Mike Vargo: Language Is a Virus
A punishment for the arrogance of thinking my mission in life was to explain things to people.
Mike Vargo: Living in the Republic of Unreality
The practice of living in unreality consists of three sub-practices: Denying real reality. Bingeing on pseudo-reality. And adopting a myth.
Mike Vargo: System Failure, from the Bronze Age to the Age of Trump
Did a long-ago collapse of civilizations portend our future?
Mike Vargo: Magical Realism — in Literature, in Life, and Online
My daughter called herself Dark White Wolf, and when I was a child, I had an imaginary companion — a second self — whom I brought to the dinner table with me. Nobody was allowed to sit in my doppelgänger’s chair.
Mike Vargo: The Insanity of Our Times, According to Philip Slater
Nothing explains everything, but some things explain a lot.
Mike Vargo: Getting Smart About Education
In each life, hovering behind the facade or maybe in plain sight, something important may await discovery, something that words can only approximate.
Mike Vargo: Bad Religion, Good Religion
What sort of personal meaning can any of us extract from the current state of religious affairs, which is very strange?
Michael Simms: Politics as a Spiritual Practice
Those of us who wish to follow a spiritual path cannot ignore the malevolent policies of our government.
Mike Vargo: Truck Drivers Who Hitchhike
I met my first hitchhiking truck driver one morning on a freeway near Columbus, Ohio.
Mike Vargo: Is There a Real Me?
Believing in a real self would be easier if the self were not so inconsistent.
Mike Vargo: The Holiday Rant
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve celebrate the three great indulgences of our culture: overeating, overspending, and getting overly intoxicated. The unifying theme is excess.
Mike Vargo: ‘Cat’s Cradle,’ Community, and Fascism
Maybe Bokonon had a point. Bokonon, for those not familiar, is a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle. On a fictional Caribbean island, a holy man lives in the mountains. … Continue reading
Mike Vargo: AI and the Quantification of Everything
As someone who in fact aced the SAT and similar tests — but who then goofed off probably more than he should’ve at a fine university, and who in adult life has displayed episodes of colossal stupidity — I would not trust any attempt to put a number on a person’s intelligence.
