“Times of Yore” Posts

Posts that are tagged with ‘Times of Yore’ are autobiographical. Naturally, many end up quite philosophical for that’s the element that usually hooks my experiences into memory in the first place. However, I am going to attempt to go lighter philosophy-wise, and put more into the ‘experiential moment’.

Refreshing Redundancy

This research, That familiar feeling comes from deep in the brain, sheds light on a cognitive problem for anyone who wants to remember their life priorities. “The research suggests that novelty and familiarity are two sides of the same brain cells. Turn them down, and even the new is boring and old. Turn them up […]

Free Willers Anonymous

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous and similar addiction programs begin their process of recovery by first admitting their addiction and powerlessness over it. That starts clearing away the blind spot that up until then made life very problematic. This first step parallels Buddha’s first step of his Eight-Fold Path—Right Comprehension. Primal instinct drives them all Wouldn’t […]

The Proof is in the Pudding

Buddha felt that we needed to rely on our personal experience to verify his Four Noble Truths, and presumably any other alleged truth. No ‘just take my word for it’ hoodwinking here. Now, the advanced capabilities of modern science really help us separate fact from myth. Still, personal experience must always be the final arbiter. […]

Religion… an Opiate?

Karl Marx famously said, “Religion is the opium of the people”. He went on to identify “religious distress” as the symptom of a social “condition which needs illusions”.(1) Blaming cultural conditions for the dysfunction he saw is putting the cart before the horse. Doing this is as common as it is mistaken. Among other things, […]

You are Immortal!

Yes, you are immortal… we’re all immortal! Certainly, that bold claim demands proof. The proof I have will stand up to your scrutiny only if you concur with Buddha’s account of what ‘you’, ‘I’, and ‘we’ actually are. However, if you don’t accept Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, at least in principle, this post may not […]

Emotion Speaks… Literally

I learned to speak a number of languages during my traveling years. Learning a language in country ‘on the job’, so to speak, is an easy, quick and enjoyable way to learn. During those years, my interest was to communicate—not eloquently mind you, but just enough to get by. Several hundred words and some fearless […]

I Look, But Do I See?

In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. This is profoundly true, although I expect often misinterpreted. For […]

Science’s Baby Steps

Every now and then I’m bowled over by the “Well, duh” discoveries science finally gets around to making. My ‘Well, duh’ relationship with science began early. As a preteen child who liked to play with fire, I discovered that putting ice or cold water on a burn worked great. However, the standard nursing / medical […]

Worthy of a Noble Life?

Last night I dreamed I was about to be hanged. I was adjusting the noose (made of wire of all things) around my neck so that it would kill me efficiently and swiftly rather than slowly suffocate me… I assume. You’d think that would have been a nightmare. Maybe having such a dream as a […]

Earn It to Learn It

Knowing, in the Taoist sense of the word, is not knowledge, per se. As chapter 15 puts it, Of old, the adept student was minutely subtle, open and deep beyond knowledge. As chapter 56 notes, Knowing doesn’t speak; speaking doesn’t know. Times are different now. Our modern electrified pace of life is continuously updating every […]

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“Times of Yore” Posts