Sometimes the hardest decisions aren’t about knowing what to do. They’re about deciding what we’re no longer willing to exchange our lives for. A conversation with Book Nine of the Iliad about human excellence, freedom, and what a life is ultimately for.
The Price of a Life Read Post »
Prompted by Book VIII of the Iliad, this Conversations essay asks where human excellence reaches its limits—and whether we have come to expect too much of it.
The Place of Human Excellence Read Post »
In Book VII of The Iliad, the Greeks begin to understand that resolution is not as close, or as simple, as they hoped. First they face what has been lost. Then they begin to make the place survivable.
This Is My Life Now, For Now Read Post »
Every so often you watch someone make a decision that makes no sense. Not because they are confused. Not because they lack information. In Book 6 of the Iliad, Hector and Andromache reveal a more uncomfortable truth: some of the most consequential decisions in life are governed by something deeper than love.
The Things That Govern Us Read Post »
A reflection on Diomedes in Book V of The Iliad, and the danger of believing true things about ourselves too completely.
When the Evidence Is True Read Post »
Pandarus steps forward and at first it doesn’t fell like a decisive moment. But almost immediately, everything around him begins to move. A Conversations essay on The Iliad, Book IV — and how little it takes for something already unstable to start again.
Conversations · Reading Journey The Reason Given Is Not the Reason Deciding Come read with me — quietly, slowly, deeply Reading: The Great Conversation, Vol 4 . · The Iliad of Homer — Book III They say it’s about Helen. The armies stop.The terms are set.Two men will fight, and that will decide it. The
The Reason Given Is Not the Reason Deciding Read Post »
An army gathers. At a single command, it collapses—and is forced back into place. A reading of the Iliad on why order does not hold, and what it takes to maintain it.
Who Decides What Order Is Read Post »
We tolerate misuse of power more easily than visible emotional response. This essay explores how that pattern shapes judgment, behaviour, and the systems we sustain.
When Power Is Tolerated but Emotion Is Not Read Post »
Most of what we call thinking today is exposure to other people’s conclusions. This essay explores the moment where reading stops being passive — and begins to demand a response.
Stepping Into the Great Conversation Read Post »
