Nobody can argue this economic recession has not been painful; jobs have been lost, homes foreclosed, pensions and retirements diminished or eliminated. People are suffering and this despite the fact that most have worked hard and lived honest, decent lives. Over 10 percent of Americans... Continue

Perhaps it really is true everything we need to know we learned by first grade. The songs we sang as children, “Row Your Boat” for example, actually contained surprising wisdom. It’s a rather simple four-line song, easily dismissed: Row, row, row your boat, Gently down... Continue

During a recent trip to visit our granddaughter I needed to buy a swim suit so we could go for a dip in the pool at our motel. I was stunned to discover my swim suit cost me only $5.98 at K-Mart. I’ve never shopped... Continue

Each year terribly well-educated and insightful people make predictions about the future. In some cases they are right but mostly they are wrong. Rarely, however, do we go back in time to review just how accurate our prognosticators have been. We are so caught up... Continue

The immensity of the universe is inconceivable. No matter how far we look, there is still more beyond. No matter what we see, there is far greater yet unseen. No matter how much we come to understand, there is ever more about which we no... Continue

Last year it was the Autonomous Region of Tibet; this year it is the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. China, it seems, is undergoing another round of its periodic socio-political upheavals. Chinese history is not customarily taught in America, so many are unaware of the regular... Continue

The typical view of the body is it is a thing apart, something we “have” but not what we “are.” According to this view, when illness occurs “it” needs to be fixed, much as we fix a broken muffler or lawnmower. This common narrative reinforces... Continue

My mother is a superb cook, an absolute natural in the kitchen with a talent for turning whatever is available into an elegant repast. She once visited me while I was young and penniless…all we had in the refrigerator were lemons, and I’ll be damned... Continue

The newly born infant enters the human realm pure of heart and mind. In the beginning all is one: no form, no feeling, no perception, no memory, no consciousness. Despite the varied manifestations and appearances of the world, for infants all sight, sound and feeling... Continue