The White House Farmer
Voting is still open, see The White House Farmer. (Pretty sure this is a non-partisan position).
Perception and Illusion (maya)
I have been thinking about perception and how as soon as we have more than one person looking at the same thing, each person has a different story, a different truth, a different explanation. Add to that the mysterious systems… (READ MORE)
Prithvi (the earth element) and Muscular Energy
The first of the mahabhutas is prithvi or earth. When I think of the earth element, I think of stability, grounding, earthiness, nurture. My experience is that I can more deeply connect to this element in ourselves by emphasizing what… (READ MORE)
Warm Feeling (from an unexpected place)
For the past hour or so, one of my neighbors has been shoveling the sidewalk. He is a young teenager; for a while a younger girl was out with him, too. They both had shovels and were working pretty vigorously. … (READ MORE)
Wintry Mix
As I write, big fat flakes of snow are falling against a pale gray sky that is struggling to turn to daylight. It is too early to know how much of the storm will be snow or freezing rain or… (READ MORE)
Baksheesh and Brahman
I spent a few hours this weekend reading Joseph Campbell’s Baksheesh and Brahman, which is Campbell’s journals from a year in India from 1954-55 (I’m now about a third of the way through). Campbell writes that he went to India… (READ MORE)
Mahabhutas (the great elements)
The mahabhutas are the grossest, most physical of the 36 tattvas described in Kashmir Shaivism. They are: prithivi — earth or solidity; ap (or jala) — water or liquidity, agni (or tejas) — fire or formativity; vayu — air; akasha… (READ MORE)
A Personal God (Ishta Devata)
My earliest exposure to eastern mysticism was through Salinger and the Beats, which I read avidly in high school and even junior high. The Beats were hipper and smarter than I could ever hope to be (and they weren’t so… (READ MORE)
Buy a Coffee Mug (and never forget)
I didn’t buy a coffee mug, but I did take the picture. If only remembering was as easy as buying a souvenir. Memory, though, it much more ephemeral. I’ll remember this day. Sometimes I will deliberately recall it. Sometimes, images… (READ MORE)
Privilege and Periphery
At about 10:30 am, I left my house and walked over to the Capitol. I knew that by leaving the house at that hour, instead of at 7am, I would be outside the fence, but I instead practiced in the… (READ MORE)