Carl Abbott

I was looking out the window this bright sunny morning watching all the birds dining at our bird feeder. They were busy going about doing their thing, which at the moment was eating sunflower seeds. Next, I thought of the role they serve in nature by eating seeds. Presumably, they deposit some of those seeds […]

In our youth, life is the movement toward goals and away from fears. With aging comes the winding down of this movement. The losses and failures that accrue through one’s life, in conjunction with the ever-increasing physical decline, awaken a natural “appreciation” of death. There is less ability to pursue goals, and even if there […]

The extraordinary human capacity for empathy is a result of mirror neurons. Empathy, like any other emotion, greatly influences thought. This creates an interesting, perhaps unique, quandary for humans. On one hand, this empathy (+) thought imparts an ability in humans to feel a profound sense of connection to nature and the universe beyond the […]

Our need for the answer plays a core role in our disease. And the connection between food and this need for answers reveals why. For a hungry empty stomach, food is the ‘answer’. For a curious empty mind, answers are the food it seeks. The promise of food, and by extension answers, attracts us like […]

Overall, ‘realizing I don’t know’ is utterly true. Yet, making that blanket statement is self-contradictory I suppose… a bit paradoxical. Within certain defined limitations, we can know what we know. The problem really arises from putting too much faith in what we think we know. Holding beliefs are like following false prophets, i.e., “And many […]