“I would only believe in a god who could dance.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Religion is like Rob Ford: intense, divisive, and running for political office. But seriously, religion. One word which encompasses a galactically colorful range of ideas and meanings. The quintessentially human phenomenon has been around forever, and virtually everyone has an opinion about it. I’m not here to put [...]
The Tao Te Ching is one old book. Like older-than-Jesus old. Written around the 6th century BC by the poet-philosopher Lao Tzu, the relatively short work is the fundamental text of Taoist philosophy. It’s also a stirring and delectable little read, 2600 years later. Taoist teachings (along with other Oriental philosophy) seem to calm, stimulate, and refresh me, [...]
“HOW ABOUT INSTEAD OF READING THIS TWEET U JUST GO SIT AND CONTEMPLATE THIS EARTH’S NATURAL BEAUTY” — KOOL A.D. Most humans who encounter his work would likely agree that Victor Vazquez, better known by the moniker “KOOL A.D.”, is a walking unclassifiable, an eccentric and enigmatic presence in the modern rap scene and society at [...]
Crowdfunding is f***ing cool, and it’s changing the world. Unless you pulled a Rip Van Winkle the past few years, you know about crowdfunding. It’s that thing where people launch campaigns to raise money for some project, endeavor, or financial need, and groups of strangers, friends, and/or followers kick in a few bucks to collectively foot [...]
“Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.” The above quote from Alan Watts (superb human) describes a deliberate mental exercise. Watts thought that contemplating these scenarios—of moving from existence to non-existence or [...]
“Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.” In January of this year, I spent several days on an enchanted little island off the coast of Cambodia, relaxing, moving infrequently, and feasting my senses upon the ravishing goodness of [...]
“In encounters with others, asking the right question can sometimes bring you into the presence of someone new, and entirely unexpected.” The above quote was shared two weeks ago by a Jungian psychoanalyst whom I follow, and it immediately reminded me of an instance that occurred while I was traveling in Cambodia. I was on the [...]
If you’ve been living in an underground cavern for the past few years, you might not know that reddit.com is a glorious forest of beauty and magic. Reddit is a sort of community square of the Internet, a place for people from all over the world to get together, respect one another, laugh, and discuss [...]
What is all this stuff? What does it mean? Why is it here and why am I here? What the hell should I do? These are a few of the largest and most troubling queries of human existence—questions which have tantalized and terrified our sophisticated ape-brains since time immemorial. Philosophy, religion, art, and science—the classic cornerstones [...]
“Art is the proper task of life.” Friedrich Nietzsche I love making things. I always have. I remember as a youngster spending hours drawing pictures of Spider-Man and Dragonball Z characters. As a kid I also played piano (a skill I hope to reclaim) and more recently, I dabble in acoustic guitar. In college I [...]