Regardless of whether one is “secular” or “spiritual,” nature is a sublime and unfathomable roadshow. Shouldn’t we use our most potent language to describe it?
Uncertainty
“They just have a different reality tunnel, and every reality tunnel might tell us something interesting about our world, if we are willing to listen.” — Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson, if you’re unaware, was something of a countercultural Gandalf, a white-haired wizard of skepticism and subversion. Wilson lived a remarkably diverse life, becoming, at [...]
“In encounters with others, asking the right question can sometimes bring you into the presence of someone new, and entirely unexpected.” The above quote was shared two weeks ago by a Jungian psychoanalyst whom I follow, and it immediately reminded me of an instance that occurred while I was traveling in Cambodia. I was on the [...]
“I am soon to become an emperor-ha-ha-ha-ha! I am destined to be a lousy beggar – ha-ha-ha-ha! It’s all a game. Any part will suit me fine.” For thousands of years, Eastern sages have taught a method for reducing or eliminating suffering — in a word: non-resistance. The idea is this: As humans, we possess [...]
Recently, Noel Gallagher, the frontman of the band Oasis, (I didn’t know who he was either) lashed out against fiction, saying, “I only read factual books. I can’t think of … I mean, novels are just a waste of f–king time.” Though we’re all entitled to our opinions, I was perturbed to see such a [...]
Recently, I read an extraordinary collection of letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke, the renowned Bohemian-Austrian poet who passed away in 1926. Between 1903 and 1908, Rilke penned a series of responses to a would-be writer, offering advice on poetry and on being a sensitive individual in an often cruel and unforgiving world. These letters, [...]