Lives on Earth

time

  • Time and Again

    Time goes by. The future comes towards us—or, to some, we move towards it. The future arrives in the present and then both settle into the past, gone but not forgotten. Or so it seems. Here’s another possibility: there is… Continue reading

  • Life after Dying? Absolutely

    I and many – not all – of the people I know feel quite sure that life ends at death. And yet we rely on an afterlife of a natural kind: other people’s lives will continue after we have gone.… Continue reading

  • On The Cosmic Calendar, A Date To Remember

    Back in 1977, the cosmologist Carl Sagan wrote a book called The Dragons of Eden. Sagan described the long evolution that preceded humans and argued for the likelihood of other intelligence evolving elsewhere in the cosmos during all that time.… Continue reading

  • Darwin and the Buddha: a Comparison

    The teachings of Charles Darwin and Gautama Buddha are worlds apart. Yet their descriptions of life bear similarities to each other and even interlock in ways that expand my view of each.  I’ll focus this comparison on  On the Origin of… Continue reading

  • The Buddhist Body Guard

    We like to think that we live in the here and now, that that is where we can find a truer reality and leave our illusion of self behind.  But what about the past and future? We may not live… 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

  • The Homely Truth About the Shortest Day

    Last week we passed this year’s shortest day of the year. (It varies by a day or two in different years.) December 21st takes center stage in the annual drama of encroaching darkness turning to growing light, the grand rebirth,… Continue reading