Category Archives: Philosophy

No matter how hard we attempt to position humanity as a special gift to the universe, we’re sometimes forced to remember we’re eventually all forgotten. Regardless how noble or ignoble our acts, no matter what damage we do or what … Continue reading →

Recently, I was thinking about good and evil (I use both words advisedly, as I do not attribute to them any religious significance) in humankind. I wondered why, when we as humans generally agree that good is the preferable of … Continue reading →

A quote from Ram Dass is on my mind this morning. “After all, we’re just walking each other home.” Those words often find their way to my consciousness, but I never seem to be able to fathom precisely why they … Continue reading →

Forgiveness does not excuse a person from having done wrong, nor is it a gift of redemption one gives to someone else. Forgiveness is not extended to another person for the other person’s benefit. It is a gift to oneself … Continue reading →

Years ago, when I stilled lived in Dallas, I bought a book by Pema Chödrön, an American Tibetan Buddhist monk. A guy I had worked with years before recommended it to me during a phone conversation I initiated to reconnect … Continue reading →

Spontaneity matters to me. Spontaneity is real. It mines desires and motivations and wishes from the substance of day-to-day life and turns that raw ore into experience. Friends who can adapt to spontaneity and who become part of it are … Continue reading →

Americans tend to overestimate their culture’s superiority and to underestimate the value of other cultures. I think two processes are going on that perpetuate these attitudes. The overestimation of American culture is, I believe, trained into us. We are told … Continue reading →

I sat on the deck for at least three hours last evening, watching dull daylight wash into a dim darkness interrupted ever-so-slightly by a few bright stars, the red planet, and the blinking lights of airplanes. The planet I assumed … Continue reading →

My recent post about a guy picking up the tab for my wife’s lunch and some comments that followed prompted me to think quite a lot. My thoughts, both purely philosophical and emotionally introspective, led to no firm “position” on … Continue reading →

I’ve given considerable thought of late to whether the behavior of movie stars, politicians, and other public figures who are accused of—or actually admit to—being sexual predators warrants nullifying the value of any contributions they may have made to society. … Continue reading →

Two years ago today, I read an article entitled The Art of the Mistake, by Alice Driver. The article moved me to tears. I doubt others would be moved to tears the way I was. But the ideas offered in … Continue reading →

I’m late in writing this morning because I’ve been thinking, the kind of thinking with which writing would interfere. Most of the time, writing propels my thoughts, but some thoughts require me to abandon writing for a while so I … Continue reading →

I did it again. I sat outside on the deck, staring up at the sky. The stars and planets, again, transfixed me and held me in a state bordering between awe and confusion and deep appreciation for mysteries beyond my capacity … Continue reading →