Modern, first-world life is nothing if not a glittering pandemonium. Walk down Michigan Avenue in Chicago, or on the Ginza in Tokyo, or Times Square in New York City and one is swept away by stimulus overload. The scale of everything, from the building facades, the store displays, the large screen displays changing dynamically…
Another cold morning with snow, freezing rain, and more rain anticipated for today. A somber day. I awakened looking forward to writing this post. The first snippet of news this morning gave content to my somber mood, the mood encapsulated by Paul Simon’s song, My Little Town. The NPR news snippet mentioned that the…
The end of the work week has arrived; a grey overcast winter day with a forecast of snow. Would we be better off if we did not know what is coming? Would we live more contentedly in the present moment, since less about the future would be displayed for speculation on our cell phone…
Music is a blessed respite from the grime, the contamination of day to day politics, commerce, the trade offs that must be made in order for life to go on. I get it, this is not Paradise, this is East of Eden. I do not live in a rose garden. My opportunity, along with…
Exchanged emails with a friend last night. He is a Trump supporter. I am not. I asked him how it is that he is such a Trump-man when his people were immigrants. Perhaps I will hear from him later this morning. We are friends so he will likely have some answer for my consideration. …
for a wall along the southern border. I watched the local five o’clock news on ABC. Becoming drowsy and I fell asleep while watching. I awakened with the realization that the National News broadcast was in progress. I saw images of an iced over highway with a tractor-trailer sliding in slow motion to slam…
A year come and another gone. We celebrate for what? The easy answer is life is short, and one must seize any opportunity to make merry with friends that comes along. That’s an answer that we can depend upon. I think that we also celebrate in hope. The opportunities entailed in the next twelve…
I am not a fan of White Snake. If it takes only one song to make one a fan, then Here I go Again, seals the deal. I envy musicians. Surely it must feel “god-like” to stand before thousands of people with a guitar, or a keyboard and sing that one song which you…
A subtext is a unifying thematic melody that extends underneath, present, intermittently sensible in a larger work. Seated at Starbucks reading silently Anthony O’Hear’s Science Art and the Human World, a challenging work of philosophy of science, a familiar tune playing on the PA came to my awareness. Along with the seasonal Christmas carols…
Why is the Buddha depicted with a countenance of calm, exuding an inner peace with circumstances as they may be? Nirvana. Nirvana is described variously as a mind and heart that accepts things as they happen to be. I’ve never met anyone who has achieved that. A few individuals seemed closer than I to…
