Our cultural narratives, and every culture has them, contain doctrines of belief. These doctrines vary, just as the original languages of separated cultures vary, including vocabulary, word meanings, idioms, and implications. As each of us is born into a culture, so too are we indoctrinated,... Continue

History is a living thing; the way we think about today may not be the same way people think about it in the future. We’re only human, after all, and the decisions we make are sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and sometimes terrible. None... Continue

I understand why people invented god. Life is full of surprises, many of them terrible.  Searching for answers about why we suffer is mostly a fool’s errand. Shit happens. Yet despite the challenging uncertainties of living, the world’s religions, whether Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or... Continue

Back in the days of Tim Leary, Bucky Fuller, Abbie Hoffman, and Jefferson Airplane, conversations veered into talk about consciousness, raised and otherwise. In the mind-expanding 60s and 70s it seemed as if humanity had finally woken up, had come to understand the precariousness and... Continue

Deplorable things have been said about supporters of Measure W to preserve Sonoma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), and about the residents of Sonoma overall. Vocal opponents of the measure have descended into shaming, personal attacks, impugning the integrity and intentions of Measure W supporters on... Continue

Before Sonoma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) was established in 2000 with voter approval of about 65%, large tracts of agricultural land at the city's southern border were being rapidly developed. The risk of sprawl was obvious; we'd all seen what had happened to the likes... Continue

The announcement that Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 has a quality of inevitability. From the beginning of this pandemic, Trump has minimized its health risks, downplayed its severity, boosted quack treatment theories, ridiculed wearing a mask, argued with administration health professionals and generally... Continue

My late friend, scholar Kurt von Meier, had the opportunity to sit down with Hopi elders during the early 1970s and discuss the state of human affairs. The Hopi people have been living in the same place since before Columbus arrived, and are keen observers... Continue

One of the toughest things about haters is hating them, finding yourself wrapped up in fear and anger you so dislike seeing in others. This, of course, is an experience haters never have; to be a hater requires setting aside introspection and appreciation of complexity.... Continue