Category: Emotion
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August 14, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
After Job loses everything (including his health), but before his friends come to “comfort” him, Job’s wife offers a rare sentence of advice. No other female speaks in the Book of Job so it caught my eye. She suggests that Job should end his misery. By the end of chapter 2, Job is in a truly pitiful state.
July 24, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Last week, I talked about my own shortcomings as a reader of The Iliad. I am just now starting to realize the importance of discussing Achilles’ wrath. I have always struggled to face it because it leads me to the darkest of human truths. His “cataclysmic wrath” (as coined by Emily Wilson) evidences itself in books 20-23 when Achilles kills everything in his path,
July 17, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Recently, I’ve been talking a lot about fate. For example, in The Iliad, everyone knows the fate of Achilles – even Achilles. In fact, Achilles’ death is so unimportant to the telling of the tale, that it’s not even included in the book. This confirms that the end of the story is less important than the arc of the journey.
May 1, 2026
Thanks to Chinyere Okoh, a 2026 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog.
Beyond the Silence
by Chinyere Okoh
I find myself alone in a still room,
where shadows seem to stretch and exhale with me.
The quiet carries a single, fragile question that lingers in the air:
Where am I?
The voice feels both distant and familiar,
as though it belongs to me and yet echoes from somewhere beyond. » Read more about: Rebuilding Connections: Book Review of Together by Vivek H. Murthy, MD »
October 17, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
In Macbeth, King Duncan says, “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” To put it bluntly, the King laments the fact that we cannot know what’s below the surface. Below the surface, underneath the skin, humans buzz with thoughts, emotions, and questions. These hidden things act as motivation for our actions. In Macbeth,
August 8, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
I have been a competitive athlete for much of my life, which just means that I am not good at being still. Even now, watching from the sidelines stifles something inside of me. Obviously, I lack the agility and recovery of today’s athletes, but I still like to participate. Reading through some of the Stoic literature has given me reason to pause,
May 9, 2025
Thanks to 2025 HMU Fellow in Ideas, Estella Achinko, for today’s post.
Life’s journey is an intricate tapestry woven with moments of triumph and despair, shaping our existence and compelling us to pause in introspection. At various junctures, we ponder the essence of our being, asking ourselves: Who are we? What is our purpose? Who are we destined to become? In the relentless tide of circumstances, many beyond our control,
May 2, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
While the Syntopicon includes happiness, it does not have a separate section dedicated solely to joy. I am curious about these emotions, how they might be similar or different. To me, joy seems more ephemeral, less permanent but more impactful whereas happiness is more of a state of long-term satisfaction.
According to Merriam-Webster, joy can be: the emotion evoked by well-being,
March 21, 2025
Thanks to Joy Reeves, a 2025 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog.
“Fortune befriends the bold,” Virgil first wrote in Aeneid. But in a world where boldness, the self-serving counterpart of courage, is so quick to estrange and sour relationships—is fortune’s friendship enough? Todd Field’s 2022 film Tár masterfully addresses this question in a unique, provocative portrait of a lonely musical genius.
February 14, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
If we’re going to celebrate something on this Valentine’s Day, let’s celebrate dance. Take this performance by Dai Matsuoka with Jeffrey Ziegler on the cello. Filmed in black and white with great stone structures on the stage, Matsuoka plays with shadow. He moves through space, around the pillars sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly. The viewer must ask what these actions mean.