Scientist leaving the world. Engraving c.1520. Allegorical representation of changes in medieval conception or interpretation of the heavens when it was thought that the world was flat, discovering the point where heaven and earth meet, twentieth-century coloration of black-and-white engraving from The Atmosphere, by Camille Flammarion, 1888. Anyone who ponders the possibility of an existence … Continue reading The World Outside of Our World
Greetings to all of my readers and visitors here at John's Consciousness! I recently decided to take it up a notch here and acquired my own new domain, "Johns-Consciousness.com," and have marked the occasion with the addition of a new theme as well. There have been some changes in my personal life that have prompted … Continue reading Welcome To The New And Improved John’s Consciousness
Recently, I went for a walk--wandering around the neighborhood--and when I came back, I took a look around the house and was struck by a few particular moments of the extraordinary, waiting to be discovered in the ordinary. Every year around this time, all of nature usually comes alive simultaneously, and it is always a … Continue reading The Extraordinary in the Ordinary
Paulo Coelho's quote brings us to contemplate the very essence of what it means to be alive and what significance our lives may hold in the big picture. We cannot simply move through life oblivious to the deeper meaning that surely must exist at the foundation of our existence in the physical universe. The importance … Continue reading A Little Parenthesis In Eternity
View from Blue Ridge Parkway in southwestern Virginia There are few experiences for frequent highway travelers that can compare with the exceptional countryside road views available along the highways within the Blue Ridge Mountain range, which stretches from northern Georgia all the way up to Pennsylvania. Recent camping trips have resulted in several wonderful opportunities … Continue reading Countryside Contemplation
Yearning for the renewal of all life at the onset of Spring, especially after enduring the bitter cold nights and frigid daytime temperatures of Winter, is a common theme this time of year and my own yearnings in this regard are fairly predictable as the Earth begins its return to an orientation, which grants the … Continue reading Surest Signs of Spring
November has flown by with a swiftness of a fleeting blink of an eye. The autumn this year was reluctant to begin, with summer-like temperatures holding fairly steady well into October in the Northeast corridor, and the delay in arriving at more seasonal weather seemed to mute the changing colors when they finally began to … Continue reading Auguries of Autumn
I found myself traveling today along the rural back roads near my home, on my way back from visiting with my children, and I had the rare opportunity to enjoy a pleasant drive through brilliant sunshine and vibrant blue skies, surrounded by farmland and the exquisite greens of a late summer afternoon. My heart has … Continue reading Why God Sent Us Mozart
An image from the Cassini spacecraft shows Earth as a point of light between the icy rings of Saturn. Credit - Space Science Institute/JPL-Caltech/NASA Thanks to the leaps in satellite technology, undertaken by NASA and others, as well as scientific advances as a result of humanity's efforts to conduct space travel, there now exist many … Continue reading Our Place In The Universe
Since there is so much conversation going on these days about Artificial Intelligence and what we might expect in the coming years as scientists and researchers advance in constructing ever-more complex machines, I thought it might be a good time to consider not only what it means to be "intelligent," but also what importance the … Continue reading What It Means To Feel
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