Lives on Earth

3.8 Billion Years

  • The Limits of Happiness

    If our expectations of happiness sometimes fall short. it may be because we often misunderstnad the nature of emotions in general. We tend to think that emotions come in pairs, that each pleasant emotion has its distressing counterpart, that happiness… Continue reading

  • Hindus Seek Detachment. Have Plants and Animals Already Found It?

    Here in suburbia, next to a glassy corporate office, sits a Hindu temple, its ornate façade surrounded by parking lots. Curious, I pulled in one day, removed my shoes at the temple door and walked into a large open space.… Continue reading

  • “The Mind Is Mainly Drawn to the Future”

    “The mind is mainly drawn to the future.” So write Martin Seligman and John Tierney in “We Aren’t Built to Live in the Moment” in the New York Times on May 21, 2017. The article is based on the book… Continue reading

  • “Comparison Is the Thief of Happiness”

    “Comparison is the thief of all happiness,” says former NFL star Joe Ehrmann in denouncing the pressures on boys to “be a man,” in the documentary The Mask You Live In.* Messages overt and covert, from video games, fathers and… Continue reading

  • Ol’ Man River and Wilson the Volleyball; Two Spiritual, Secular Icons

    Two works of stage and screen, popular in their day, include physical objects that are, interestingly, infused with spiritual characteristics while remaining largely un-godlike. The first one is a river. Dere’s an ol’ man called de Mississippi Dat’s de ol’… Continue reading

  • Cyanobacteria: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

    We owe cyanobacteria our respect. They have done a great deal for us. Even though they have one nasty trait that I’ll mention later. One reason to respect them is that they are our elders, by a long shot. Cyanobacteria… Continue reading

  • Is DNA Alive?

    Is DNA alive? No, it’s not alive…mostly. The only sense in which a DNA molecule is a living thing is that it makes copies of itself, although it can’t even do that on its own. Otherwise, DNA fails all the… Continue reading