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
In everyday conversation, and in most situations requiring a verbal response, we take for granted that the simple expression of words in the appropriate order will suffice to communicate the basic information that will satisfy the immediate question at hand. If someone asks you what kind of day you are having, your first inclination is … Continue reading Poetry: The Language of the Spirit
Before I was able to relinquish my tenuous grasp on consciousness after working through the night, The irresistible call of the spring morning sun pulled my heart and mind to delay fitful sleep for a moment of blissful, temperate contemplation of the season's gifts; waves of sunlight, gentle breaths of wind, tranquil murmur of memories-- … Continue reading Echoes of the Moment
Recent criticism of the Templeton Organization by science writer John Horgan in his blog on Scientific American, “Cross Check” asked the question, “Is there such a thing as a spiritual fact? This question is brought to mind by the Templeton Prize, which was given last week to the British astrophysicist Martin Rees.” Horgan states his … Continue reading Spiritual Information
After work tonight, exhausted but grateful for the opportunity to work, I slipped a classical music CD into the player and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. Since I have only recently begun working on the overnight shift, I have struggled to adjust to the hours which have me traveling to work when most … Continue reading Keeping Myself Going
Conventional wisdom these days isn't much help when we look ahead to the future of life on earth, since life is fairly unconventional these days by most reckonings, and even what might previously have been described as common sense hardly seems common at all anymore. If there is any consolation to the currently prevailing uncertainty … Continue reading Human Intelligence, Computers, and Consciousness
John's Consciousness 