Dumped into a riot zone by our pathetic-in-the-inadequate-sense mental health care system, unable to obtain medication that might have helped stabilize him, without even a place to stay the night, perhaps Rosenbaum lost himself in an external chaos matching his inner one. Read more
You can’t solve the halting problem, you can’t make someone love you, and you can’t make those you love do what’s best for them. And there is a freedom in knowing this. A sadness too; but in the long run even more sadness — and anger and guilt — results when we believe we can do the impossible, and fail. Read more
In traditional East Asian medicine, autumn is the season associated with Metal in the “Five Elements” or “Five Phases” (wu xing). Metal is the element of pruning, of letting go and cutting away; of grief and of courage. But my inspiration for this sigil is more personal that the turning of the seasons. Read more
Star Wars is heavily influenced by the mythology of the samurai; and the philosophy of the samurai was Zen. And one of the most important figures in the history of Zen was Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch, who gave Zen much of its distinctive flavor, and who is famously painted tearing up a sutra, one of the sacred texts of Buddhism. Read more
Dionysus can take you places and give you power and freedom if you respect him and work carefully with him and are fortunate. But he will f**k you up without a second thought if you are not careful. Or sometimes even just at random, if you happen to rub him the wrong way. Read more
British imperialism shaped how Zionism developed, betrayed the Arabs of Palestine, and is a root cause of the century-long conflict. Read more
Our “energy” is an experiential, psycho-socio-emotional phenomenon. It’s not measured in kilowatt-hours or Newton-meters. Read more
Thus the Ouija board, with roots in Swedenborgian and Spiritualist philosophies that put a benevolent God in firm charge of the universe with no room for a Devil, regarded for decades as something safe enough for Normal Rockwell and I Love Lucy, became a prime target of America’s Satanic Panic because it was included in a scary movie. Read more
It conveniently happened that Walpurga was canonized on May 1 of 870 (or so), when her remains were relocated to church. This provided cover for people to celebrate the old pagan cross-quarter day under pretext of venerating the saint. Read more
Had a visitor to the neighborhood on Sunday who seemed worth commemorating in a poem. So: the fox stands under the streetlight and screams his song up at my window it’s 1am Easter morning I’m up late working (the “day job” even though it’s night, nothing creative) but this little redhead sounds his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the suburbs and calls me back to something untranslatable Read more
