What’s a citizen to believe? With all the buzz about “false” and “fake” news, foreign influence in elections, intelligence leakers, inflammatory talk shows, social media manipulators and AI capabilities, how can we know the truth of anything that’s being reported? We can’t. Given any situation that’s reported, we weren’t present to experience what actually happened. […]
Under stress, we can at least gather our feathers This image of a flamingo illustrates the kind of composure referred to as “equanimity”—steadiness of mind under stress. Calm. His feathers aren’t ruffled. His posture reminds me of the social science phenomenon of “cocooning,” a term coined in the 90’s by trend forecaster Faith Popcorn to describe how […]
Awakening to the truth of who we are and what we can become together About two-thousand years ago a radical idea was born, presaged by a star that guided some wise men to a cave in Bethlehem. That idea, “Love they neighbor,” is a simple admonition admired by many but so challenging that, after all […]
They don’t really “fall” of their own accord, they’re evicted Function Leaves serve as solar collectors for a tree, gathering carbon dioxide and water from the atmosphere to create energy—sugar—through photosynthesis. In the process, they release oxygen into the air. For a tree to stand tall and survive the ravages of wind, rain, snow and […]
Social values are right only if the individual values are right Notice the cloth is fraying in places, threads are broken, and holes are appearing. Is it beyond repair? Or is there something we can do to keep it from unraveling further? One of the lessons I learned from Robert Pirsig’s Zen And The Art […]
Open minds and unconditional love My posted contemplations are primarily about appreciation, gratitude and perception. While fear is generally an undesirable sensation, I appreciate it as one of the primary forces that affects human behavior universally. Fear has survival value for individuals, and socially it’s an evolutionary driver. I also appreciate it’s significance as one […]
Wisdom teachers are putting the abuses of freedom in check. The iris symbolizes hope, wisdom, faith, trust, and bravery. The biosphere has hit a limit, delivering a constant stream of evidence in the form of more frequent and increasingly destructive fires, flooding, droughts, tornadoes and earthquakes. At the same time, and probably related at some […]
Who do we listen to? What are the messages we’re receiving? “Makin’ your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got…” Cheers (Theme song) Messages coming from others— You could… […]
Independence to the exclusion of concern for others feeds entropy Obviously, guard rails are intended to keep cars from running off the road—and to reduce the severity of an accident when they do. Not so obvious is the observation that their presence indicates a lack of trust. Appropriately so. Bad accidents, even death, may have […]
How we talk and what we see determines how we act The Data The climate has been changing since the Earth coalesced. It will continue to do so until it’s subsumed by the sun billions of years from now. The recent concern is that human beings have accelerated the rate of change—10 to 100 times […]
Contemplative Photography 