One hundred, seventy years ago on this day, Ralph Waldo Emerson presented a paper to the Phi Beta Kappa society at Harvard College. It was a very important and at the same time flawed presentation. Oliver Wendel Holmes would designate it “America’s intellectual declaration of independence.” Which is probably not overstating the matter by a great deal. Up until this time, roughly, American intellectuals looked to Europe for inspiration. Here Emerson outlined some central themes of the Transcendentalist position, a... Read more

I’m just back from assisting the facilitation of a service at the cremation of a child who lived four hours. I first wrote that last line “of a child who lived only four hours.” But, I realized what I was feeling and wanted to express here is that there was no need for the modifier “only.” As I mentioned in an earlier posting from when I was gathering materials for possible use at this service, there is that old story... Read more

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The Human Route Coming empty handed, going empty handed, that is humanWhen you are born, where do you come from?When you die, Where do you go?Life is like a floating cloud, which appears.Death is like a floating cloud, which disappears.The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.But there is one thing that always remains clear.It is pure and clear,Not depending on life and death. Then what is the one and clear... Read more

Mind Over Matter? by Susan Blackmore August 28, 2007 4:30 PM Ben Libet, author of the most famous experiment ever done on consciousness, has died at the age of 91. Not long before his death he wrote me a letter about my book Conversations on Consciousness. Polite and kind though his words were, his real reason for writing was, I think, to ask why he wasn’t one of the interviewees. I was stung into replying immediately to tell him how... Read more

thanks to the Worst Horse for this bit of wisdom Read more

A Sermon by JamesIshmaelFord 26 August 2006 First Unitarian SocietyWest Newton, Massachusetts Text This is what should be doneBy one who is skilled in goodness,And who knows the path of peace:Let them be able and upright,Straightforward and gentle in speech.Humble and not conceited,Contented and easily satisfied.Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,Not proud and demanding in nature.Let them not do the slightest thingThat the wise would later reprove.Wishing: In gladness and in safety,May... Read more

I was poking about the blogosphere today when I ran into a reference at Hadifa Sofia’s Never Say Never to Your Traveling Self to a transcript of an old BBC debate on whether God exists between Frederick Copleston and Bertrand Russell. As an admirer of both I immediately followed Hadifa’s link to the debate. Russell’s An Outline of Philosophy was a very important book early on for me. And Copleston’s History of Philosophy as a larger exploration was, if possible,... Read more

As many probably know a recent study revealed New Yorkers live longer than the national average. Punch Lines, a collection of timely quotes in the Boston Globe’s Saturday “Sidekick” supplement cite Dean Johnston and Tony V’s version of New York’s positive thinking for longer life: “Yo, Death! I got your death right here! Take a walk, shadow of Darkness!” Not a bad mantra for those seeking that longer life, I’m sure… Read more

This past Friday was fullness itself. Jan and I began the early afternoon with a trip to Fenway Park to watch, for the first time in our (admittedly limited) experience, the Red Sox beat another team. This was doubly wonderful as the tickets were rainchecks from the spring. This was a pretty inconvenient time for us and this bit of deliciousness came with a cost. As soon as the game ended we got out of the park as fast as... Read more