Although the human impulse towards religious experience is undeniable many people today do not consider themselves as religious or spiritual. Writer Richard Dawkins or television pundit Bill Maher take great pains to paint religious belief as nonsense - destructive mumbo-jumbo unsuited to modern society and... Continue
Public Citizen
Ok so it's 2040 and I'm 92 years old - too old if you ask me, which of course you didn't - but that's not the point. The point is I'm pissed-off. Sure, you say, of course you're pissed-off - you're old - and being... Continue
When I was growing up a fella named Charles Atlas adorned the back pages of cheap magazines, displaying a body we'd today call "buff" but back then "muscle-bound." The proverbial answer to being a skinny wimp at the beach and having sand kicked-in-your-face by the... Continue
There is a decidedly anti-intellectual strain in contemporary American society, this despite a high rate of literacy and a historical legacy of higher education. Though books are still written, dissertations, doctorates and advanced degrees awarded, the present level of public discourse can only be termed... Continue
Among the plants in my greenhouse are many in the Gasteria family, a type sometimes called "Cow's Tongue" due to their thick stems, lack of leaves and dappled surface coloration. Many Gasterias display varying patterns of white spots on green backgrounds, which vary from species... Continue
To uncivilized people the whims of nature surely seemed capricious; their search for meaning behind devastating winds or a great flood gave rise to tales of gods, magic and otherworldly realms beyond the powers of direct human observation. Seasonal cycles, animal migrations, phases of the... Continue
Recent polls indicate that America's favorite sport is now football instead of baseball. It's not hard to see a connection between this trend and the changed nature of American life in the 21st century. Baseball, of course, is a 19th century game, developed during slower... Continue
I remember a childhood cartoon in which the main character - it could have been Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny - found himself in the middle of a struggle between a little devil and a little angel version of himself, each of which sat on... Continue
I've come to hold synchronicity in high regard. Coincidence is too light a word for the ways in which waves of information sometimes pass through human culture: signaling a simultaneous, penetrating and all-pervasive coming together of cause and effect that verges on clairvoyance. Just last... Continue
The number of life forms on earth is staggeringly huge; despite the discoveries of the past three hundred years there remains a vast, nearly uncountable number of unknown species of life forms. For perhaps a billion years, earth's plants and then animals have filled every... Continue