A sometimes tongue-in-cheek look at the lives and times and travels of the denizens of Steinstrasse, Herford, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Wilkommen in Dezember
A few years ago, I had a bad December. An era ended for me and I felt pretty bad about it. I recovered sometime the next March. I began sitting again and not thinking again and reading the things that always put me in the happy place. I learned something I'd learned before and that I'll probably have to learn again someday: alone is not lonesome. Lonesome is a self-imposed restriction on contentment, as are anger, greed, and all of the other ways in which we make ourselves miserable.
This December holds promise. Sitting needs work. No-Mind needs work. Creativity needs work. And when I've got something to do, I'm content. So up, up, and away minions of the Stone Street, it's Christmas time in the city.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Who Cares Where the Time Goes?
A few weekends ago, I met an old comrade, from my days in automotive, in Fuerth. We drove to Prague from there and then traversed the entire city by foot/ It was on the order of a forced, but leisurely, march because of our time constraints, but it gave me a good idea of how much time I'll need to really explore this wonderful city.
I returned to Herford from the Nurenburg train station, a place I haven't seen for about 40 years. The Oberpfalz landscape was surprisingly familiar and comfortably so, after such a long absence. I'll be back to explore it again.
The Weihnachtsmarkt started up on Monday and has been met by the traditional cold rain for it's first few days. I did a round of the layout on Sunday, when all of the booths were still shuttered and no one else seemed interested. I like having things to myself.....
Peace and Good Will from Steinstrasse, where the men know everything, and the women let them believe it.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
The Life of Pi
That's the way I approach all literature, prose or poetry, wait for the gestalt to form and then feel it. As I was formulating this thought, I had visions of the one pointing to heaven and shouting blasphemy or another pointing to hell and shouting something easier to spell and I chuckled. Good fiction should bring you into the world of the characters, lifting you out of your physical location and setting you down in theirs. It should be lived, loved, and most of all, enjoyed for what it is: language, the only magic left in the world.
My Sense of Humor is Broken
I ate two wiener wurstchen and finished my coffee.
I went for a walk.
It didn't go away.
I took a nap, calling upon my ability to force vivid dreams on my way in to the inner world. The dreams were fast and furious. I woke an hour later and couldn't remember any of them. I just knew they were good ones.
Off to the Cafe. Coffee. Reading. People watching. I opened a new page in the notebook. I scribbled furiously. I came up with a poem. It wasn't very good. I went for another walk.
It's three days later. I'm okay, but my sense of humor is broken. I laugh at my toilet every time I flush it. Maybe it's symbolic.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Just Another Sunday Morning without the Benefits of a Healthy Breakfast
I'm not the greatest fan of Kirmes. I don't drink beer that has alcohol (more than 0%, which means trace), rarely eat the brats (although I'm fond or Riesen Krakauer, or giant Polish bologna) and I don't ride the kiddie rides. There've been enough photos of our fair city made from the top of the ferris wheel. What I am fond of, is watching people enjoying themselves, which means I'll make a round or two to smell the smells and hear the sounds and watch the kids trying to weasel another euro out of mom and dad. Kirmes occupies the Alter Market, Linenbauerplatz, Rathausplatz, and a little bit of the Neuermarkt. It doesn't extend to my neighborhood, the Gaensemarkt. In order to compensate, the Gaensemarkt will be the home of the Herbstmarkt today, a collection of stalls selling produce, meat, potables, and other stuff to get you through the coming winter. There will be some fotos to make and some stories to fashion. Which is why no healthy breakfast. I'll be eating out today, and I can assure you, whatever it is, it will contain a week's worth of fat.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
I Like October
October smells of wool and flannel and burning leaves. In my youth, it was spent in hunting grouse and rabbit, and flipping the best of my flies at the biggest trout. And of course, a month into the school year, there was always love, if not of women, at least of new knowledge. October makes me smile more than any month in winter, spring, or summer. It may just be the light, or the air. It may just be the way a woman looks in a wool sweater, or the way a trout rises, or a grouse flies. It may just be October.
Friday, September 27, 2013
The Shortsightedness of Technically Assisted Immortality
I am a wire-head. I've got tablets, phablets, and other silicon driven devices coming out my yin-yang. Not what you'd expect from a guy who professes zen as the way to be, but an aspect of my development that I use both to see what the world is thinking and to suggest what it might like to think. This is a suggestion day.
I do a lot of research in the area of artificial intelligence. The latest developments suggest that the singularity is near and not so near. You see, the singularity is something like god. It's levels of complexity higher than the human understanding of it. If you lived at the level of a point, you couldn't really understand a line, and a line can't understand a polyhedron and...... You probably get the picture. A great many of the things I read deal with the extension of human life by technological supplements, the notions of artificial life, immortality, and even technological spirituality. To me, these things are all possible, and, if you look closely (or distantly) enough, they've probably all been done already. The big questions for me are all tied into the semantics of existence. To be is no big deal. A series of variables cluster, combine, evolve, and poof!!!! Let there be life.
Complicated stuff, and fun, but also reason for existential angst, agnosticism, and in extreme cases, madness. I opt for madness. God and existence are poorly defined. Madness is solid. Concrete. A madman is anyone who doesn't believe what you believe.
I don't believe anything. There are things I know, through direct experience. Things I feel, through direct and indirect contact with the universe. Things I do, based on the whimsical combination of unconstrained variables in my environment as they interact with the constrained variables of my current moment. This NOW says: suggest.
I suggest you find a quiet place to sit and sit there, quietly. You'll find it useful. Don't worry about rogue planets, the North Koreans, the price of sugar, or genital warts. Just sit. You'll find it useful. Being is good, being aware of being is better. But don't be too aware or you'll start rambling like I do.......
peace and love
The Madman of Stone Street in the City of Herford in Eastwestfalia on a Friday morning in late September, a day which will probably come again......
Friday, September 20, 2013
Marktkauf: the Garden of Earthly Delights
Today, I am forced to hike a kilometer through clothing, electrical appliances, books, office supplies, shoes, and in some cases, a liquor store before I get to the food. It used to annoy me, but I've changed my mind. It's something to do when the grocery list is fast in my head and I've got no plans. Wander around the store, look at what they've got to offer, and sometimes, in a rare fit of extravagance, but some of it. Not the liquor, of course, I am, after all a teetotaler. But tee shirts for 10€ or socks for 3, those are deals, and I love deals.
Christmas is a comin' and the geese are getting fat, so I've got to fill my shelves in case of guests (a phenomenon not experienced since 27 December, 2009 (with the exception of the chimney sweep who sees my gas furnace is 'in ordnung' every January)).
It's not that I don't like company, it's just that I get enough of it in the cafes and beer gardens and bistros I haunt, not to mention the supermarket. Here on Steinstrasse, solitude is the order of the day. Solitude, and cooking, and eating. Occasionally, I write something silly or carve a figure from basswood (lindenholz) or play an ancient folk song (something out of the '60s) on one of the guitars. In between, I meditate (on my navel, and yours) and walk around.
Thank you for your attention. I am very happy you dropped by.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Happy Birthday Antie!
Today is my sister Mary Ann's Birthday. Her body's no longer here to celebrate, but there's plenty of her left. She was a sweet and loving woman, especially when it came to her nieces and nephews. She never married, and never had children of her own, so the kids were all special to her. As was I. She used to tell me I was her hero, because I'd finished University and gone on to management in big companies. I wish she could have lasted long enough to enjoy retirement, but two years after packing it in, she died. That may have been the reason that I, between jobs at sixty, decided to take advantage of life and start to live it.
I wish she was around to take walks along the river bank, through the fields and woods, or just to sit under the umbrellas and drink a coffee with me, as she did today, in my mind.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Stone Street Zendo Mumbles
Gautama sat around in his everyday clothes, loose and comfortable. No special apron. No special stuff.
I'm pretty sure Jesus did the same, and Ghandi, and all of the other holy guys who came before them. It is the religious complex that dictates such and such material in this or that color, with this chant or that and the reading of this text or that one. The real practitioners get comfortable and sit. What they experience internally is the reality of their practice, not the special incense or bells, the experience. Of course, you can make yourself more susceptible to altered states of consciousness with smells and sounds, but the real challenge is being all alone inside of yourself in silence.
So, I'm gonna just sit, quietly. And when I'm finished, I'm gonna go for a walk, like a snail, and find my next meal or my next smile.
Peace and Love from Steinstrasse/Stone Street, home of the Schneckenbuddha.....
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Mormons, Martyrs, and Morons
In between meetings, I was a little unnerved a few evenings ago as I was getting ready to shut down for the night. There was an uncanny howl coming from the bench between the house and the moat and my curiosity got the best of me. A woman, younger than I by many years, was lying on the bench in the fetal position and hugging a small dog while periodically screeching, moaning, wailing 'Niemand liebt Mich' (nobody loves me). I stood there for at least ten minutes alternating between thoughts of going to help, calling the police, yelling go away, but was saved from action when she let go of the dog, got up, and rapidly staggered away. I hope my compassion (as indecisive as it was) helped.
The use of alcohol as a self-medication in times of depression is strongly advised against. My experiences would make a good pamphlet on the subject!
Other than that, folks are putting together photo exhibits, new books, lectures, etc. and the city is busy everyday because of the great weather we've been having. As I mentioned before, clouds are the sidewalk cafe's enemy. Something about an overcast day keeps the tables empty, with the exception of a crazy American and a few other caffeine and people-watching addicts.
I, as is obvious from this post, am still dwelling in a creative black-hole where ideas are allowed, but execution is not. This too shall pass.....
Friday, August 2, 2013
Heat
It's a far cry from my previous existence of air conditioned cars, offices, and houses, but sandals, cotton and linen clothes, and a straw hat are environmentally friendlier and they leave me with enough spare change to buy LOTS of ice cream!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Endlich Unbefristet!
I have no plans to leave. The wind changes direction. People come and go. Mind remains calm. Sitting on a point of eternity, infinity is the path. Endlich unbefristet!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
After the party....
The next two are an overview and detail of one of the Street Art stops, the side wall of the Stadtbiliothek (City Library) which is a collage of photos made by a young Englishman, Ben Stewart. Aside from the ubiquitous Stadtfuhrer Mathias Polster (lower right) there is a friend of mine in the lower left!
....and here he is, the world famous Schneckenbuddha!! Denizen of Steinstrasse and my rucksack when we take leave of our abode for parts known, unknown, and who cares.
Friday, June 14, 2013
The Fest's in Full Swing!!
Some of my favorite sights today:
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Hoeker, Hansa, and hey! it's raining...
Here's a list of cities represented here this week, along with the links to their websites (courtesy of our friendly city) to help you plan your next Hansiatic vacation!
Stadt (Organisation) | Land | Webseite |
Brügge | Belgien | www.brugge.be |
Ahlen | Deutschland | www.ahlen.de |
Alfeld | Deutschland | www.alfeld.de |
Anklam | Deutschland | www.anklam.de |
Attendorn | Deutschland | www.attendorn.de |
Bad Iburg | Deutschland | www.badiburg.de |
Beckum | Deutschland | www.beckum.de |
Bockenem | Deutschland | www.bockenem.de |
Borgentreich | Deutschland | www.borgentreich.de |
Brakel | Deutschland | www.brakel.de |
Brandenburg an der Havel | Deutschland | www.stadt-brandenburg.de |
Breckerfeld | Deutschland | www.breckerfeld.de |
Brilon | Deutschland | www.brilon.de |
Buxtehude | Deutschland | www.buxtehude.de |
Demmin | Deutschland | www.demmin.de |
Dorsten | Deutschland | www.dorsten.de |
Dortmund | Deutschland | www.dortmund.de |
Einbeck | Deutschland | www.einbeck.de |
Emmerich | Deutschland | www.emmerich.de |
Frankfurt (Oder) | Deutschland | http://www.frankfurt-oder.de |
Gardelegen | Deutschland | www.gardelegen.info |
Greifswald | Deutschland | www.greifswald.de |
Gronau (Leine) | Deutschland | www.gronau-leine.de |
Halle (Saale) | Deutschland | www.halle.de |
Haltern am See | Deutschland | www.haltern.de |
Hamburg | Deutschland | http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/ |
Hameln | Deutschland | www.hameln.de |
Hamm | Deutschland | www.hamm.de |
Hansestadt Stralsund | Deutschland | www.stralsund.de |
Hansestadt Wipperfürth | Deutschland | www.wipperfuerth.de |
Haselünne | Deutschland | www.haseluenne.de |
Hattingen | Deutschland | www.hattingen.de |
Helmstedt | Deutschland | http://www.stadt-helmstedt.de/ |
Herford | Deutschland | www.herford.de |
Höxter | Deutschland | www.hoexter.de |
Kalkar/Grieth | Deutschland | www.kalkar.de |
Kamen | Deutschland | www.stadt-kamen.de |
Korbach | Deutschland | www.korbach.de |
Kyritz | Deutschland | www.kyritz.de |
Lemgo | Deutschland | www.lemgo.de |
Lippstadt | Deutschland | www.lippstadt.de |
Lübeck | Deutschland | www.luebeck.de |
Lüneburg | Deutschland | www.lueneburg.de |
Lünen | Deutschland | www.luenen.de |
Magdeburg | Deutschland | www.magdeburg-tourist.de |
Medebach | Deutschland | www.medebach-touristik.de |
Meppen | Deutschland | www.meppen-tourismus.de |
Merseburg | Deutschland | www.merseburg.de |
Minden | Deutschland | www.minden.de |
Mühlhausen | Deutschland | www.muehlhausen.de |
Münster | Deutschland | www.tourismus.muenster.de |
Naumburg (Saale) | Deutschland | www.naumburg.de |
Neuss | Deutschland | www.neuss.de |
Nieheim | Deutschland | www.nieheim.de |
Olpe | Deutschland | www.olpe.de |
Osnabrück | Deutschland | www.osnabrueck.de |
Osterburg | Deutschland | www.osterburg.de |
Paderborn | Deutschland | www.paderborn.de |
Quedlinburg | Deutschland | www.quedlinburg.de |
Rheda-Wiedenbrück | Deutschland | www.rheda-wiedenbrueck.de |
Rheine | Deutschland | www.rheine.de |
Rostock | Deutschland | www.hansesail.com |
Rüthen | Deutschland | www.ruethen.de |
Salzwedel | Deutschland | www.salzwedel.de |
Schwerte | Deutschland | www.schwerte.de |
Soest | Deutschland | www.soest.de |
Stade | Deutschland | www.stade.de |
Stendal | Deutschland | www.stendal.de |
Tangermünde | Deutschland | www.tangermuende.de |
Telgte | Deutschland | www.telgte.de |
Uelzen | Deutschland | www.uelzen.de |
Unna | Deutschland | www.hansetourist.de |
Warburg | Deutschland | www.warburg.de |
Warendorf | Deutschland | www.warendorf.de |
Werne | Deutschland | www.werne.de |
Wesel | Deutschland | www.weselmarketing.de |
Wismar | Deutschland | www.wismar.de |
King's Lynn | England | www.west-norfolk.gov.uk |
Kingston upon Hull | England | www.hullcc.gov.uk |
Hansestadt Tallinn | Estland | http://www.tallinn.ee/ |
Narva | Estland | www.narva.ee |
Pärnu | Estland | www.parnu.ee |
Tartu | Estland | www.tartu.ee |
Viljandi | Estland | www.viljandi.ee |
Turku | Finnland | www.turku.fi |
La Rochelle | Frankreich | www.larochelle.fr |
Hafnarfjörður | Island | www.hafnarfjordur.is |
Cesis | Lettland | www.cesis.lv |
Kuldiga | Lettland | www.kuldiga.lv |
Limbazi | Lettland | www.limbazi.lv |
Riga | Lettland | www.riga.lv |
Straupe | Lettland | www.pargaujasnovads.lv |
Valmiera | Lettland | www.valmiera.lv |
Kaunas | Litauen | www.kaunas.lt |
Deventer | Niederlande | www.deventer.nl |
Doesburg | Niederlande | www.doesburg.nl |
Elburg | Niederlande | www.elburg.nl |
Groningen | Niederlande | www.groningen.nl/ondernemer |
Harderwijk | Niederlande | www.harderwijk.nl |
Hasselt | Niederlande | www.zwartewaterland.nl |
Hattem | Niederlande | www.hattem.nl |
Kampen | Niederlande | www.kampen.nl |
Ommen | Niederlande | www.ommen.nl |
Zutphen | Niederlande | www.zutphen.nl |
Zwolle | Niederlande | www.zwolle.nl |
Bergen | Norwegen | www.bergen.kommune.no |
Gdansk/Danzig | Polen | www.gdansk.pl |
Goleniow | Polen | www.goleniow.pl |
Kolobrzeg/Kolberg | Polen | www.kolobrzeg.eu |
Krakow/Krakau | Polen | www.krakow.pl |
Lebork | Polen | www.lebork.pl |
Slubice | Polen | www.slubice.pl |
Slupsk | Polen | www.slupsk.pl |
Torun | Polen | www.torun.pl |
Belozersk | Russland | www.gorodbelozersk.ru |
Kaliningrad | Russland | http://www.klgd.ru/ |
Kingisepp | Russland | www.kingisepp-mo.ru |
Pskow | Russland | www.pskovgorod.ru |
Smolensk | Russland | www.smol-tourism.ru |
Tikhvin | Russland | www.tikhvin.org |
Totma | Russland | http://old.totma-vologda.ru/doc/doc.php |
Twer | Russland | www.tver.ru |
Velikij Ustjug | Russland | www.vumr.ru |
Welikij Nowgorod | Russland | http://visitnovgorod.ru/ |
Wologda | Russland | http://vologda-oblast.ru/en/ |
Aberdeen | Schottland | http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/home/home.asp |
Kalmar | Schweden | www.kalmar.se |
Visby | Schweden | www.gotland.se |
Saturday, June 8, 2013
and death shall have no dominion
" Though lovers be lost, love shall not" strikes a chord.
I've been asked a few questions of late, questioning aspects of being most often alone, which I am. One was on homesickness, the other on loneliness. I don't feel either. I do sometimes miss the presence of others I've enjoyed and I do sometimes miss a trout stream I used to fish, or an alpine meadow I used to camp in, but missing something I once experienced is something I do joyfully. Missing means having fond memories and I enjoy many of those. For many, though, it implies a sadness at not being able to connect with that experience. That is not my way. It's taken a long time to work it through, but I've broken my attachments to my experiences. That doesn't mean I've forgotten or suppressed them. It means that I live in the here and now and when you do this mindfully, when you work everyday at being aware of your body and your mind and your connections to the world you know and the world you haven't experienced yet, you realize that present, past, and future are the same thing and "though lovers be lost, love shall not; and death shall have no dominion." For a Buddhist, death has no dominion and love is never lost and sitting quietly on a Saturday night is a lot more important than anything else I can think of.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Drinking Drinking a Cup of Green Tea
I am sitting quietly tonight, drinking green tea and smiling at the thought of stopping all wars and saving all sentient beings. I'm smiling, because I've been sitting quietly for most of the day. I've written a few poems and sketched a bit and thought about the way following my breath quiets my mind. Mind is vast, as vast as space, and when it's empty, l experience fullness. Drinking a cup of green tea.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Gray Enough for You?
The book is a wonderful collection of tales and facts, and the repository of the recreated lofting plans for some of Rushton's best designs. I built a model of one them many years ago to see how it would look as a fiberglassed wood strip construction. My experience working with Kai and his fairytale houses has rekindled my need to build things and I think it's time I started.
I'm writing about it, because I don't want the idea to pass, like so many others have. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Sands of Time
The first sand storm hit when Tim said it had been 52 year since we first met. We were 14 and freshmen at St. Rose High School. We were also new kids on the block. Tim went to grade school in Archbald and I in Jermyn. In those days, a few miles meant a lot more than they do today, culturally, politically, and economically. Carbondale, when St. Rose was located, was a much bigger town than either of ours, and somewhat intimidating, at least, for the the first few weeks.
We survived, and 52 years later, we ate Bratwurst and Rotkohl in Köln.
On the train back to Herford, I relived a lot my life, good and bad, happy and sad. My dreams were full of ghosts that night, and I smiled on waking in a future I had never imagined, where the Sands of Time look more like dust on the furniture.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
May Day, mayday
Some of you know that May Day is the equivalent to the American Labor Day. It's the day of the worker and we workers are not working today (at least in the factories, the restaurants and cafes are open). My plan for the day was to get up early (which I did) and go for a walk (which I didn't). It's a beautiful day, so far, with a blue sky and bright sunlight making the budding trees even more magical, and I really should be out there walking about, or at least, sitting in a sidewalk cafe drinking coffee, so I'll make this short: mayday, mayday, mayday, SOS,SOS,SOS: help me, I'm enjoying life. Shouldn't I be in some sort of existential funk? It is, after all Spring and I live alone. The ducks are paired up, the hares, the titmouses, and pigeons, and everything else that moves. Pollen is looking for a place to land, the world is mating.
Enough. I've done my part. There are two separate continua of this stream of consciousness. A male in Pennsylvania and a female in New York. Anything more would be dangerous. I'm going to rest on my laurels, and play the part of a zen monk until this body quits and I'm transferred to the waiting room. And now, it's time to drink coffee, or maybe eat ice cream. I wish you all a peaceful May Day, with no need to demonstrate or revolt against the regime. May you and your children all find comfort in their Buddha Nature.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Hansel, Gretel, Kai, and Meike
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Kirmis
One of the biggest festivals of the Herford year is Oster Kirmis, or the Easter Carnival. For the past two years, they've closed one of the main thoroughfares and setup the Ferris Wheel, carousels, concession stands, funhouses, and all manner of mayhem and maddness designed to part families with Euros, and keep the kids busy during Spring Break. Today is the last day of the festivities, it's neither raining nor snowing, and every once in awhile, the Sun peeks out.
The streets are full!
I've walked through it a few times during the week, but it's easier to go around it. If I had A couple of kids to drag me around, it would be a thing of wonder. Alone, it's a jostling crowd- on MY turf. Better to be the little kid and see the magic, which I'm about to become after my next cup of coffee.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Good- Holy- Black Friday
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Passport's in the Mail
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
A Silence Broken
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Ode to St. Valentine
I always made it a point to avoid the practice myself. It's nothing to do with the saint himself. Or both of them, depending on which history of the church you read. I suppose it's got value, in that it does remind people of the concept of love, something that gets lost in the myriad of forensic scientists and murderers, soccer players, politicians, and the rest that are paraded through their minds by the media.
I am, myself, a great fan of love, but not of romance. I would die for love, which is to say, I would risk my life to save another sentient being. Compassion. Everyone should try a taste of it. Love is a good thing. Don't you forget it. It may actually be love that makes the world go round. The science of mind is beginning to understand itself, the zeitgeist is turning mystical. I'm going to sit quietly for the next twenty minutes or so, and do my part to hold the universe in balance. Peace and love to all of you!! Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
A Month of Sundays
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
resurrection tuesday
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Finally: Winter (my kind of Winter)
There were deer hunts when the entire forest was so quiet you could hear the animals breathing and the snow falling, so quiet the meditation took over and the hunt disappeared. Long walks through mountain meadows and stands of pine opening into sparse hardwood and finally back down low on the mountain to the empty expanse of rock and dirt and giant shovels of the strippings. John O'Hara once said that Winter in Scranton is suicide weather. Maybe, if you're a city kid, but for us mountain boys, Winter, 15 miles Northeast of Scranton is transcendtal weather. The same thing applies here, the lanscape and the cityscape transcend the gray with a coating of white and air which turns your breath into steam. It's a good thing. It's my kind of Winter.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Walking in the Rain
Back on Steinstrasse, warm and dry within my cocoon, coffee brewing and a big chunk of tiramisu waiting for the wolf, I am reminded that the original child remains.
Welcome 2013
I'm not a theologian, nor a nuclear physicist, but I know enough about both spheres to realize they are one and the same, in the same way that anything which seeks to explain nature is the same thing. I've really enjoyed the emergence of quantum physics into the mainstream of thinking and being these past twenty or thirty years. The deeper our knowledge of the natural world gets, the deeper our understanding of the supernatural world gets. Super becomes sub and sub super in many respects. In a sense, it all comes down to perception. We can now see things we couldn't see before, neurons, galaxies, universes, quanta. The more we see, the more we are led into the recursive world of vortexes, imaginary and otherwise, which gives us the ability to create, understand, teach, and learn some more. I like it.
The world didn't end with the Mayan Calendar. Or maybe it did. Who cares? I'm still imagining and perceiving and, yes, since it's Winter, eating. That's a Happy New Year. I hope yours goes as well!