Being drunk is like being naked. You can’t hide, and you’re probably not trying very hard anyway. Continue reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Profound Indifference
A great spiritual teacher gave me an exercise I could not do because of where I live. There’s more value in doing the exercise, but there’s value in just knowing what it is, too.
A warning before we proceed: this is not “the truth.” It’s a perspective–a very useful perspective–but it’s not gospel. So do the exercise, and get whatever you get from it, and then let it be something you read and maybe did, because that’s all it will be.
Compassion for myself
This is actually about compassion. If you’re thinking about compassion, you’re probably trying to find more of it, especially for people you don’t currently think more compassionately about right now. One such person might be yourself. Maybe. Just a thought. Continue reading
Learning from Grief and Suicide
Machines don’t feel emotion because we haven’t built them to, and until they have other capabilities (learning, self-modification, general-purpose AI) they won’t need emotions. We, however, need them, and not like we need art. We NEED them. Love, pain, grief, anger… Continue reading
I am now officially a Unitarian Universalist.
For two years, I’ve been attending a local UU church and playing in their orchestra. It’s been very rewarding. I maintained the whole time that I didn’t want to join the church. I didn’t want to add “I am a ” to my identity; I didn’t want to be a member of something; I wanted to be as independent of religious establishments as possible. (I don’t really count UU as a religion, for a variety of reasons… but that’s a post for another day.)
This past Sunday was a service on creativity. Our orchestra and choir, combined with a guest choir and friends of the orchestra, performed Fauré’s Requiem. The church’s music director did all the speaking parts of the service. It was amazing. This service, however, is not why I joined. Why, then? Keep reading.