The gentle art of sanity amidst civilization
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The first few times I heard about God, I was already suspicious. My earliest clear memory of it was when I was five, leaning against the screen door of our small town home with my older sister, watching a midsummer thunderstorm unfold. We were in awe, like I have been at every thunderstorm since. I [...]
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Last week I ran into a few online discussions about those big, big questions that often come up in late-night conversations: Why are we here? What is our purpose? Strictly speaking, as members of the human species we do have a purpose. But we didn’t choose it, and it might not be us who stands [...]
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Today I saw something on the sidewalk that made me stop. Somebody had etched a small swastika in the concrete. I wouldn’t say it exactly upset me, but it got me genuinely curious… who did that? Presumably, some kid stumbled across a rare chance to immortalize himself in unguarded wet concrete, and this was his [...]
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There is a quote, much celebrated by activists, cynics, and political science students the world over, that I think could use a second look: “It is no measure of good health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ~Jiddu Krishnamurti I like Krishnamurti, and I think he’s being misunderstood here, but I’ll get to [...]
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If there’s one thing Friedrich Nietzsche did well, it’s obliterate feel-good beliefs people have about themselves. He has been criticized for being a misanthrope, a subvert, a cynic and a pessimist, but I think these assessments are off the mark. I believe he only wanted human beings to be more honest with themselves. He did [...]
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Despite the earnest efforts of sixty years of Miss USA contestants, world peace has not arrived on our doorstep. The UN has not managed it, nor did John Lennon or Oprah or The Secret. Religion sure made a mess of the effort altogether, and I don’t hold high hopes for China to pull it off, [...]
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I forged my own blade yesterday, from an unassuming piece of plain steel. With some expert instruction, I pounded it on an anvil, ground the blade down, fitted it with a brass hilt, polished and sharpened it. The handle is made out of native timber that was salvaged from a dismantled insane asylum.
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Though the hysteria surrounding the H1N1 flu has left the entirety of the news-watching world with the encouraging habit of frequent handwashing, it is hard to call it anything but an overreaction. Not to dismiss the crushing impact of even one person’s death to their loved ones, but when we venture into the realm of [...]
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Sweaty, muddy and bleeding a little, the three of us picked our way through the overgrown ‘trail’ that snakes between Blue Lake campground and the remote, mythical Goblin Lake. We were traversing the final leg of our return trip through a wondrous forest of moss, bogs and toadstools, but the hike had been taxing. We [...]
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Just behind the little gas tank door on my Honda, there is a silver scratch in the paint, about the size of a dime. It looks almost like an upside-down Nike swoosh. The panel is a little bit dented. I know exactly when it happened. It was a Friday in June 2006, I was new [...]
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