A good friend recently said to me, “at least there is a chance that the president will put a stop to the ‘politics as usual’ that is no longer working for us.” That is not the first time I’ve heard a similar statement of hope/faith/superstition. This non sequitur is offered dead pan, or with…
The sun rises predictably, warm, glorious. The gift of light is the life source for our entire planet. Light precedes us. What are we going to do with life? Will we honor and cherish the wonder of being here, being a center of consciousness? Or are we choosing to plunder? The decision is presented…
I rose ahead of the sun this morning. The old creature of habit that I am, I do not enjoy breaking the 6AM start to my day. I’ve never lived on a farm, and have not acquired the mental toughness achieved by the obligation to care for animals at first light. My grandfather would…
A good discussion, spirited and wide ranging on the subject of time last night…… No final solution was offered to what is not a problem. Comment was made that time is a feature of language, and a feature of conscious awareness of ourselves within a world. Time is closely related to change, and we…
Tonight we will have a second discussion session on the topic of time. The Raymond Tallis essay was brief, a well expressed overview of the uses and the limitations of the language of time. Tallis made reference to the maxim that “time is what prevents everything from happening all at once.” Time and change…
The Saudi visit began with a traditional sword dance. The photo reminds me of a “ladies choice” dance at a high school prom. Yesterday the President gave a speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I listened to some of his speech broadcast on NPR. After a few minutes I could take no more of the…
Spring in the mid-west is unsettled. Every day one gets to draw blind, a card from the deck. One turns over the card to find one has drawn an Ace or the Joker. I remember a Memorial Day many years ago at Great Lakes Drag Strip. The afternoon was raw. I shivered, wrapped in…
I was neither at the hot gates Nor fought in the warm rain Nor knee deep in the salt marsh, heaving a cutlass, Bitten by flies, fought. —-Gerontion by T. S. Eliot No, I did not fight alongside Leonidas. But I read three poems. I was invited to attend an evening of music and…
It is not time, but fibroblasts or the spirit of forgiveness, that heal wounds. And perhaps we need to row back from the idea of “time” as generally “permissive” of change. Many things are not permitted…….. What’s more, a global permissiveness would permit nothing in particular: If everything were permitted, nothing could happen. –Raymond…
I woke to an intensely bright day, strong gusts bend the trees. I understand that the central States further west are in the path of dangerous storms today. Life is such a combination of light, life, and hazard. I read several poems this morning, poems that I have chosen to read tomorrow evening at…
