I continue to be interested in what might possibly be universal ethical codes. In the secular realm intimations of what such might be are found in various declarations of human rights such as the United Nations powerful Declaration of Human Rights. Today is the anniversary of one of that Declaration’s source documents. On this day in 1789 (or perhaps the next day), the National Constituent Assembly, France’s revolutionary government issued a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Together... Read more

We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T. S. Eliot in Little Gidding Read more

‘Twas time to put the paint brushes down and drive to far Western Massachusetts for our every year hit of rustic high culture. Old friends Sue & ‘Ar have a cabin (New Englanders appear to prefer the word “camp”) outside the tiny town of Otis and invite various friends at various times over the warm season to share their beautiful get away. We belong to a little band of six (the number of beds available, and includes Jackie and Judy)... Read more

Well, it looks like our family moving into Pawtucket project is not going to end at any time soon. But, we’re not upset… No, sir! We’re putting down the paint and are off to our annual Tanglewood weekend with some old and dear friends. We’ll bring the laptop, but probably will not be near any web access ’till late Sunday… Read more

In my youth as I devoured science fiction my tastes ran to what in those days was called “hard” science fiction, written by people with engineering backgrounds, or if not certainly who should have… But one author I found as I explored the range of the genre who didn’t convey that particular and frankly limiting sensibility was Ray Bradbury. Bradbury was the first author I encountered who might be termed “writerly.” His love of language and use of it immediately... Read more

My old friend the Dharma bum who blogs (sadly, only as the whim strikes, and that appears to happen rarely) as Weasel Tracks puts it all on the line & reveals for us the great way: Question: Do you believe in God? Answer: No. Question: So, you are an atheist! Answer: No. Question: Then what do you believe in? Answer: As little as possible. If you want to understand Zen, my friends, Uncle Weasel has opened his mouth and revealed... Read more

I’ve decided to considerably shorten my links, particularly the section linking to UU blogs. I felt a little bad, particularly deleting links to friend’s blogs. But, the aggregator links are so good it really is duplicating and I fear the long list I had was too daunting for folk to actually use. So, the links now are just the ones I actually go to frequently… I’ve kept most of the Zen and Buddhist links as there is no similar aggregator... Read more

I think lots about this. I know one reason I began looking beyond the bounds of my Zen practice was how I felt there really wasn’t much worthy of the term “community” within the Zen groups I had access to. The question was what, if anything, to do about it… For ages I had been aware of Unitarian Universalism. I’d even visited a few congregations over the years. But they seemed to be weak on spirituality, at least as I... Read more

One of the good ones. She will be missed… Read more

Steve Dublanica, probably my favorite non-spiritual (that’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it?) blogger has just posted a reflection on the differences between blogging and writing a book. In that post, he gives some interesting definitions of what a blog might me.A blog is defined by the hive mind over at Wikipedia as “a website usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in... Read more