Meditations

A welcome series of storms is drenching the valleys and snowpacking the High Sierras in California, bringing crucial relief from a four-year drought. So if you want to get outdoors,…

One of the world’s premier celebrity brains, Stephen Hawking, says that humans should avoid contact with aliens at all costs. “I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher…

At the start of a new year, I’m grappling with the question of time and timelessness. (Still grappling, regular readers might think.) Throughout history contemplatives have struggled with the duality…

It’s customary for columnists writing at the end of the year to give their perceptions of the previous year, and prognostications for the upcoming one. Such an exercise inspires nothing…

A newspaper editorial reflects the thinking of not just one editor, but the editorial staff in general. When so august and influential newspaper as the New York Times publishes its…

An American living much of the year in Mexico wrote asking me to “state my religious agenda.” I don’t care for agendas, especially hidden ones. But intent is important. And…

I like Christmas lights and snowy nights as much as the next person. But the foo-foo of the fictional baby Jesus has nothing to do with the real teacher and…

Someone asked me what I feel the single most important action for a human being is. It is right observation, the action of non-action.