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Now it is 1999. Things have been getting quite wobbly, as if I am shifting timelines or dimensions. There are instances where things seem to appear out of nothing or disappear only to crop up in an unexpected place. Even more alarming, I have completely lost my inner sense of time passing. I can tell you the exact date: July 4th. I’m at the Beach in Moss Landing with my friend Valerie Coulton. Around noon, she falls asleep on the blanket as I sit reading and worrying about

Chapter I I don’t really believe in luck. It is possible though to find oneself fortunately attuned to the best possible outcomes. Often, despite what we expect for ourselves. In 1999, the slipstream of a generous universe swept me up in its flow, and everything I touched – or even thought of touching – turned to gold. Perhaps the alchemy of some earlier karma touched my shoulder, and everything I had given up and given up on to that point began to return to

For those of us who can’t get enough of cosmological speculation, quantum physics, and theories of everything, I, like you, have questions. There are two of them which, simply by pondering them, my life has been enriched. Sometimes, that is all we really need. Let’s begin here: There is an astrophysicist and esteemed cosmic interpreter named Janna Levin. If you have never read her books, (like Black Hole Blues or Black Hole Survivor Guide), please put them on your list. They

One of the greatest epic tales of all time is the Bhagavad Gita, and it is playing out all over again in our time. Let me explain. If you are not familiar with this ancient Hindu spiritual epic, I will give you a quick gloss that focuses on its significance for us today: A heroic warrior named Arjuna rides into a huge battle on a chariot driven by a man who later reveals himself as Krishna. In the middle of the battlefield, Arjuna tells his “charioteer” to stop, sees his love

This is a travel missive I wrote in October, 2020. (All quotes are from Rumi). The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; Don’t go back to sleep. The thing about trains is, they rock you to sleep. You can amuse yourself with scenic views and warm chatter all you care to, but in the end, it is the rhythm that takes you. A lullaby of wheels turning on rails. The soft rocking of your body, wave-like, as if no tension ever filled the sinews that link your bones. Suddenly you a

There is a Zen Buddhist monastery in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California called Tassajara—ironically, an Ohlone word meaning “the meat drying place”. I lived there as a monk in the early 1990s, and believe me, you won’t find any strips of meat hanging around in the sun there anymore. The name comes from the indigenous peoples that lived there along Cabarga Creek during the summer months before the Spanish discovered the hot springs. It is still remote and barely accessib

About a month ago, I had an Akashic reading* with a woman named Kathy Fenton White**. It blew my sense of self wide open. That didn’t happen right away though. I had to ponder the things she said for a while, and each time I pondered, more pieces of the truth revealed themselves until it all became—well, obvious. Shining through like a glimmer of light caught in a spider’s web. I learned it is true that “the future exists in infinite possibilities” (as she said), that we ha

When I was freshly out of college and in love with exploring new ideas, an article appeared in Psychology Today by Dr. John B. Calhoun on what he referred to as “Conceptual Space”. He basically proposed that the greatest threat to humanity was a lack of will to imagine the future as being different from the present. More to my upcoming point (hang in there) is something I gleaned the heart of that article from AI this morning (NOTE: I don't believe AI can write better that I

Too many people these days are feeling powerless. That is because of what we see happening in the larger world. It makes us want to shrink and shrink and shrink, until we are mere specks on this gorgeous canvas we call Mother Earth. We are not specks, we are human beings, the envy of the entire universe for our potential. The potential of our hearts to find power through oneness and compassion. I declare: No more shrinking! Expand! Let your “freak flag fly”, as we used to

I decided today to indent. That could mean I will be writing in a different voice as well, which is a concern I have about writing my book. I never know who will show up as my muse from one day to the next or is that a ploy to deflect responsibility? World, meet my subconscious! You will recognize her by her font for now. Perhaps later it will be apparent that it is a result of metacognition. If you have never heard of that concept, I highly recommend looking

For me, writing is a mystical act. It is as intimate as one can be with oneself, and to then share it takes so much courage. The barrier I have had to cross over and over and over again is directly proportional to the amount of courage I must summon to be true to myself. And that is directly proportional to how deep I am willing to go. So, it all comes back to an act of will on my part. How sad that destiny does not include details. This morning, I summoned a chorus of mourn