Daily Thoughts

AND LANGUAGE—Around eight years ago, I started this blog, Bertrand’s Pensées.  The title is a tribute to the scientist/religious thinker Blaise Pascal.  He wrote a collection of thoughts with a plan turn them into a book but died before that could happen.  The book Pascal’s Pensées eventually was published with the individual thoughts not categorized but just given a number.  It is a treasure trove of thoughts on faith and belief and on the nature of thought and language.  

Since my retirement more years ago than I care to count, I have busied myself with reading on many subjects, doing research to better acquaint myself with subjects and ideas, and occasionally writing about them.  This blog is intended to encourage me to do more writing and provide a place to present them.  Four years ago, I became frustrated with the format and stopped adding to the blog.  With the aid of a neighbor/friend, I have had the blog revised to make it easier to write on a variety of subjects. 

The blog is divided into two basic groups—Petites Pensées (little thoughts) and Grandes Pensées (big thoughts).  The former will be relatively short writings occurring more frequently.  Grandes Pensées are essay-like writings and, due to their nature, will be published infrequently.  The writings will be categorized by subject matter—philosophy/religion, politics, economics, language, culture and science/mathematics. This is my first “Petite Pensée”.  The other writings here are all “Grandes Pensées”.

The nature of language is a major theme in my thinking and writing.  Short thoughts can be as difficult to write as an essay.  The amount of thought and revision in a short statement requires as much patience as writing on a lengthy topic.  Any “short” statement could turn into a lengthy essay.  It requires reflection to limit the thought to a few specific important points.  I end this post now to avoid making it “grande”.

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Work in progress on the petites pensées