Essays

Philosophical and Political 

Living Towards Ends

Not long ago I wrote an essay[1] about what are called “existential risks,” aka “X-risks,” those calamitous possibilities (e.g., nuclear war, anthropogenic climate disruption, pandemic, and more, sometimes referred to collectively as the polycrisis) that are considered capable of rendering Homo sapiens extinct, or nearly so, and our present ways of life definitively so. I did not write about...

Aging: The Surprise

I awoke today preoccupied with thoughts about aging and its place in a life—Thoughts about aging as a phenomenon and as my experience and how it came on me as a surprise. I then moved to an obvious question: When does aging begin? (I know well enough when it ends.) My assumption is that it’s primarily a physical process with each step linked to mental accompaniments: emotions, interpretations,...

A Patient’s View

These thoughts are sent into the dentistry realm not from a dental practitioner or researcher but from a patient. I presume to do so based on two facets of my history. First, I have far more than the average level of dental problems (although perhaps not disproportionately since I am 79 years old) and have seen and/or talked with 8 or 9 dentists about my needs over the last three years. This...
Cosmos Manifests as Truth-Beauty-Goodness

Cosmos Manifests as Truth-Beauty-Goodness

I WAS CAMPED IN THE eastern Sierra Nevada of California at 9,000' within a roughly enfolded basin, granite cliffs rising at least another 1,000’ all around except for the gap through which the old glacier had eased downward fifteen millennia ago. A hiker approached to...

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Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 4

Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 4

Today I walked again. I found much to marvel at and many interesting encounters along the way. I saw a parent quail with several newly hatched chicks and wondered where the other parent was. A parent of any species tending their young is always strangely engaging,...

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Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 3

Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 3

I moved camp this morning and caught a ride to the intersection of Porcupine Creek and Tioga Road, several miles north of the Valley. Fourteen miles hiked and a late afternoon return to camp. I’d have stayed out longer but storms rolled in at noon. I was high up on...

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Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 2

Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 2

Another time, another foray along the Merced River toward Vernal and Nevada Falls. Water soothes. As I walked, the sun rose over the Valley rim just southeast of Half Dome. Tall trees stood above the rim, backlit. The one directly between my line of sight and the sun...

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Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 1

Sierra Nevada Water & Trees – Part 1

The day begins with hours beside flowing water. The walk starts near the confluence of Tenaya Creek and Merced River. Late June, and the high country snow is fast disappearing, but the watersheds of both these streams still send down a generous flow, a gift of water I...

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Reverence for Existence

Reverence for Existence

It is not a phrase I often use, but it fits to say that I am one of those “spiritual but not religious” people. I generally consider it a likely cop-out, a way to seem serious about ultimate things without actually believing in much. But it also reflects authentic...

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