Musings of a Middle Aged Man

I have been hunting for decades but have never been able to bag my prey. There are no heads mounted on my wall, no high stories of stalking, wrangling, or capture. My quarry is illusory in the way the monster beneath my bed can be heard breathing raspy breaths but is always invisible to the eye except for an ephemeral glimpse floating on the periphery reflecting off dust motes hovering in shafts o...

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is the original Star Trek. Including an affinity for the subsequent versions showcasing iterations of the original characters, especially Mr. Spock. Recently, I sat down and watched an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where the crew intercepted a force that had them singing in a way reminiscent of musicals from the 1950s, with hidden emotions exposed to...

I spend what most people would consider an inordinate amount of wasted time writing words that will only ever be read by me. I have dozens of notebooks filled to overflowing with my musings many of which have made their way into the more than 4,000 blog posts published under three personas. Despite countless hours invested in my writing, I have not recouped a single cent from anyone...

I have been hunting for decades but have never been able to bag my prey. There are no heads mounted on my wall, no high stories of stalking, wrangling, or capture. My quarry is illusory in the way the monster beneath my bed can be heard breathing raspy breaths but is always invisible to the eye except for an ephemeral glimpse floating on the periphery reflecting off dust motes hovering in shafts o...

In the desert, you can't remember your name...and that's a good thing, the start of a most excellent journey. It means preconceptions are wiped away. It is in these vast expanses that I uncover, discover, recover a multitude of treasures, shiny nuggets of inspiration that either seed or weave their way into my musings, my paintings, my psyche. For me, forgetting my name is a stroke of luck...

My father died at 73 years old and was cremated releasing the energy of his body into the sky as smoke particles leaving behind only ashes and bits of charred bone. My mother took her last breath a month shy of her 85th birthday, was embalmed, and buried in a traditional coffin along with the urn holding my father's remains. Both now reside six feet beneath the earth's black surface in gol...

The Venus of Willendorf is believed to be one of the oldest carved representations of a god, in this case, a goddess. That distinction is silly because a self-manifesting god has no need for gender...

I cannot honestly say, in my entire adult life, I ever felt I belonged anywhere including in my own skin. As far as I know, I'm not schizophrenic nor do I suffer from any disassociative disorder. I don't belong in Chicagoland, the place I've been trying to escape from for 61 of the 62.5 years bounding my mortal existence...in my current incarnation...

Is it any surprise we are awestruck by ancient art lovingly painted in the deep recesses of dark caves? Or that some are willing to pay dearly for beautiful paintings, sculptures, and intact pottery discarded in a midden heap by indigenous ancestors? Or that an unknown nobody will invest countless hours immersed in the creative process knowing full well only they will ever be the audience for thei...

I have an acquaintance who is the life of the party magnet, has so many friends he is always invited somewhere, always on the go, an attendant at more weddings in 1 year than I've been invited to in my lifetime. It seems he has activities with friends to fill every waking hour. And then there is me...

Most of us have met a person, typically young, who we describe as having an old soul. It's a phrase used to describe someone who possesses qualities or characteristics or has a perspective deemed to be mature beyond their physical years...

I would like to think the tweet was sarcasm or written by a Twitter Troll...but I'm not so sure. To hear the legions thumping their holy book tell it, Jesús had flowing, cornsilk blond hair, eyes as blue as a noon desert sky, and skin so white it rivals that of those raised at the extreme outskirts of the vitamin-D deficient northern hemispheres...

For the longest time growing up, I wanted to be like my hero, Mr. Spock, and develop the ability to eschew all emotion for the intellectual comfort associated with pure logic. I viewed emotion as weakness, a hindrance to being a pure intellect which I viewed as the highest order attainable for a human being...

I've recently discovered a TV series called 'Startrek: Brave New Worlds.' As an aficionado of the original series, I was more than a bit skeptical it would be worth watching considering there has never been another serialized version to have piqued my interest drawing me in for more than a single episode.

I was sitting at a dinner table immediately following a, thankfully, secular wedding when the conversation turned toward politics. I forget the actual prompting, but I responded that I am an American by accident of birth and prefer to identify myself as a human being of the world...

Lately, I've been rewatching for probably the third time since my twenties the splendid teachings of Joseph Campbell. In his day, he was the preeminent scholar on world religions past and present. And, I would say, few, if any, surpass his knowledge some 35 years after his passing. I've read many of Campbell's books and listened deeply to an array of his lectures since learning of him...

I spend part of most mornings creating what can loosely be defined as art. I express this in either the written word or images painstakingly layered upon canvas with colors....

There is debate in the scientific community regarding whether or not fish feel pain. The don't feel side claims fish lack the sufficient density of the appropriate nerve fibers to experience pain. The belief is rationalized as the biology of fish being far too simple...

It is extremely arrogant to extol any one way of living as better than all others or claiming any one culture is better than any other. We may not be comfortable living in a different country or even a different region in our own country. However, our personal comfort is not a valid litmus test

Viewing the creative act as a journey rather than a destination frees the soul to fly unencumbered. Who doesn't need a soul with wings to carry us into our future unburdened?

One stick of Amber scented incense down and my soul finally feels sufficiently cleansed to begin writing. The topic, however, remains fixed in my head hiding in the dark recesses leary exposure to light will turn it to ash like a vampire kissed by a dawn sun.

The best child rearing practice instituted by my mom and dad was to invest the time necessary to figure out who each of us six kids were as uniquely individuals then tailoring their raising to each of us helping us become the best version of ourselves. I always thought this was a universally applied best parenting practice until

Of all the Earthly landscapes, from high rising mountains to grass covered tundras to blue oceans, I feel the most kinship with desolate deserts, sparse landscapes stripped of all but the essentials.

There have been a few laws enacted by recent conservative administrations that were not thought through to their possible consequences resulting in them biting the lawmakers in their proverbial asses when those laws were turned against them.

I have struggled most of my life centering on a personal philosophy integrating my physical and spiritual into a cohesive whole. I have danced with monotheism, polytheism, no-theism experiencing moments of wonder-ism before seeing fully and returning to confusion-ism wrapped tightly around nothing-ism.