I have a favorite trope that I cite from time to time. It goes “the spirit lists (or rests) where it will.” As a Zen Buddhist I’ve always felt it captures something of the (if you will) spirit of Zen’s awakening. While I know it is biblical, I have to admit I’d forgotten the actual citation. So, I googled it. Using quotes around the phrase in either variation I was distressed to discover me providing the first two quotes each... Read more
Willie Hugh Nelson was born on this day, the 29th of April, in 1933 in Abbot, Texas. Not long after both his parents left and he was raised by his grandparents. When he was six his grandfather taught him to pick on a guitar. Soon he and his sister were singing gospel in local churches. He is said to have written his first song at seven. Willie was a member of a band, the Bohemian Polka, at nine. He hated... Read more
A few random thoughts from the monkey mind… Neurologist Norman Farb at the University of Toronto has devoted most of his research to consciousness and what happens during mindfulness meditation. . He identifies two ways we normally perceive things within our human minds. He calls one narrative—the process by which we take the discrete events of our lives and weave them into a story. This mode is essential to our sense of identity. The other is the experience of the... Read more
Today I officially became a life time member of Weight Watchers. What that means is that I achieved my official “goal” weight, and now six weeks from that weigh in I’ve been able to stay within four pound range of my achieved goal weight (two tenths of a pound over the mid-point, thank you for asking). And now as long as I keep within some parameters, mainly not exceeding that goal weight by more than two pounds and weighing in... Read more
This morning as I got up to make my coffee I heard the now familiar joyful squawking that told me the parrots are visiting the neighborhood. We live in Long Beach’s Alamitos Beach neighborhood. Our local feral colony actually live in Belmont Shore the next neighborhood over. But they like to roam a little. And on some rough cycle they come around our neck of the woods every three or four or five days. I’m not positive I’d been quite... Read more
Jan and I took off for our regular weekly movie and a dinner this past Sunday. Our desired weekly rhythm had been interrupted by various events. And, also, one or two of the films we saw most recently didn’t fit for my review standards (I either can say something positive, or I don’t write about it), so thanks to that perfect storm it’s been a while since I’ve been able to share our reaction to a movie. And then this... Read more
The 24th of April marks the anniversary of the beginning of what the Armenian people call the Great Calamity, and what the rest of the world calls the Armenian genocide. I believe this event is not noticed enough outside of the Armenian diaspora. And, I find in that something deeply disturbing. So, most years I try to hold it up. When I was in the pulpit I visited the subject a number of times. And, now, here, on this blog.... Read more
As it happens today is the Feast of St George. I’ve always been suspicious of the original story. However, thanks to the scholarly investigations of Stan Washburn, we have access to what really happened in those days of yore when the dragon and George walked this good earth. Sadly, this study has been long supressed (okay, out of print). But, thanks to my own relentless digging around the web, I’ve found the text, nearly complete. I reprinted it back in 2011.... Read more
Today across the nation there are a number of public demonstrations set as a “March for Science.” I’m an enthusiastic supporter of anything that holds up science. And, these days of political turmoil where we have stumbled into a fact free era, this isn’t a bad time to pause and recall. As I hope everyone knows, today, the 22nd of April is also Earth Day. I suspect there was no coincide in this meeting of these two events. Earth Day... Read more
Back in 2008 I read a review of the book Merton & Buddhism: Wisdom, Emptiness & Everyday Mind edited by Bonnie Bowman Thurston. The reviewer cited a particular line that I’ve not been able to shake. “(W)hen the Dalai Lama was asked if he believed in God, he replied ‘It depends on what you mean by ‘God’: if you mean by ‘God’ What Thomas Merton means, then yes, I do.’” This very much caught my imagination. And, I wrote on... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In