Recently, I was at the license bureau renewing my driver’s permit. The waiting room was jammed. The ticket machine spat out a slip indicating I was 85th in the queue. The Now Serving screen displayed the number 21; time to practice my Buddha nature. As I settled into an uncomfortable plastic chair, I gazed around the room. Everyone had their head bowed. They were not praying! What did people do before smartphones? I decided to leave my phone in my jacket and just watch. Not

Let’s say you are at the park and see a 5-year-old girl playing on a swingset. There’s nothing special about that; you notice her and move on. Alternatively, what if that 5-year-old is your daughter or granddaughter? The Austrian-Israeli philosopher Martin Buber contrasted such experiences, describing them as “I-It,” vs. “I-Thou” encounters. “I-Its” are dispassionately labeled and filed away in memory, whereas “I-Thous” are imbued with intimacy. The “I-It” world is grounde

Thanks again to everyone who purchased my new book, The Secret Within. I would greatly appreciate it if you posted a review on Amazon. This is the second post in a three-part series that provides a brief preview of the book. I have also posted a video on my YouTube channel featuring an interview I … Continue reading “The Secret Within, Part 2”

The Secret Within-Part 1 A special thanks to everyone who bought The Secret Within last week, propelling it briefly to #3 on Amazon’s new releases in the Emotional Mental Health category. Reviews posted on Amazon are greatly appreciated! This post, along with two more that follow, provides a brief preview of the book. ———————————————————— Part … Continue reading “Silent Fitness: Part 1, Awakening to Awareness”

Announcing the publication of my new book, The Secret Within: Finding Peace In Hard Times, by Clipston Publishing, now available on Amazon. How does one live joyfully despite difficult circumstances? Here’s what I learned after many years. Stressful events can dominate our thoughts. Learning to let go of troubling thoughts is like discovering a new … Continue reading “It’s Finally Here!”

What is the purpose of education? Presumably, it’s to learn things. But how do we determine whether or not that is occurring? My education was geared toward providing answers. Students with excellent memories held a significant advantage. I’m not sure that works anymore. I remember challenging my teachers with questions like “Why do I need … Continue reading “The Role of Education In An AI World”

What are the most important questions of life? Philosophical questions addressing life’s open-ended mysteries interest me most. I’m a mystic at heart, a person who, according to Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), seeks “union with reality.” From a practical standpoint, that means not only endeavoring to improve my life and the lives of those around me, but … Continue reading “The Space Between”

ChatGPT 3.5 was publicly released in November 2022. Prior to that time, very few people had directly interfaced with artificial intelligence. In January 2023, I asked Chat to review my blog and was blown away by its summary. I am a researcher by nature and immediately saw this was something very different. I signed up … Continue reading “AI: A Personal Update and Reflections”

Have you ever driven down the highway, arrived at your intended exit, and then wondered how you got there? Every time that happens, it scares me to death. Would I have snapped out of my thoughts if a deer had run out in front of me? When absorbed in thought, we’re oblivious to what’s going … Continue reading “The Tyranny of Thought”

“The world is deep, and deeper than day can comprehend.” -Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra I’ve always been interested in the bizarre, stranger-than-fiction workings of the sub-atomic world. It’s been said that the behavior of subatomic particles is not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine. When an electron (a negatively … Continue reading “Many Worlds”

Imagine, if you will, that a valuable box of paints is bestowed upon you; paints that have special properties, rendering them capable of producing a masterwork. -They are colorfast; every hue will outlive you. -They easily mix together or stand alone as you choose. -The paints express even the lightest brush strokes. “But I’m not … Continue reading “The Painter”

In the late 70s, a regular feature of TV’s Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment was a skit called Point-Counterpoint, starring actors Jane Curtin and Dan Akroyd. The skit featured a political opinion expressed by Jane Curtin and a caustic response from Dan Akroyd. In the most famous of these skits, Curtain argued that a … Continue reading “What Are We Really Talking About?”

We have two Siberian cats. As the name implies, they were domesticated from the wilds of frigid Siberia. To survive sub-zero temperatures, they developed a three-layered coat of dense fur. The cats are with us always; I mean that literally. The other day, I donned black dress slacks to attend a funeral. Once in the … Continue reading “Sticky Tape”

I recently stumbled across a mind-blowing stat. It seems that eighty-eight percent of the U.S. Population is younger than me, which is to say, they haven’t yet reached their 70th birthday. I knew I was getting up there, but honestly, I had no idea how exclusive my longevity is. Let’s face it, old people are, … Continue reading “We Become Our Thoughts”

This past weekend, we took down the Christmas decorations. The house now feels barren. An emptiness has set in. It didn’t seem that way before the Holiday Season. Maybe what I’m feeling is just the onset of winter’s blues; now that Holiday parties are over, and the grandkids have left. But it’s more than … Continue reading “Extending the Holiday Spirit”

Antifragile is a term coined by Nicholas Taleb, a mathematical statistician whose work centers on problems of randomness, probability, complexity, and uncertainty (which sounds a lot like the circumstances of our lives). His book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder, is a little dry, so I’ll save you the trouble of reading it by summarizing … Continue reading “Antifragile”

Is it just me, or does the year 2000 not seem that long ago to you, too? I’m not into the “New Year, New Me” gig; mostly, for practical reasons. I used to make New Year’s resolutions, but there are only so many times one can resolve to lose 30 pounds before just saying, “screw … Continue reading “How Should We Live This Life?”

A thoughtful holiday reflection on Spirit, human connection, and the unseen force drawing us toward unity and wholeness.