Must the World Be Good for Us to Love It?
Walt Whitman, Genesis, Job, and the difficult art of loving creation without demanding that everything within it be good.
The Ground Remembers: Cain, Abel, and the Consequences of Being Human
We construct entire worlds of meaning, but our interpretations do not make us sovereign over reality. A reading of Genesis 1–4 explores human limits, responsibility, violence, mercy, and the consequences that ripple beyond us.
Reality Never Agreed to Our Terms
On the sovereignty of our abstractions, the living world, and humanity’s struggle to accept correction. There is something rather extraordinary about the way human beings relate to reality. We build models of the world. We name things, categorize them, assign values, establish institutions, draw borders, develop economies, and construct
In the Gaps, Reality Streams Back In
On Iris Murdoch, a dog beneath a blanket, and the art of looking again. This morning, I was sitting beneath a white blanket, holding a striped mug. The television was dark. A little light illuminated the room, and somewhere beneath the folds of the blanket was my dog. I couldn’
The Seams Are Showing
Marisol’s assembled figures, a museum afternoon, and a reflection on bodies, relationships, and the tenderness of being unfinished.
The Curious Little Ape
50 strange, silly, tender, and rather wonderful things human beings do.
The World I Thought I Already Knew
An unexpected library book, a familiar sky, and a conversation. A Field Note on looking again and learning to take part in the life already here.
The beauty of an ordinary doorway
The Education of Beauty, no. 1. A close look at Vermeer’s The Little Street, the work of keeping life going, and what attention might ask of us.
Keeping a little room for wonder
A first Field Note on personal blogs, curiosity, and making room for beauty, play, and the smaller beginnings of a thought.
Can I Reach for God Without Deceiving Myself?
What if existence itself is sustained by something beyond our understanding? An exploration of consciousness, the possibility of God, and the difficult balance between longing for connection and remaining faithful to truth.
Attention Is a Way of Living
What we notice shapes how we respond. A reflection on listening, correction, community, and the small practices that give a life its direction.
Taking Experience Seriously Without Turning It into Proof
A reflection on perception, systems, and religion: how to take an experience seriously, examine its interpretation, and act without claiming more than we know.