Artist, scientist, jack-of-all-trades master-of-most, with the cool clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth
I doubt if even my great grandkids will get all the way back to my earliest posts, copied onto an archive page here from facebook posts, which was the way I began this practice of daily posts. Ten years ago, most of my posts were anecdotes, and some important ones about pivotal moments in my … More Love
I’ve commented in previous posts that Holly Days is quartet of trinities, but have never fully deconstructed its serendipitous symmetry. There is something about groups of three that we humans seem to appreciate, with the holy trinity, troikas, our political balance of power, and trilogies being common forms in literature and film. Similar serendipities have … More Truth
My practice of daily Holly Days posts always gets harder in the “Christmas taint” (a term I just learned from Twitter) as the wonderfulness fades. Part of my process is to reread my old posts for the day, partly to avoid being too repetitive (at which I often fail), and I was struck by my … More Gratitude
I’ve been especially enjoying evoking Christmas spirit this year: listening to holiday stations from Sirius and Alexa, cruising around just to take in people’s diverse and personal decorations on their homes. I love the way xmas and the holiday season is so culturally comprehensive with all the media programs shifting and the material culture so … More Generosity
Hope is here on day four of Holly Days partly because it resonates with of Christmas Eve, with its tiny tots with their eyes all aglow and the promise of peace on earth good will toward men. My musing this year on free will has me wondering how ideas about fate might affect our hopefulness. … More Hope
Not many folks, even the more curmudgeonly among us, would argue against kindness on philosophical grounds. They may not be able to manage it or feel we’re not worth the effort, but you never hear anyone expounding the benefits of unkindness. I’ve been surprised at how some memories of moments of regret for unkindness have … More Kindness
I am fascinated by the developing genres of amatuer film making and often find myself surfing the shorts which Youtube, FB and Twitter have all promoted in an effort to better compete with Tik Tok, which I have opted to avoid. One thing I’ve realized is that the amount of crap is part of the … More Compassion
Some context for this first post of 2023: My daughter Nini is now about as old as I was when we started this, and her daughter Rey about as old as she was then. Both she and her little sister Adi have celebrated Holly Days for their whole lives. So now, as an old man … More Unity
This Days of Awe Trinity is meant to clean our slates for a new year. Psychologists and cognitive scientists have discovered how little free will we actually have; how the long, twisting, and convoluted set of antecedent experiences almost assures a single unalterable set of choices as laid out in Robert Sapolsky’s new book Determined: … More Atonement, Forgiveness, & Redemption
Today is the 9th day of Holly Days. The other two values of this trinity are fairly abstract and universal, while courage is mundane and embodied. I’ve often wondered if another more numinous value, like Beauty, would be a more resonant member of this trio. We do have some powerful hunger for beauty, and we … More Courage
HOLLY DAYS 