I recently put together a collection of photographs that I have taken over the course of the autumn season, from the very early autumn at a nearby state park, all the way through to the final days of the season with all of the leaves on the ground in my backyard. I put them into … Continue reading Autumn Reverie
The times when I am at my quietest is when I am best able to recall the connection of souls, lingering in memory. Perhaps, as a memory, reflecting on the connection seems delightful in a way that is sometimes difficult to see when we are actually experiencing the connection. Gazing upon those we love, and … Continue reading The Connection of Souls
In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, William Faulkner addressed important elements surrounding the "poet's, the writer's duty:" "I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of … Continue reading A Universal Spiritual Perspective
In my previous post, I wrote about author Richard Brautigan, whose success in the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's brought him great notoriety and financial rewards for a time. His tendency to engage in a variety of self-destructive behaviors, and a degree of recklessness in attending to his own well-being, over time, ultimately led … Continue reading Crossroads
"I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfill our destiny, but our fate is sealed."--Paulo Coelho "Strange things blow in through my window on the wings … Continue reading The Flow of Destiny
"There is something in the mountain air that feeds the spirit and inspires." -- Henry David Thoreau from his essay, "Walking," 1862 Once again, after a long hiatus due to the complications of modern life, I had the privilege of traveling into nature's cathedral, unwinding from the relentless demands of daily life, and drifting into … Continue reading September Journey
August has nearly flown by this year, due in large part to the rapid pace of life these days for me, but also by virtue of the daunting blank page that has been staring back at me these past several months. There have been lots of ideas and thoughts and musings percolating in my heart … Continue reading August Musings
"July, she will fly, And give no warning to her flight." --from the Simon and Garfunkel song, "April, Come She Will," 1966, "Sounds of Silence" July did fly past for me in important ways. It seems I wasn't able to post anything last month, and there was no warning for me that it would be … Continue reading July…She Will Fly…
Some of the most personally compelling spiritual experiences of my life took place long before I could even identify them as being spiritual. My earliest memories of childhood were punctuated periodically with moments of a kind of "unconscious awareness" of energies or forces beyond my direct experience of the world; occasionally precipitating unplanned and unexpected … Continue reading Avenues to Spirituality
"The working hypothesis of this book is that consciousness emerges from neuronal features of the brain. Understanding the material basis of consciousness is unlikely to require any exotic new physics, but rather a much deeper appreciation of how highly interconnected networks of a large number of heterogeneous neurons work. The abilities of coalitions of neurons … Continue reading Quest for Consciousness
John's Consciousness 