After The Rain

After The Rain The silence is only an illusion. It’s just that we do not always hear What is actually still there. The echoes of the rain, Stored in memory, Play over again as the dripping remnants Give a rhythmic tapping serenade. The chaotic winds rise and fall as they cause The rustling of leaves … Continue reading After The Rain

A Capacity for Intelligence

According to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, intelligence is defined as: noun1. capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.2. manifestation of a high mental capacity: "He writes with intelligence and wit." In a recent study conducted at the University of Western Ontario, researchers acknowledged the … Continue reading A Capacity for Intelligence

Finding Our Way Forward

                                                              Even though the world seems to be under a cloud of serial struggles and daunting difficulties presently, there is still good cause to be … Continue reading Finding Our Way Forward

Isolation Contemplation

With much more time being spent at home these days, I’ve had more time than usual for actually sitting at my desk and have been reading and writing a bit more often, and taking the opportunity to consider more carefully the events in the world-at-large, as well as those closer to home. The photo above … Continue reading Isolation Contemplation

Isolation Intuition

During this time of social isolation, as we join in the efforts to support each other and to slow the progress of the recent proliferation of the virus spreading across the globe, it is important to keep in mind that even as we must sacrifice our routines and leave our normal social activities unattended for … Continue reading Isolation Intuition

Forging Ahead

Reflecting back over the years of my life now has taken on a wholly different character and sense of urgency. Each time I sit down to write these days, I am reminded by all of the objects surrounding me that the accumulation of years has also resulted in an enormous accumulation of memories and souvenirs … Continue reading Forging Ahead

Looking Back and Looking Forward

When I began this blog in earnest back in January of 2011, my general goals were to share my decades-long journey of personal development, to express what I had learned while researching the nature of the events which occurred in my youth, and to invite my readers to join me in considering some of the … Continue reading Looking Back and Looking Forward

Perception and Introspection

Ever find yourself staring out into a natural landscape, almost intoxicated by the immediate sensory experience, and suddenly find yourself ruminating thoroughly within your inner world? This happens to me a lot, and when I came upon views like this one along the cascade trail in the Jefferson National Forest in Pembroke, Virginia, I couldn't … Continue reading Perception and Introspection

50,000 Blog Visits

It is with some humility, surprise, and measured delight that I acknowledge the accumulation of over 50,000 blog views here on John's Consciousness. While I generally find it surprising that any greater-than-normal number of visitors stop by to read here in a day or within a particular week or month as the statistics report, this … Continue reading 50,000 Blog Visits

The Middle Path

"Until the sixteenth century, men in general thought of space and time as though they were limited compartments in which objects were juxtaposed and interchangeable. The human mind believed itself to be perfectly at home in this universe, within which it tranquilly wove its pattern of metaphysics. And then one day this attitude began to … Continue reading The Middle Path