Perhaps you’ve not had occasion to read one of the translations of the Odyssey. I have not. Perhaps a suitable on-ramp for reading the text is a viewing of Christopher Nolan’s film, which features Matt Damon as Odysseus. Odysseus in Homer’s tale is the king of legendary Ithaca, an island kingdom in the Ionian…
…this culture puts a great emphasis on relationships in the intimate sphere, especially love relationships. These are seen as the prime loci of self-exploration and self-discovery and among the most important forms of self-fulfillment. This view reflects the continuation in modern culture of a trend that is now centuries old and that places the…
Sunday arrives… Perhaps a ritual ought to be instituted for greeting a sunrise, a simple and brief gesture, maybe a poem to recognize waking as a beginning, another creation of ourselves, of the world. Sunlight fuels everything. Change is what we mean by the dance of energy, the thermodynamic flow. Would I enjoy earning…
Monday is another gift of pleasant weather and sunlight. I cannot be certain of what the day holds for me, though I have the usual short list of matters to be addressed. With good fortune each dimension, the work will be received as an opportunity to “do some good.” It’s as if the universe…
Friday feels like the lift-off to another Memorial Day weekend, – an interlude of graduation celebrations, of weddings, of cook-out gatherings, of ceremonies of patriotic posturing. We agree to pause, to call a time-out to the day to day routine for all of this… I plan to “lean in” to absorb the ebb and…
A Springtime Tuesday rushes onward, a wave-force concealed under the surface. The wave builds and if you choose to ride you are uncertain as to what the veiled pulse of energy will become at the moment of crest. Do we need to know though, in order to enjoy the ride? Saturday of the past…
Perhaps writing nothing at all is best today. A chill invests the air, after a few days of nearly summer-like warmth. This is April’s reversal, the point of the line in Eliot’s poem The Wasteland. “April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring…
Zhuangzi said to Huizi,“When Confucius was in his sixtieth yearhe changed his views.What he previously held to be truehe now regards as false.We do not know whether what he now holds to be trueis not what he regarded to be falsefor fifty-nine years.” Huizi replied, “Confucius is earnestin his pursuit of learning and acts…
Today is a special time to recognize those we care about most. Here are two thoughts that strike a note with me today. A metaphor can unlock a door that logic cannot budge. – Rob Brezsny Great societies decline when old men chop down forests meant to provide shade and oxygen for future generations…
1. Does heaven revolve continuously? 2. Does earth continuously abide in rest? 3. And do the sun and moon pursue one another? 4. Who guides and directs these movements? 5. Who holds them together and connects them? 6. Who is it that, without straining and effort, brings them about and maintains them?…
