Ever since the hominid brain evolved sufficiently to provide modern humans with a degree of cognitive talent that still surpasses any other known species, the blossoming of conscious awareness slowly provided Homo sapiens with the ability to not only be aware that they exist, but to utilize this new ability deliberately and with purpose. It … Continue reading The Voice of Thought
The apprehension of knowledge and the accumulation of experience, when it is applied to some fruitful goal can be a labor of love which produces beneficial results and extraordinary achievements. New experience is an essential component of progress and in spite of being potentially fraught with unanticipated consequences and unforeseen dangers may uncover key elements … Continue reading Shared Experience
My own vague recollections of my earliest memories seem to begin in my third year of life, shortly before my third birthday when our family moved to Pennsylvania from Schenectady, New York. Bits and pieces of memory from those early days still exist within me, and I remember most vividly, sitting on the large windowsill … Continue reading Memory, Language, Early Childhood
James Taylor wrote a song called, "Carolina In My Mind," asking two questions: "Can't you feel the sunshine? Can't you just see the moonshine?" The chorus ends with the words, "I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind." Have you ever been transported to another time as you became lost in a powerfully written book, or … Continue reading Experience of Imagination
With all of the shouting and media coverage of the demise of Osama bin Laden, perhaps the most poignant and important response after the announcement by President Obama, came from a woman named Carie Lemack, whose mother, Judy Larocque, was on American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the North Tower between the 94th and 99th … Continue reading Compassion versus Terrorism
Vaughn Williams knew something about the early morning by the time he composed "The Lark Ascending," and for me it is nearly impossible to hear this piece without imagining myself at some observation point in the early morning as the day begins. The following posting by Barbara Heninger briefly describes the orchestral version: The work … Continue reading As April Ends…The Lark Ascends
John's Consciousness 