Essays
Philosophical and Political
Reverence for Existence
It is not a phrase I often use, but it fits to say that I am one of those “spiritual but not religious” people. I generally consider it a likely cop-out, a way to seem serious about ultimate things without actually believing in much. But it also reflects authentic...
Gull Colony
I’m just back from a walk along the bluff overlooking the Pacific, my primary Nature source when home. A beautiful, mild sunny day. I decided a while ago to stop asking whether this or that instance of weather was a result of climate change. This is commonly done in...
Passing of Time
When I was young, I asked what I should do with my life. Once I found an answer, I spent twenty years wondering if I was doing the best with what I had found, was there more or different I should find and undertake? After that, for another twenty years, I seemed to...
A Part of the Whole
Looking out at the Pacific this morning I watch an osprey hovering high above the water, so high I can’t imagine him hunting, and then down he goes like an arrow, hits the water, comes out empty in beak and talon. He flies back up and along comes another and either in...
Bursting Into Sprays
I got back five days ago and for the first time have the leisure to write a bit, although it’s late in the day so it may not be much. I walked on the bluff above the Pacific yesterday and noticed the contrast between ocean sound and desert silence. Nothing new about...
Birds Fly, Fish Swim
For a long time, I have wondered about something that seemed evident but in a sense is inexplicable about us humans: Why, in contrast to all other animals, do we commonly seem out of place—confused, flailing, dysfunctional, destructive? For us, life seems a mystery of...