Hyper-reality

April 1, 2025

There are a few experiences in life that open a door into a hyper-reality that otherwise lies dormant as we go about our daily lives. Being in love – or in great danger can lead to this heightened awareness that gives us the sensation that all that we experience is new and very intense.

Most of us have fleeting feelings like this but some exist constantly in this type of alternate universe where our very beings wander a strange landscape filled with indecipherable objects and people. Perhaps it is these souls that invent our Gods in the attempt to secure some stable footing in a shifting world. The Shamans of old will never disappear from the humans as long as we exist, because we will never find the “heaven” we seek.

Armies on the March

April 25, 2025 8:49am

On April 19, we stood on Lexington Green. The British column approached from Boston with beating drums. The militia formed up on the Green to defy Albion but were instructed, “lay down your arms and disperse.” The first musket discharged was fired by an unknown shooter and the Revolution was on.

Later, in Concord, we marched in period attire along a 3-mile parade route that crossed the North Bridge where again the combatants clashed. All along this parade were signs directed at the hundreds of men and women marching in remembrance of those patriot soldiers. The message was clear, “you are not welcomed here.” We were labeled fascists, and Nazis. One woman (white) called out, “Goodbye racists,” as we marched away.

Greek soldier/writer/historian Xenophon wrote a book titled “Anabasis” (marching out) describing the campaign of an army of Greek mercenaries to aid Cyrus the Younger to take the throne of Persia from his brother Artaxerxes II. This expedition, began in 401BC, resulted in the death of Cyrus and the retreat of the mercenaries across Asia minor and Mesopotamia toward the Black Sea.

Already reeling from a grasp of how little I know and how much must be unknown, I was staggered again by this tale of Xenophon and his army which is a classic of Greek history and literature.

Lemaître – Science and Religion

April 26, 2025 847am

I was watching a YouTube video ( Your Miracles Won’t Do It – Cristopher Hitchens ) of a debate in which Hitchens could not recall the name of the Belgian priest/physicist who conceived of the “big bang.” It was Georges Lemaitre. Lemaitre understood the roles of science and religion. Many people get stuck in a literal interpretation of religious text and cannot sift through the chaff to find the genuine kernels of philosophic truth. Too often, the scientifically inclined want to throw out everything because they believe a certain religious dogma to be the central theme…. to be the sine qua non of the faith. This “sophistry” leads to the obsession that blinds them to the eternal wisdom hidden among the logical fallacies upon which they are fixated.

Lemaitre cautioned Pope Pius XII to avoid mixing science and religion because each has a role in our lives and while some may not need faith of any kind, others find comfort which may lead them to a broader understanding of our place in the universe.