On a warm spring day after school hours, I was in the classroom grading exams. The door was open to allow for better air circulation. I heard the familiar whine of an electric-powered wheelchair approaching from the hallway. A pang of panic surged through my body. I instantly knew who it was and what he … [Read more…]
Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk: Chap. 20. “Sasha.” “He went on to say, ‘Living is quite an intimate process. We are all breathing the same air and interact socially, which involves a great gift. We have the potential to appreciate or improve the value of each other.’” Albert Einstein was well aware of the … [Read more…]
In 1742, George Frideric Handel composed what is arguably the greatest oratorio ever written. Apparently, he composed his Messiah in 24 days without getting much sleep or even eating much food. When his assistants brought him his meals, they were often left uneaten. His servants would often find him in tears as he composed. When he completed … [Read more…]
Music is an outburst of the soul: Frederick Delius It is highly unlikely that Taylor Swift, prior to greeting 70,000+ adoring fans, could imagine that she is about to personify perhaps the greatest fallacy in modern biology. The fallacy was first revealed by Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the concept of evolution. Wallace was … [Read more…]
Paraphrasing Walt Whitman (Leaves Of Grass): I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars and a single ant is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. It is most likely that under every rock a dark, silent, highly complex, mostly unknown ecosystem exists. Or, in this case, … [Read more…]
Nature has the ability to be imbued with spiritual power and significance. Forests, lakes, and mountains often invoke a feeling of the divine or inspire a sense of awe. They are a resource that people may use to connect to the sacred and to generate spiritual feelings. Ever since the publication of Darwin’s, “On The Origin … [Read more…]
One of my favorite classroom posters was a sculpted-marble image of Socrates with the following inscription: “The more I know, the more I know I don’t know.” It usually sparked lively discussions, but one year one of the students quipped, “If all we are doing is finding out how much we don’t know, then why … [Read more…]
“The dream is a small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul.” – Carl Jung. Recently, I was relaxing in a recliner watching a Golden State Warriors basketball game. Unfortunately, the commentator’s voice was so irritating that I turned the audio off. I watched in silence for a while, then … [Read more…]
When my high school English teacher presented, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn as the greatest American novel, I identified with the rascal Huck, but had no idea that Mark Twain would eventually alter the course of my life. After a highly intuitive human physiology, student thoughtfully asked if memorizing all the parts of a fetal pig were … [Read more…]
Naturalist Annie Dillard mused, “The question from agnosticism is, Who turned on the lights? The question from faith is, Whatever for?” John Muir answered, “faith is a baptism of light.”Polyphemus Dillard published Pilgrim At Tinker Creek in 1974 and it became a Pulitzer Award winner. Considered by Edward Abbey as the “true heir apparent” to Henry Thoreau’s … [Read more…]