This "Pursuing Happiness via Meditation" category is hard to name because it covers a range from mundane to esoteric, but is for general mystical inquiries, matters of the heart, alternative remedies, meditations, visions, dreams and so forth. Such are to be found here.
The longer I listen to classical music, the deeper grows my ability to discern a depth of quality which I previously missed. I grow hungry for that depth -- or is it a height? -- of quality, and suffer through many mediocre performances in search of the gorgeous ones. And then I find one and am […]
This essay René Girard: The Last Nietzschean brings tears to my eyes while reading, not so much for the content, but because of a private hypothesis I developed while independently thinking about René Girard and Nietzsche. This essay explores that relationship in enough detail to confirm the theory. […]
The first John Donne poem I ever read, about a month ago, brought tears to my eyes and made me breathe differently. I fell in love immediately. I sent the poem as a text message to my dearest friends, several of whom hadn't heard from me in months until receiving the random Donne. One response was […]
I recently stumbled on a gem of a book called The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth. As I skimmed through it, I found it to be a rather unique book, and wanted to know more about how it came to be. Chances are you found this weblog post because you're researching it like I was. Its origins […]
I found a fascinating article on a weblog from 2016, and eventually wrote a comment on the post. However, it's been six years, and the author has moved on to other weblogs, so my comment sits in her moderation queue, where it may sit forever. So I'm posting it here. The weblog post in question is […]
I recently stumbled on a gem of a book called The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth. As I skimmed through it, I found it to be a rather unique book, and wanted to know more about how it came to be. Chances are you found this weblog post because you're researching it like I was. Its origins […]
Long ago I was puzzled at references to unicorns in the Bible, and after thinking about it for a while, decided that the descriptions that accompanied unicorns -- a massive, powerful creature that was shaped like a bull and associated with the tribe of Ephraim -- made more sense applied to the […]
I originally wrote this for a particular person to read, but in a style which looked like it was for everyone. He is from an older generation who prefers to teach rather than to listen. We have known each other for decades. I know from long experience that if I wrote to him directly, as I do in most […]
I found this brief summary of a well-known mystical work to be compelling. I found it while researching an obscure subject. I set aside the article, and went on with my day. The narrative was so compelling, though, it worked on my unconcious for many hours after I read it. My mind stayed on it […]
Always nice to see someone talking about the place of humility in science, as it requires making connections which tend to deepen the general narrative. For example, the article points out where science is being abused by many of its own adherants. This is a thought-provoking perspective, and seems […]
This thread has some very intriguing comments. I particularly like the following two insights, which give empirical evidence relavant to some ideas explored in this recent post by me. Penetrating to the origin of structure itself as related to the low entropy at the beginning of the universe The […]
It is utterly impossible for something to arise from true absolute nothing. This can be seen immediately by anyone imagining an infinite expanse of nothing... first comes the paradox of where this nothing exists. It has no dimension, size, shape, form, feature, nor attribute of any kind. It is pure, […]
It is normal to encounter ideas which we entertain briefly and sincerely, but upon close inspection, later reject or lay aside one way or another. This happens so often that it's hardly a big deal when we reject an idea or even a constellation of ideas we once thought attractive, although it can be […]
So I’m reading this book on grace, which is turning out to be one of my favorite books ever, because it so systematically details how grace operates in a way that confirms my own thoughts on the subject for so long. Yet it goes further, and provides lots of evidence to support its position. Here is […]
All that you know Is hanging on a structure of you You at the center As if that were the only way Calmly, openly, as if There were no ugliness therein It was not always so; Consider for a moment And you will see clearly: When you were young All that you knew Was hanging on the structure Of someone […]
Before the beginning, the Holy One awakened one morning as the birds began to sing their serenade to the coming sunrise. We whose love for the Father is so great we cannot bear to be separated from him, our beloved whose every breath is a great wonder for the infinite depth of meaning which […]
I wrote the following in response to a friend who was saying there was no obvious purpose, and quoting Kierkegaard on how we create our own purpose until we realize it is absurd: I believe there is a purpose, and our purpose is "joy," and suggest that we are at the very initial phase in […]
Love Won the War […]
A clue to resolving what is "likely the most difficult problem facing physicists" for the past few decades appears to be buried in the kabbalah. For those who are not entirely familiar with the Cosmological Constant Problem, here is an excellent article published today talking about it: […]
Well this is interesting. After I wrote the post talking about a way of perceiving that was beyond quantum, I discover that there is in my thoughts plenty of similarity with an existing idea called "Informational Structural Realism." The original article by Luciano Floridi is […]