Imagination and Spirit

Some people talk about spiritual things, the spirit world, and so forth. Some people say all this is imaginary, as if that is a bad thing. Some extol imagination. Some reduce thought, feeling, imagination to the firing of synapses and the complex functioning of neural nodes and brain chemistry. To me, the reductionists don't have an explanation any more convincing than the most far out spiritists. I believe imagination and spirit are the same thing, differently conceived. A great work of art or music or mathematics -- of the spirit or the imagination? I say the same thing. Quantum mechanics is as much imagined as "real." The "Big Bang" is imagined in the form of mathematical models. We are like the people in Plato's Cave, seeing shadows, except that I don't think there are "ideal forms."

How to Go Camping Minimalist Style

How to Go Camping Minimalist Style

www.wikihow.com

Good information, but not really what I'd call minimalist camping. For that, just what you can carry, keep it light, trail camping for a few days or a week. Don't even bother with deodorant. Simple dry food and water. All the fancy EMS, Cabelas, REI stuff kind of goes against the concept. Army trenching tool needed for digging and filling spot latrines as you go. Really. Keep it simple. Go with a friend or a group. Know your terrain. Have good maps and a compass. Know how to travel in a straight line using the landscape; basic geometry. Be prepared for likely weather conditions. Know how to start fire in the rain. Be prepared. Clean up after yourself and others if necessary; leave where you have been better than when you got there. Camping like this has given me some of the most satisfying experiences of my life.

 

Havasupai Canyon & Reservation - Arizon

Information about ...

Hiking into this area and camping in the canyon or staying in the lodge is one of my "bucket list" items.

Two Friends Recently Described Me As ...

This is how two friends who know me recently described their impressions of me.

1. "A bright, cultivated, sharp and human mind. And funny."
2. " ... sort of ... enigmatic. And also: bright, no, very bright, intellectually curious, fun, funny, and ultimately, a person of enormous good will ...."

Summary:

• Very bright, smart, intelligent, curious
• Fun and funny
• Enormous good will
• Enigmatic

Very affirming. I am blessed. I may get back to this later with my own reflections, if I have the time and inclination in the future.

First Post - Starting Point For This Blog

I am at a point that I want to explore how to spend my time doing less lawyering and more writing, and/or more music activities -- interests that I have tabled for a long time while I pursued supporting family, kids, my own sense of self-importance (getting free from that at last), etc. It is a time of uncertainty for me now. Do I re-commit to my profession of over 30 years? Do I move in a different direction? Money is an issue. I am not independently wealthy, and have to make a living. So at a minimum I have to keep doing what I've been doing (lawyering) until income starts arriving from other sources. My interests are very broad, include poetry, fiction, songs, screenplays, reviews, essays. I am hoping to be able to pick up information, insight and encouragement from other people who have done it and are doing it. I am looking for friends and fellow adventurers in life, involved in artistic and intellectual pursuits, but down to earth, not too full of themselves, which is how I hope to be myself.

I think I also will start dropping bits and pieces of story and reflection here, to start getting it all in one place. Perhaps the entries might grow into essays, fiction, poems, songs. I won't worry about the coherence or outcome now.