On Reflection… part 2

There have been times when it has seemed appropriate to appeal to the metaphor of a snake shedding its skin. This last year brings to mind a different serpentine behavior, stupor induced by the effort to digest an enormous meal. An Anaconda at these times can be mistaken for a fallen tree trunk….

On Reflection… part 1

David Bohm and Jiddu Krishnamurti were right in posing that the incoherence of thought is our greatest challenge. Some thirty years later the burning question is; why has their legacy not borne fruit? What did they miss? What’s gone wrong?

Confusion is part of the message

Originally posted on Antonio Dias:
Let’s be clear. Confusion is part of the message. This fact has been elusive. One effect of confusion is that we struggle to find some simple way to untangle it. The real lesson of confusion is that it is a sign we are perceiving complexity as complication. Linear thinking and…

It’s a crime, part II

Must we be pure? Whenever we confront the depths of our corruption we hear this whining plea. Ego deflates us, How can I meet such a standard? A false question. We are what we are. We will do what we feel we must do. What is in question is what do these questions mean? Who

It’s a Crime, part I

Money is the root of all evil. Sure, we all know this platitude. Why doesn’t it ever sink in? The debasement of language is part of it. What was once an insight is fossilized and words no longer convey meaning. It’s also what happens when a statement is too broad. Its indicators too vague. A

Startling Sleepwalkers, On the Prospects of Waking Them from Their Nightmares.

The New York Times article on Paul Kingsnorth and Dark Mountain. I’m left with a feeling that – if my response were to be reported in The New York Times – the headline would read, “Petulant Doomer Disappointed at Being Misunderstood!” As calm as this story is, its passive aggressive antibodies hidden from view by

“Changing Hearts and Minds”

Yesterday’s irony – intentional or otherwise – becomes today’s platitude. How is it that this one still has legs? How do we simply “forget” this phrase’s origins? When asked why the US military was bombing the shit out of Vietnam, the response, probably penned by a sweaty, beady eyed CIA operative, was “To change hearts

The Urge to Start Over

What I’m asking… * What I’m asking… is to fulfill the frustrated need I had as a child, to be able to trust, and receive without doubt, guidance and direction. Guidance and direction I could accept as being in my best interest. This is probably the most important request I have after a childhood need

Dwelling and Conviviality in Art, a cross-post from Light on Canvas

Ivan Illich‘s work turns on two related concepts. One is of our need to dwell, to inhabit a home, to have a place. The other is our need for conviviality. We cannot exist in isolation. We are vulnerable and part of everything as everything is part of us.

Jeppe Dyrendom Graugaard’s Conversation with Andrew Taggart

I’ve come across an opportunity to extend what goes on here by pointing you at another conversation. For me there is great Joy in being able to do this! It is a sign of the growth of community I’ve been experiencing lately after so many decades in the wilderness. Let me leave it at that

Fighting Injustice/Confronting Abuse, part II

The first part of this essay dealt with setting the stage, in a way, finding our home position. Let’s take that groundwork and begin to look at what’s hinted at in the second half of the title, Confronting Abuse. In our stressed, fight or flight states we jump right past the significant aspect of confrontation

Fighting Injustice/Confronting Abuse, part I

I was recently reminded of the “value of anger.” “How else can we motivate ourselves to fight injustice?” How can anyone be against such a notion! And then to go on and actually question not just the role of anger, but fighting injustice itself? Inconceivable! Yet, that’s exactly where I find myself. I’ve written on