Sunday Talks

On Monday I had to visit a couple of stores for food and supplies.  I was anxious before heading out — not because I was concerned about contracting anything, but because I wasn’t sure what it was going to feel…

I  keep seeing references to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, usually in articles about how we relate to facts and information in this age of media overload.  It’s interesting.  Though I had a passing familiarity with the idea, I had never looked…

I just finished this lovely book by Jedidiah Jenkins, To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret.  The title is a mouthful, and the book is a heart-full. …

Several years ago I created a short quiz for a class I was teaching. I presented participants with lines of verse — some were contemporary pop lyrics, others were pieces of sacred poetry from various traditions — and invited them…

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.-?? Usually, I’ve seen this quip attributed to Oscar Wilde.  But recently I read that it may have come from twentieth-century theologian, Thomas Merton.  It’s a good quote, and I like to give credit…

I’ve never totally bought into Valentine’s Day with its expensive date-nights and emphasis on amorous couplings.  There’s plenty to enjoy about the trappings of it; who doesn't like chocolate and flowers and canoodling?  And I definitely don’t want to undermine…

Last week I invoked the Zen parable that says, “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” What I forget to mention is that chopping wood and carrying water is heavy work in any…

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see a documentary — Cunningham — about choreographer Merce Cunningham, an innovator in modern dance for much of the 20th century. It was a gorgeous movie, full of abstractions, on a subject…

Recently, I read a piece about wombats in Australia sharing their burrows with other small animals escaping the ravaging bushfires. The wombat burrows are deep enough underground to be fairly fireproof, and complex and extensive enough to allow oxygen flow…

My orientation to life tends to be a big juicy “Yes!” Most of the time, it’s an honest and authentically soulful expression for me. And there’s a lot of good in that, there’s a lot to like. “Yes” feels groovy…