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
We got to let Love rule, spake Lenny. I saw John Korty’s amazing film The Crazy Quilt as a young adult in its early release, and it profoundly shaped my worldview. Our priorities change, values shift, but love remains. I am amazed here in the evening of my life how Love rules me as never … More Love
Seventh day, Truth. Amazing how even with careful journalistic or scientific approaches, we can all fall prey to mistaking noise for signal. Maybe the formality of the process and need for corroboration, attention to detail and systematic examination makes some more susceptible, so that after digging and digging, when we find a datapoint that is … More Truth
How amazing to have made this far! I am profoundly grateful to providence for the generosity it has shown in allowing my hopes to become reality. … More Hope, Generosity, Gratitude
HOLLY DAYS 