I’d go backfor just a moment, perhaps as longas one August day and a night,enough, I think, to relish what I lovedabout Long Island summers. Scents of ragweed,seared grasses, almost-too-sweet rosesin the heavy summer air… Glittering waters,hot, hot sandand tiny shellshiding in the dryingseaweed margin of the tide… Early morningssun like a glowing peachsoft-lit hazy cool’til nearly 10… …
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Aftermath
The impassioned moment’s passed,The fight’s gone out of me;tolerance and hope set inwith a sighand by-and-bythis latest violence,outrage, assault against the heart and soulwill pass–and leave me living still and still possessed of most of what I had; Life goes on sublime,absurd,expects the future stillmakes plans investsand wanders down the middle course again somewhere between the hopeless and the glad. Disappointment gnaws away at faith. Perhaps, because …
Asylum
Bullies have always relied on the courtesy, the squeamishness and the self-interest of witnesses. Bullies exploit the commitment of the general society to the basic social contracts of the Golden Rule, and all the other philosophical and religious strictures and beliefs that are the foundation of civilization. Bullies surround themselves with gangs of the equally …
In Defence of Science & Faith
Science and scientists have taken something of a battering in the US over the past several years, over the topic of climate change particularly, but also generally. It comes largely from people who really don’t understand what science is and is not. Maybe they have not really considered the sources of the many benefits of …
The Garden of Dichotomies
A friend of mine a while back, given to visions, found herself in a garden of strange shapes, all standing beside their opposites. A voice told her, Look at it from over here… And she went there, and looked, and saw that there were only unities in that garden. Our whole world is dichotomies: night/day; …
Push the Button
Reality can be very forgiving: We can go for years, even lifetimes believing something that isn’t true simply because our belief never gets tested against Reality. Much of what we believe is inconsequential–until that day when it matters a lot whether we have it right or not. Because when it comes down to it, Reality …
Seeing Through Ancient Eyes
We look at things so superficially, so at-the-moment, so very materially: Western society has forgotten there are other ways to see. But these ways require us to slow down, to see the world without all we have built and paved and altered. I recently watched two documentaries that are like taking a deep breath of …
More or Less
To those who have much, more will be given. Those who have little will lose what little they have. This New Testament assertion perturbs the part of me that naturally inclines to lift up the underdog, to demand balance and fairness. It is intuitively wrong, socially irresponsible! It seems very unlike other messages of Jesus …
Looking Back in 2008
I think the initial turn-around started in the 1950s and 60s, with the generation of post-war parents who, coming from a heritage of privation in the war years, and the Great Depression, delighted in giving abundantly to their kids, proud and happy not to have to deny them anything! In the 50s there was more stuff, new stuff …
Having Faith
My dad, a scientist, once told me, “I don’t need faith, I’ve got knowledge!” I think it was a response to my asking him to have a little faith in me. It was, however, his scientist-mindset all around. He had great respect for the scientific method, for things known, and for things not yet known, …
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 