Pop music is not generally seen as a source of great philosophical insight. However, one Zen master points out that, with regards to Enlightenment, even “Alice in Wonderland” can be used as a sacred text. If so, Billy Joel’s, “The Fire” raises some critical questions that any non “pie in the sky” mystic needs to…
I always find such works of art fascinating in so many ways. In this case, I notice what is not present as much as what is. This gentleman appears to have lost his heart and gut (instincts?), but his brain is intact. He is alive, yes, but maybe not living. His expression is determined, but…
“The most terrible loneliness is not the kind that comes from being alone, but the kind that comes from being misunderstood. It is the loneliness of standing in a crowded room, surrounded by people who do not see you, who do not hear you, who do not know the true essence of who you are….
“And when the Pharisees demanded: ‘When will the kingdom of God come?’ he answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God will not be seen. Neither will they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘lo there!’ ‘for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.’” (Luke 17:20-21) This popular verse is understood to mean that, as opposed…
(published in the Arizona Daily Star, June 27, 2021) “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This, the Golden Rule, sounds simple enough … kind enough. It lends itself to all kinds of memes — say, a fatherly type leaning over to help a small boy trying not to cry. It…
Most people think of “time” as something of an absolute construct. The seconds and hours go on and on, irrespective of whatever is happening “in” time. Scientifically speaking, that is not accurate. First, time is essentially a measurement of motion. Whether it is the sun moving across the sky or the gears of a clock,…
O.J. Simpson passed away. I don’t bring that up to recall his infamous murder trial or that surrealistic drive in the white Bronco that mesmerized people all over the world. I also am not bringing it up to remember his extraordinary football playing career—though I still cringe a bit at the thought that the Philadelphia…
“If there is nothing for which you would commit murder, you cannot play the role of Lady MacBeth!” That is how the now aging opera diva, Maria Callas, dismissed a young, pretty, but not quite ripened, ingenue who aspired to one day take center stage on her own. She had the voice, yes, and even…
“What is a pencil?” It seems like such a simple, even silly, question. There are lots of easy, comparable answers, such as: “an instrument for writing or drawing, consisting of a thin stick of graphite or a similar substance enclosed in a long thin piece of wood or fixed in a metal or plastic case.”…
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Dt. 6:5) Most people think of the term “integrity” in the moral context of “honesty,” with the opposite being “dishonesty.” That is technically not the case. “Integrity”–which has the same root as “integer” or…