Me, age 3, actually fishing... sort of.
The fish are biting and I’m reeling ‘em in, I’m just not posting ‘em. Posting requires so much clean up to make ‘em fit for reading.
Finishing the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching was the catalyst I guess I needed to reevaluate things. I’ve wondered for a while now why I post in the first place.
I mean, the Taoist point of view has to be among the oddest and most ironic subjects to speak on. After all, he who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know. Continue reading ‘Gone Fishin’, Back Soon’
For years, up until my early forties, I was drunk on thought fortified with the certainty of belief. Fortunately for me, I found a way to help detoxify myself, but it is still a moment-by-moment affair.
Recovering alcoholics continue to say, “I’m an alcoholic”, even as they stay on the straight and narrow moment-to-moment, day to day, year to year. Likewise, I would have to say I’m a thinker, recovering from certainty in thought moment-to-moment, day to day, year to year. (Really! I’ve sobered up a lot. You should have seen me before.) Continue reading ‘Sobering up!’
"To use words but rarely is to be natural."
Awhile ago a friend said to me (1), “Words are sounds that gain meaning with use. Saying a rock is conscious is like saying a rock is alive. Might work in a poem but not for logical communication. Look in dictionaries for guides to usage (of course, they’re fallible) rather than rely on my memory”
So I looked up conscious and then the tracked down some of the words used to define that word. As usual, it turns out to feel like a vicious circle. Clearly, word definition is a messy affair when you scratch the surface (which few ever do in my experience). Nevertheless, I can articulate why a rock, or even an atom for that matter, qualifies as being conscious using this trail of definitions, Continue reading ‘Is Rock Conscious?’
Yum yum
Eventually science will discover most everything that is discoverable(1). Recently research, reported in the Science News’ article, Cerebral Delights, flushed out some primary neurological links between fear and need.
I have felt for a few years now that fear stood at the head waters of all emotion, including those related to need. Additionally, what fear and need mean is not as straightforward as often thought, at least as I use those words. So before getting into the meat of this issue, I should clarify my sense of these words, especially need. For starters, you might review my caveats concerning need and fear. Continue reading ‘Reward, Fear & Need’
Viewing life impartially is one of the least stimulating experiences I know. Biased views, on the other hand, are chock full of emotional tension, highs and lows, loves and hates… it’s exciting! In the same way, a good story is exciting; a ‘cold hard truth’ is often awe-full. This should be fairly evident right off the bat. Now, through correlations, I’ll take it a step further to show how it is not truth we love; it’s the story .
Mea Maxima Culpa
What exactly are biased views? Frankly, any view that points out differences should qualify. Oh shucks, that includes me right now. Paradoxically, I must resort to bias in my attempt to write about truth. I suppose this exemplifies— when cleverness emerges there is great hypocrisy—it’s downright ironic and humbling. Oh well. Continue reading ‘The Story Trumps Truth’
Soon after we met, my future to be wife said, “I love you”. That moment had all the ideal romantic overtones one could ask for… us out in the forest, a moonlit summer’s night. Being the bubble busting bum of which I’m capable, I replied with something like, “What do you mean love? What’s love?” Frankly, the word had lost its “magic”, after being dumped by my ex-wife the year before (1).
This word has piqued my curiosity again, now that my sons are dating. The word love presents a good example of the iffy nature of words, names, and language over all. There are many words that are more or less synonymous with love. Continue reading ‘Love’
There is more to fear than meets the eye. We often associate the symptoms of fear (the reactions fear initiates) as the fear itself. This can evokes mental images of fear as a screaming and fleeing experience.
As I see it, this is a reaction to feeling fear, not fear itself. The other most common reaction to feeling fear is the opposite of fleeing; it is attack and anger. Continue reading ‘Fear Is The Bottom Line’
I am struck by how obvious, yet secret, the relationship between science, religion and truth are. This could be another example of ’words very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice‘. There is, I’ve found, profound spiritual meaning in core scientific laws (truths). Why then the battle between religion and science. The problem begin with definition. There is the blatantly partisan side of religion, and the common humble spiritual truth from which religion spring. The Latin root, religare (”to reconnect,”) says it all (the prefix re “again” + ligare “bind, connect”). The war we see, are battles between the religious partisans and science. These passionate adherents are religious in name mostly. Continue reading ‘Science, Religion, Truth’
A World Filtered Blue
I know, that sounds odd. I suppose it parallels that equally intriguing One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know. The problem with thought lies in the preconceptions necessary to think, and of course speak. This sets up a wall of ‘understanding’ which hinders us from seeing anything outside that wall of preconception (i.e., ‘understanding’ requires relying on the preconceptions – words and names – instilled into our awareness as infants). Continue reading ‘The less I think, the more I know’
Emergent Termite Cathedral
Biology (among other disciplines) makes use of the emergent property concept wherein simple structures, processes and order form a foundation upon which more complex properties (structures, processes, order) can emerge. Frankly, I notice this principle behind everything. I see each layer of existence as an emergent property modeled on something more primal. That’s not surprising really, for I’m always on the lookout for mysterious sameness. Continue reading ‘Tao As Emergent Property’
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