Writings
The Enigmas
You have asked me what the lobster weaves between its golden claws, and I respond to you: The sea knows. You say to me, “What is the ascidia waiting for in its transparent bell? What is it waiting for?” I say to you, it waits as you do for time. You ask me whom the embrace
I Guess
The other day, I decided to take one of the numerous IQ tests offered on the internet. I chose a 100 question version. These are a few of the questions: “1. Unscramble the letters to form an English word: D R O H H C R P I S A “2. The day after
Uncle Bill
Alice Randall drove along a desolate road amid the soaked barren wheat fields of northern Kansas. Stands of bare trees separated neighboring properties. Every so often, she would spot hunters in orange vests wandering over the dark wet soil. When she reached Masonville, she took a brief tour of the town to see what had
Joseph Campbell on Schopenhauer, Will, and Life’s Composition
In his splendid essay called “On an Apparent Intention in the Fate of the Individual,” Schopenhauer points out that when you reach an advanced age and look back over your lifetime, it can seem to have had a consistent order and plan, as though composed by some novelist. Events that when they occurred had seemed
Ten Reasons to Enjoy Shakespeare’s Works
In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom argues that Shakespeare did more than just shape the structure and content of the English language—he created human nature as we understand it today. As James Shapiro explains, “Shakespeare remains so popular and his most memorable characters feel so real because through them Shakespeare invented something that hadn’t
Uncle Bill
Alice Randall drove along a desolate road amid the soaked barren wheat fields of northern Kansas. Stands of bare trees separated neighboring properties. Every so often, she would spot hunters in orange vests wandering over the dark wet soil. When she reached Masonville, she took a brief tour of the town to see what had
Joseph Campbell on Schopenhauer, Will, and Life’s Composition
In his splendid essay called “On an Apparent Intention in the Fate of the Individual,” Schopenhauer points out that when you reach an advanced age and look back over your lifetime, it can seem to have had a consistent order and plan, as though composed by some novelist. Events that when they occurred had seemed
Ten Reasons to Enjoy Shakespeare’s Works
In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom argues that Shakespeare did more than just shape the structure and content of the English language—he created human nature as we understand it today. As James Shapiro explains, “Shakespeare remains so popular and his most memorable characters feel so real because through them Shakespeare invented something that hadn’t
A Poem on the Wind
A poem on the wind lands wherever it’s taken, whether in your thoughts or mine, or on the dry red soil, glittering in the summer heat. I can see the last of the species scribbling away in a fevered dream as the sun burns the ground, furnace in the lungs, vivid colors flooding the mind,
A Brief Reflection on Perception
Other people’s views and intentions are hidden to us. We can only infer what they are. Through these inferences, we invent an interconnected web of meaning that can only be understood as a dream mirroring whatever reality extends beyond our powers of perception.
Looking for Real
The world I have come to know is just an artificial display of holographic shapes gliding across my line of sight and disappearing into nothingness, tedious reflections in a dull mirror. But every so often, someone comes along who is dramatically different, a living, breathing person, warm, radiant, true, and connected to my inner experience.