Essays
The Era of Sound Bites
We live in the era of sound bites.
The overwhelming majority of our communication has been reduced to posts, tweets, text messages, and one-liners. Attention spans have dwindled, and argumentative reasoning has been reduced to “the…
Lessons from a Stray Dog
An unexpected friendship with a stray dog leads to valuable life lessons of love, loyalty, and independence.
The Little Things
The little things in one’s behavior are more important than the big ones. Not “equally important,” as many would easily agree to. But more. It took me years to understand why. I was searching for a…
In the Beginning Is the Word
In the beginning there is always a word. A literal word, which, written or uttered, springs forth a new world, a new universe, a new Creation.
The Uniqueness of Man
You are a unique expression of the Creation. A unique convergence of circumstance. You are one of the latest productions of the universe.
In Abundance
I grew up in Abundance. Not with but in.
Abundance was plenty of food on grandma’s large dining table on the veranda of the inner courtyard; it was effusive love from all relatives, neighbors, and friends; it was ceaseless…
The Unlived Life of Parents
“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”
– Carl Jung
Memento Mori
Everything we see, every natural or manmade object, every natural phenomenon, every animal and human activity, every event in the universe has an invisible substratum that sustains it. A substratum that nourishes, guides, informs. This…
Nicholas the Greek from Nafplio
You are the protagonist of your beloved fairy tales and stories and myths and poems. You are all the heroes you strive to emulate. You are all the lives you collect. Not only are you,…
Aliveness
Dedicated to Brother David Steindl-Rast who turns 90 years young this very day.
Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of our existence. But rightly understood, it…
On Spontaneity
When was the last time you did something completely outside of your program?
Tradition vs. Innovation
Moral rules such as these are general, and it is only when they are put to action in everyday life that they become rules of propriety – at which point they can easily become culturally…
Acting and Reacting
We are immersed in this immeasurable Energy that moves the universe. An Energy that organizes itself into structures – stars, planets, rocks, trees, animals. Objects are moved about by the laws of physics; living organisms…
Quaternities
Wherever we look, we discover that the magic number four reigns supreme. In philosophy, religion, psychology, music, and many other fields, we find that the central concepts with which we organize our world, our understanding…
Big is Beautiful
There is a recent worldwide bias against Big.
Big alienating cities are worse than small beautiful villages.[1] A big fat guy is bad; fashion-model-thin is good. A big meal is bad for your health – “eat light.”…
License to Raise and Rule
To drive a small scooter, one must have a driver’s license.
But to raise children or rule a country, one need have nothing!
Seen from the vantage point of a future observer living in the twenty-fifth century,…
The July Cicada Class
Aesop gave a bad name to the cicadas.
In one of his well-known fables, he talks about a cicada who is lazy all summer, doing nothing but singing under the trees. The cicada urges an ant, who is…
Day and Night
"“Once in awhile, it is good to meditate on this idea while observing the starlit night sky, to feel how rare in the universe is a living planet with light and sounds, and living entities…
On Jane
or How I Became a Binary Black Hole
You often hear phrases like “I have found my other half,” “I felt incomplete until I met you,” “I have been fulfilled in love,” and so on.
In my case it has been exactly the opposite!
Let…
God as an Artist
I am honored to announce the publication of my piece “God As An Artist” in the prestigious British Magazine, Watkins Mind Body Spirit.
Published March 20, 2020.
The Rational Foundations of Gratefulness
“Life is given to us; every moment is given. The only appropriate response therefore is gratefulness.”
– Brother David Steindl-Rast, from The Music of Silence
“This world appears to us rather as a world of suffering than…
Landscapes of the Soul
A socio-horticultural comparative study of the Chinese and Japanese soul through their gardens