* not to be confused with this springtime. I spoke with my sister in L.A. yesterday and she was sad this year that spring had come and yet nothing had changed in her city. “Beautiful day today, beautiful day yesterday, beautiful day tomorrow,” she lamented. It seems odd, but there is a cost to living in city where the weather patterns alter only slightly with the seasons. “Our bodies,” she noted, “are made for seasons.” At least I know mine... Read more

I’m having a hard time keeping up with all of these online toys and tools of late. Busy, busy, busy, IRL (in real life). So, as I’m not keeping up on twitter or blip.fm or facebook like I should be, here are some very short ‘me’ updates: Great ambient music – right here (and free) – hense no blips recently. BEAUTIFUL day in Missoula – BIG blue skies – I should jog… Having occasional weird ’emotional’ flashbacks of late; told... Read more

Along with much of the other wonderful news of last week came a very lovely award from Kristen, aka Miss Vesper of Vesper in Limbo. (Thanks, miss V) If you’re awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award, you’re supposed to post 7 Things You Love and 7 Kreativ Bloggers whom you wish to bestow the award upon. 7 Things I Love: [aka 7 things I’m grateful for] Buddhist Philosophy – So maybe it’s a bit nerdy, but when I take the time... Read more

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So much going on – as usual. Let’s see…. This week I found out that my proposal was accepted for the American Academy of Religion, AAR, conference (next November in Montreal)! I made my first hike of the year up Mount Sentinel for the sunset last night, along the way discovering the first -to me at least- wildflowers blooming along the hillside. And I plowed through yet another very interesting book on Borderline Personality Disorder… AAR I am very, very... Read more

Gotta love this guy: I had the pleasure of meeting Don Brown, the speaker here, twice over the last couple years as he has traveled to Missoula each summer for our National Science Foundation program: Debating Science. He concludes this talk by quoting writer Bill McKibben who said the following: I’m sitting here wondering why Americans don’t see Climate Change as a moral and an ethical issue. It makes me think of my parents, who were really good people, but... Read more

In reverse order – two pics taken after Earth Hour Saturday night and one just before (choosing to not use even the camera during the hour): The hour was wonderful, a well-needed break from electric lights, the net, digital music, and all the rest that we simply take for granted 99% of the time. And, with all of those out of the way, Julie and I simply sat, sipped our wine, and enjoyed one another’s company, things that I also... Read more

Where is your country? According to the article, published at Reporters Without Borders (RWB), “Only peace protects freedoms in post-9/11 world“ Amongst the best countries, as you would imagine, were stable European countries like Iceland (1), Luxembourg (2), and Norway (3). (note that Iceland’s financial crisis hasn’t seemed to shake their press freedoms – perhaps it will in the future though). Update – actually Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway are tied for 1st (thanks Tom, for the heads up). And, at... Read more

These are my notes for a short introduction to Buddhism/Buddhist meditation given to a class on campus today (man, I love teaching, but more on that later). Perhaps they will be of some use to you or you might have suggestions for changes: ~ Basics of Buddhism / Buddhist Ethics / Buddhist Meditation 1 – the worldview – just to get you inside the mind a bit of the Buddha or his followers a. Samsara – cycle of rebirth /... Read more

Busy – I think is how I’d describe my life of late, but then again that’s nothing new. I’ve sent a bit of work to my advisor and await word back. I’ve promised more soon – along the lines of which I am enjoying Rupert Gethin’s 1997 article “Cosmology and Meditation: From the Aggañña-Sutta to the Mahāyāna” from History of Religions (Vol.36, No.3). He makes a persuasive argument that cosmology in early Buddhism (and beyond) must be taken seriously, even... Read more