zoofence.com

Every week day, I receive an email message from Wordsmith.org with that day’s word of the day. If you like words, as I do, it is an interesting and fun (not to mention free) service. Their URL is http://wordsmith.org/ . Anyway, today’s word struck me as offering a particularly interesting peek into ...

Discussions we have had here and elsewhere in part about Lanza's article helped to generate the most recent Theophyle cartoon, and raised this question: As I read him, Lanza (and quantum physics generally) says that the eyes see reality as waves which the brain, upon receiving the eyes' signals, con...

ihavesayso sent us a link to a website called "God is imaginary". There, one finds fifty "simple proofs" that God is imaginary. Among them are "Try praying", which makes the argument that prayer doesn't work, and "Think about leprechauns", which argues that Go...

I'd venture to say, for example, that a stroke is not, and cannot be regarded as, a good thing ... Well, now. Of course, I would agree that a stroke is surely among the last things I would like to experience. And yet, not long ago I saw a television report of Ram Das at St. John The Divine Church i...

Anna and I have just returned from an extended visit with her very aged bodily parents. Over tea this morning, we observed the difference in the sense of time-and-space between where we are now, at home, and where we have just been, visiting them. In ways neither of us could fully articulate, time-a...

A few days ago, we received a letter from a longtime friend of TZF asking about reincarnation. Specifically, she wondered, “Do you believe we've had past lives, and if so, do we bring negative karma as well as positive karma into this life time?”. My response was no surprise to her, and would have b...

Nice thread. I don't think I ever noticed it before. I agree with all that’s been said about rituals and sounds and “triggers”. As I see it, it isn’t that the rituals are themselves any more “spiritual” than ordinary, mundane activities, but rather that we become distracted by ordinary, mundane acti...

I thoroughly understand where you are coming from, and I can relate to it absolutely. I was – I am – a big Tim Russert fan. And I have always been a great fan of the press, even if from time to time they do disappoint (but then, don’t we all?). For as long as I can remember, I have subscribed to the...

I don't like the word agenda, I prefer intention. A year or more ago, there evolved in this forum a discussion over the difference in the context of the spiritual quest between the words “know” and “remember”, as in “Know Who I Am” and “Remember Who I Am”. As I recall the thread, the general sense ...

Here are a few lines I came across today on the internet that may apply to this thread. Certainly, they reflect a phenomenon I have come across here and there, hopefully not too often in the mirror. The source is Louise Erdrich , who according to Wikipedia is a Native American author and poet. I con...

I'm not quite sure about what the big fuss is regarding "enlightenment." Speaking for myself, that’s an easy one to answer. When I started out on this path, if I hadn’t thought there was something in it for “me”, it is unlikely I would have proceeded with as much enthusiasm and consistenc...

This seems to be “brain week” at TZF. In the past days we have received leads from two TZF friends about books and articles related to the health of the human brain, and then yesterday I read in the June issue of Harper’s magazine a long review of five different books about the brain. One of the lea...

Welcome to TZF. You are among friends. You have an interesting website. When I started out on my path, I recorded my dreams faithfully every morning, and eventually accumulated half a dozen school-size notebooks full of them. Anna did the same. We took them seriously, and in retrospect, I think it w...

Like you, I too am haunted by Martin Niemoeller's line, which I post again because it is so powerful (and timely?): In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they ...

Once again, reading in Nisargadatta last evening: Do understand that you cannot ask a valid question about yourself, because you do not know whom you are asking about. Wow! He continues, In the question “Who am I” the “I” is not known, and the question can be worded as: “I do not know what I mean by...