Nowness

The late great jazz drummer Jerry Granelli called it “nowness.” It’s when our experience of the present moment deepens to the point where the twinned impediments of past and future cease to matter.

Arms wide open

Life is hard. If this is deeply felt and truly understood, it ceases to be so.

One hand clapping

Eastern wisdom teaches that we awaken in the depthless interval between two thoughts.

The secret of life

Cambridge University-educated Ajahn Brahm dropped theoretical physics in order to become a Buddhist monk. Today, nearing 70, he says the secret of life is that everything is out of control.

Light and dark

Political repression has produced an art movement called excessivism. Think of George Floyd’s head painted on a brick wall. Nobody’s painting over that expanse. Or of Ai Weiwei and his sunflower seeds. Or of Bansky. The more repressive the state, the more biting the art. Excessivism fulfills British philosopher Alan Watts theory of polarity, also called the law of opposites. As he writes in “The Two Hands of God,” opposing qualities create, define and sustain one another.