Tangled up in blue.
I don’t know why the color blue always seems to be associated with sadness, from the “blues” to Bobby Dylan’s…
Category: Driving under the influence of Dunkin’ Donuts
The Italians call it “sprezzatura”
When Anne Mei and I returned from our trip to Spain and France, a friend asked just one question, “Tell…
Metaphor, metonymy, and figuring out what we’re doing … or not.
In one of my posts last year on the science of effortless action, I reported on a New York Times…
Where is Louie Zamperini in the movie “Unbroken”?
The movie Unbroken does not seem to do justice either to Laura Hillenbrand’s book or to Louis Zamperini himself. In…
The science of effortless action
For those who think my previous posts about doing by not-doing have been hokey mysticism, I recommend that you read…
What if you can’t walk on water?
One night one of the beautiful people approached the Buddha with a question. Beautiful, and of indeterminate sexuality. Bhikkhu Bodhi…
If this country worked like the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, we wouldn’t have an Ebola czar.
Buried among all the stories of quarantines and quarrels in this morning’s news was a review of the Carnegie Hall…
“Can’t someone ask these survivors to stop wailing and move on.” Aid worker in Rwanda.
You’ve all heard of Irish Alzheimer’s. That’s where you forget everything except the grudges. Jean Améry distinguishes between “natural time”…
Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods” is a perfect Autumn poem
Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon…
Do you think you might take a quote from the Lúnyǔ of Kǒngzǐ more seriously than a quote introduced by “Confucius says”?
Think of what follows as my way of meditating. It’s meant to pick apart and to play with words to…