder-So-Heavy-Even-He-Cannot-Lift-It

http://hubpages.com/hub/Can-God-Create-A-Boulder-So-Heavy-Even-He-Cannot-Lift-It-Part-Two

                            Short Stories

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-One

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-Two

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-Three

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-Four

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-Five

http://hubpages.com/hub/Circus-Madness-A-Novella-Part-Six

Oh, and in the spirit of being uncharacteristically vaguely self-promotional, let me say that if you want you can have a look at a blog I wrote for a while. I used the same "handle" to use the trucking parlance.

http://www.wingedcentaur.blogspot.com

I haven't written there at all since I found HubPages (and I love Hubpages!). And I love you too, dear reader.

Best wishes and all that!

Ta-Ta!