meditation

In my last column, I explored the distinction between science investigating and explaining mysteries, and the experiencing of mystery that underlies the religious mind. In this column I’d like to…

Sometimes I pass these words stenciled in the center of the park road by some cynical philosopher: “Nature is wrong.” The words are fading away, which brings a smile. Nature…

Whenever I hear an astronomer or astrobiologist talk about ‘finding humanity’s place in the universe,’ I wonder, can that ever be found externally, by looking outward to the stars?

Contrary to popular and pundit opinion, there are events in human history that are written before they occur. The end of the USSR in 1991 is one example. The end…

A sculptor I’m corresponding with wrote and said, “There are no new ideas, just reassembled old ones to make something new.” It’s true that there are no new ideas, but…

For many years I’ve asked, what will it take to change the disastrous course of humankind? Clearly an explosion of insight is required. Just as clearly, no single group of…

A woodpecker lands across the stream shortly after I arrive. I’ve never seen one drinking at the water’s edge before. Something about the late afternoon light, the rippling water, the…

There’s an old Jimmy Stewart western, “Winchester 73” (one of his best), during which he and his sidekick are riding through hostile Indian territory on a moonlit night. Suddenly they’re…