How cruelly we are pushed and prodded to labor and fight and die all in the name of some overlord with an agenda! I think now to imagine a world in which such monsters did not exist. No Roman Empire…
Horizontology in a Nutshell
Yes, I’ve been away again seemingly trip toeing through the bayberries. Life has its standing ups and lying downs and sooner or later, the horizontologist will prop himself up on his elbow and type a little. Here I would like…
“…But Thinking Makes It So”
Before I talked about the Contingent Universe, contingent on you and your particular outlook. Everything exists dependent upon an observer. What is it? Is this not the question to ask of the ten thousand things? Each and every blade of…
The Big Question
Are we different from the myriad other forms of life classified as animals? Certainly we differ from the plants; we are built to scurry about while plants are made to absorb over time. But are we human beings something above…
The Nature of Existence Part 4
Besides the age old question of predetermination, there is also the question of permanence. Here is where true angst is bred: Is this it? And then it just ends? You gotta be kidding me!!! When we entertain ideas of death…
The Nature of Existence Part 3
Life is the manifestation and intermingling of a supreme duality which over drapes all experience. There is the duality of body/mind, matter/energy, creation/destruction, sound/silence, sight/blindness, joy/sorrow, pleasure/pain, change/no change and so on. I spoke earlier about the contingent nature of…
The Nature of Existence Part 2
There is in India a deity called Kirtimukha, the face of fame. He is the one forever and always devouring his own body, eyes bulging, teeth masticating. He is often found above doorways and entrances to temples and rightly so.…
The Nature of Existence
Now we must embark on a journey. There is no other way but to walk out straight. You will walk straight out of prison. This is your knapsack. I have one too packed with things to eat. Let’s go… How…
Eminent Smokers
“I’m glad to hear you smoke. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is.” Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â –Â Oscar Wilde Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad was…
Smoking
Smoking, to me, is a symbol. Once upon a time, tobacco was cultivated, dried, prepared and smoked, not as in the compulsive consumption that marks the modern — shall I say addict. Smoke was sacred to early man and it…