These short reflections and insights range in length from twitter-length to short essays. They’re free, so what’ve you got to lose but a few moments?
“Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.” So goes a famous quote from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. It is uttered by Satan after his expulsion from paradise.
Today, we may understand that quote differently than when it was written by its author. We may interpret it, instead, as asking whether we’d rather be right than happy. For us, to rule in hell […]
Many of our prayers ask for healing. In one way or another, healing is all we ever ask for. On some level, most problems can be reduced to a kind of illness. It may be physical, or emotional. Perhaps the disorder is financial or collective. Whatever the manifestation of illness, it’s source almost always seems […]
Anything worthwhile in this world can’t be taken away from us. If it could be, would it really be worth having? I mean, lots of things do go by the wayside. Things like money, possessions, youth, beauty, talent. Our health seems to wane. Our very lives appear to end in something we call death. But […]
Everything I think I see around me is just a reflection of my unfinished business projected outward. So it’s pointless to fight it. But if I continue to resist problems that appear to come from the outside world, I’ll convince myself of the reality of my external situations. If I fight the outside world, a […]
A reflection of you?
The human brain, it is said, contains 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, though I don’t imagine anyone’s ever tried to count them one-by-one. Each neuron is also said to have about 10,000 connections to its sister nerve cells. Multiply 10,000 times 100 billion, and you end up with a very large […]
Lo
Lonely places can bring bliss
Sometimes I think I’d be lonely without my loneliness to keep me company. When you spend a good deal of time by yourself in pursuit of sole endeavors, there isn’t often a voice telling you you’re alright, and doing the right thing. But there may be one telling you that you’re […]
Silence Reigns Here
And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a […]
On the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, across gravel roads 39 miles from Jacob Lake, I arrive at Parissawampitts Point, a vista point just west of the National Park. The forecast calls for rain over several days. The rim cools down, devoid of people in its early October mien near the NPS closing point of the […]
A typical day on Navajo Lake
We all know what a Likert scale even if we didn’t know it was invented by a dude named Likert. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is very likely and 1 is very unlikely, how likely are you to continue reading this post? Alright, I know it’s […]
End of November. I battle the inner and outer seclusion I encounter in this conurbation of nine million Chicagoans. I call no one. No one calls me. Loneliness seems my night shift. I work out at the gym to battle the isolation.
At the health club, I allow the spaceship bank of big screen TV’s to […]