Artist, scientist, jack-of-all-trades master-of-most, with the cool clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth
Today is Forgiveness, yesterday was Atonement. I have co opted the Jewish new year and melded it with the secular New Year’s holiday celebration, making it coincide with our solar calendar and its marking of the changing of the seasons. The secular New Year’s has some of the same ideas as those Jewish Days of … More Atonement and Forgiveness
Today is Courage. Courage of course is not an absence of fear, but taking action despite the fear. This is undermines the popular idea of following your heart. If by that one means to be guided by love, ok, but there is a thread in new age thinking that you should trust your instincts, respect … More Courage
Yesterday was Love, the 8th day of Holly Days. I love Love. I think everyone does. Despite broken hearts, Love Hurts only when it’s lost. When it is ascendant or abiding, it is nothing but welcomed and cherished. Of course all that is mostly about Love as a transcendent undertone of lust and desire, whose mercurial … More Love
Yesterday was Truth. There is an insanely misguided idea in postmodern ideology that there is no such thing as objective reality. It is true that everything we know is filtered through such a cognitive maze that it’s impossible to know with perfect certainty exactly what the truth is, but there is an objective reality and … More Truth
Yesterday was Gratitude. It’s pretty clear that gratitude is not just some polite nod of thanks, but a powerful psychological perspective that can be very beneficial to one’s health. However that polite recognition is a powerful and important social device as well. I’m embarrassed to say that I did not really understand “good manners” until well … More Gratitude
Day before yesterday was Generosity, better known as Christmas Day. I have to confess I have gotten almost no gifts for anyone this year. I did make a cool Holly Days Advent calendar for Rey, which she has been really into, but all the stuff put into my Amazon cart I eventually removed. I need … More Generosity
Today is Christmas Eve, on which we contemplate Hope. On the first day, Unity, I commented about how common enemies draw us together. Sadly, the political and social organizing corollary to that is that scaring the crap out of folks is a good way to establish solidarity. Shared Hope is vague and wishy washy; as … More HOPE
Today is Kindness. I saw these two pictures hung in a little mall gallery among the images and paintings of the Manhattan skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee Stadium. I hate it that these characters are heroes. I hate feeling that hatred in these days when hatred of the other is so casually expressed and … More Kindness
The second of this community trinity is Compassion. The best line from The Last Jedi was something like, we’re gonna win not by fighting what we hate, but by saving what we love. I think in some ways we only really win by lifting up, never by tearing down. We might end up on top … More Compassion
Today is the first day of Holly Days 2017: Unity. To read my facebook feed, especially the comment threads on political issues, is to feel a deep fracture among my brothers and sisters. Unity feels impossible as the rift only seems to grow wider and deeper with each flaming comeback. The wildfires this season back … More Unity
HOLLY DAYS 