STOIC POETRY | More to life than living
There is so much to occupy the time of life. So much to do. So many people to know, and love, and pass the time together with. One thing...
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Kurt Bell
Aug 3, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | The virtue of temperance
For what reason is temperance a virtue? Why do the sages live in austerity, and the desert fathers forsake the world, and the poet love...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 30, 20203 min read
STOIC POETRY | Adrift across a desert night
In his book Walden, specifically in the chapter titled "The Ponds", Henry David Thoreau describes the seasons and moods of Walden Pond as...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 28, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | The road into night
Such a long hike to get here, now. The place where I set out from is invisible beyond those distant hills, a memory of setting out from a...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 26, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | The way things are likely to be
Our personal nature is our most visible evidence that our will is never fully free: as how many forces of my personal being - my...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 23, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | Walking the shore with seashells in my hand
I have such a small and precious set of values - objectives and principles to guide my life. So very few. Each one is precious to me, as...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 16, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | An uncomplaining camp
Emotions are a curious thing to ride upon. They jump and jostle and jolt and then rest, before picking up again and tossing all about. As...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 15, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Such a life to live
How much more decorous a possession than honest self-reflection; though there is nothing to see in such wealth besides the owner's...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 14, 20203 min read
STOIC POETRY | Finding a new nest
Yumiko and I decided to downsize after Emily left to begin life on her own. Our own move began just two days after Emily left our home on...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 13, 20203 min read
STOIC POETRY | The pain of the empty nest
Who knew becoming empty-nesters was so painful? Surely, neither Yumiko or I did. And who knew how fast the sense of absence and loss...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 12, 20203 min read
STOIC POETRY | Moving Emily into her new place
July 11th, 2020 was the last day our daughter lived at home with Yumiko and me. Emily has been with us a long time, since November 25th,...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 8, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | A time for reinvention
I believe that Yumiko and I are as prepared for our new life together as we might hope to be. With our daughter leaving us this coming...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 7, 20202 min read
STOIC POETRY | Ad Aster and The Great Indifference
Yumiko and I watched a movie last night called Ad Aster, starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. We enjoyed the film, which is a science...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 6, 20203 min read
STOIC POETRY | My retirement mission
Next week, our daughter Emily will leave us. As a family, on Saturday, July 11th, we will spend a day moving her few things to an...
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Kurt Bell
Jul 2, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Best by date
I think our expiration date is roughly our fiftieth birthday. What I mean, is that if we have not yet observed and said anything original...
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Kurt Bell
Jun 16, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Emily is making art for my book
My daughter has begun to produce art for my book Going Alone. She came with me to the desert recently to experience firsthand the...
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Kurt Bell
Jun 10, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Siberia to Wonder Valley - BMW R 1150 GS Adventure motovlog
I'd left Siberia ghost town as the sun went down, departing for a four-hour motorcycle ride into the desert night; with hot wind at my...
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Kurt Bell
Jun 3, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Meeting a "Desert Father"
The "Desert Fathers" once famously haunted the deserts east of Egypt, where they pursued solitude and clarity while seeking oneness and a...
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Kurt Bell
Jun 2, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Ludlow to Siberia - BMW R 1150 GS Adventure motovlog
This video always marks the start of every new adventure in the California desert. My departure from the gas and watering station at...
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Kurt Bell
Jun 1, 20201 min read
STOIC POETRY | Desert wildfire - BMW R 1150 Adventure motovlog
I encountered this desert wildfire two weeks back while en route to Siberia ghost town. The fire was moving fast across the desert scrub,...
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