Author Archive for carl
A non-neurotic nitpicking conversation
Noticing differences really aids survival… up the point of diminishing returns. Continuing along this path is counterproductive and eventually leads to anxiety of some sort. Of course, in the wild, such discernment would seldom turn as worrisome.
Civilization, in taming the wilderness, removes natural stresses that would otherwise counterbalance us, and before we know it, we’ve become neurotic nitpickers in one way or other. Continue reading ‘Balancing Difference With Similarity’
I sat looking out over the ocean this crisp morning. My morning routine (yoga, calligraphy in the sand and tai chi) were done so I could just sit in the sand and let my mind think on itself. What stood out today was how clearly consciousness is separate from thinking. This is a radical view. Indeed, many define consciousness as thinking (i.e., no thinking, no consciousness). That is just crazy. Naturally, what I say will sound crazy to them – especially where I end up. Continue reading ‘Thinking clouds consciousness’
A little one on one with my bird
I bought a caged finch in Japan years ago. I took it home and left the cage door open so it could fly around if it wished. It wouldn’t. It just stayed contentedly in its cage. Weeks or months (I forget which) passed before it ventured out. I left the window open too, and soon it would go out, fly about, and return home. The Bird stayed away longer and longer until one day it didn’t return.
I notice a parallel here between me and that bird. I spent years, more or less inside civilization’s paradigm, venturing out of society’s cultural cage from time to time. Continue reading ‘Where Is Freedom?’
This eye-opening report aired on CBS recently, but unfortunately they offer no online link to the video. They do provide the transcript: From CBS Sunday Morning: Decisions, Decisions. Here is a short excerpt between the researcher Lerner and the reporter Spencer:
But sadder still?
“We’ve never succeeded, never, in having people recognize the irrational influence of incidental emotion,” Lerner laughed.
“Never?” Spencer said.
“And then to make steps, no. Never.” Continue reading ‘Decisions Decisions’
I had a little bakery on the Thai Cambodian border in the early 60’s. It was little more than a shack, but enough for me and my Thai ‘wife’(1) (along with her mother, brother, sister). Most of the customers were Thai peasants who would stop by for some sponge cake on their return from the town market. Being partial to sponge cake, business never grew; I ate up most of the profits. After rising early to bake the days offerings, I’d sit at the front of the shop and swat at flies while awaiting customers. Continue reading ‘Poor Thais And Rich Swedes’
John Wheeler, was a visionary physicist and teacher who helped invent the theory of nuclear fission, gave black holes their name and argued about the nature of reality with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. He must also have been a ‘closet Taoist’. He had this to say about language and time:
“We have learned how to use our words. It’s a fantastic thing – we humans are so easily trapped in our own words. The word time, for instance. We run into puzzles about the concept of time and then we say, ‘Oh what a terrible thing’. We don’t realize we’re the source of the puzzle because we invented the word.” Continue reading ‘Time’s Arrow’
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