the game - a poem

it is a game we play,
my beloved and i,
just when the air is coldest,
we snatch the cover from the other
the victorious sleeps in warmth
the vanquished in the chill of night
the cold one always pines away
'let me in' seeking the warmth
of body and cover,
and as wicked as we are
we deny the other such comfort
but when morning comes
the victorious prepares the breakfast
and covers the vanquished in blankets
a small reversal of warmth and chill
like the warm air frosts on the window sill.

the drowning - a poem

the seatide, pulled by moon,
rips at my ribs, pulling me further
into the ocean, beyond the wave
and to the deep calm

arrived, i am at the gentle pull
and swell of water,
pushing me further
to the dark-winged depths

where light filters through perturbance
dappling all it touches till everything sparkles

it is not frightful, this drowning
i don't ache for air
i want to be swallowed up
and denied the terrible expanse of skies

peace, peace, as i sink through this earthen mystery
'the last frontier' once that it was,
now mine, forever understood.

the photo - a poem

is the beauty the curve of breast,
the line of neck, the toussled hair of head?
is the vision of you caught in some poet's words,
the slight terror of your form captured in picasso's brush?

the memory, that memory is all i possess,
where before i held you, i grasp at images, phantasms,
of your half-forgotten face, the white of the shoulder,
the point of your knee,

these are the details i seek to hold in my mind,
the perfectly flawed face shimmers like moonlight
on some perfect midsummer's eve,
yet at times, comes clear at the unlikeliest moments...

for i knew you then, i thought, but didn't really
otherwise the vision would be complete,
and my heart could be full of the polaroid i hold,
yet it's just a snapshot of you on a Spring day
and the embers on it's edges are you melting away...

words - a poem

i know they are just words

but they have the power in them

to raise me to the highest peaks

and crash me to the lowest hells

i know you take them as literal

and i certainly did when young

but with the onset of a little age

the words began to melt into truth

the truth that we must face the week

the people in it and all the events

that obliterate the words into monatony

of repetition and ever present misery

i know they are just words

but the impressions they've made,

the currents they have activated

are rushing courses through my mind...

who gave you these words?

or even the right to repeat them?

have you no clue their power?

on a young and impressionable mind?

so i offer dull silence

i make no promise other than the heartache

that won't blossom into full deppression

as long as it's ever felt in the chest

at the hunger of the world, the poverty of the rich

the poor who will always be with us

the yet to be born child

the stray in the alleyway

this is the law i have observed,

that words eat words,

and the saddest song is the sweetest

the one that rings most true

and if there be a ray of hope

on a cloud-filled day,

it's that in honest temperance the prize is won

though true happiness be denied....

the heart is a pure bred horse - a poem

after the long ride
the bridled horse, turning homeward,
can break into a full gallop
without notice
it's instincts kick in
and it knows where is the stable

my heart runs as fast and strong
as any pure bred animal
it may be a new story it encounters
the same old fable in new clothes
that reminds the mind time is short
don't waste one moment on one vain thing

and i remember a day
when i rode through the pastures
with you at breakneck speed in the rain
our steeds jumping streams with boundless leaps
us ducking our heads from the low-lying branches
summoning courage neither knew we had

and years later meeting again
both still enjoying adventures,
both with new tales to tell
it did my heart good to see you
again in the rain beneath a hemlock tree
the water trickling down your sighing breast
the teardrops kissing your lips...

The Devil Knows Latin (Why America Needs the Classical Tradition)

at first, it seems rather offputting kopff attempts to write on the topic of the classical tradition while doing so for a postmodern attention span. in the beginning of the book, he touches on several topics: the need for the classical tradition in America, a very brief survey of modern economics, and the depravity of modern liberalism, all without delving too deep into his subjects he discusses. however, in the chapter where margaret fuller arrives in Rome and finds her true Self and Home there, the pieces begin to fall into place. following are analyses and biographies of various intellectuals who include J.R.R. Tolkien, James Frazier, and Douglas Young among others who were steeped in the western classics and ultimately made contributions to the conservative culture at large.

this is not a clarion call, but a gentle reminder it is not too late to be initiated into the western classical tradition, and a cogent argument for reviving the humanities in our schools by prying them from the hands of the new critics and postmodern loonies who hijacked them in the sixties and injecting them once again with a good dose of the liberal arts.

sounds plausible to me!

fall - a poem

nothing to sing of,
no new stanza of song
comes to mind at the end of the day
no whipporwhil whistles a tune

and the day has become shorter
as fall is coming into season
the sun to return to it's sea
beneath the southern globe

where the tree once blazed in light
it now casts a longer shadow
and the northern exposure
of moss has become wet with dew

and the night lists quietly
the cicada song has ceased
nothing but locust shells
dot the tree trunk with it's limbs

and finally as the moon arcs above
i see the waxing cresent announce gain
and wonder at the ancient light
that can light the newest path

poetry break

Like a lost beached sea turtle
Under the beam of the pulling moon
Torn by a tide that obeys secret laws
That follows this path of all possibilties

Or now a bush in the understory
Branch touching the leafy tree
The thrush below unpleasant, the light
Above effervescent…

The twinkle of light through the branches
Dappling all it touches with glowing orange
Sparkles now on my skin, white as ivory
Seeing everything beneath the tree….

Or best a galapagos turtle
Running across the beach for it’s life
Eye on the tide, ignoring the prey birds
Circling from above

But we are no different, not alone
in our striving, our loneliness, our very lives
speak to the fact though we wander, we are not alone
and though we strike our own arc, we are held
by the same compass…

A Prayer - A Poem

Perhaps it was the wings of the dove

Beating the airs and conquering them,

Able to move from Heaven to Earth

And returning again with ease,

I sat in an open air temple once

Squared in a great expanse,

Walls but four feet high

With no roof, just the vaulted dome

In the nave, a sculptured dove

Graced the altar of stone

Beneath an inverted flower-bud

Which cast the shadow of a mature Rose

And there in the shadow of the Rose

I made my silent prayer

I prayed for understanding and Peace

Perhaps ignorant one could have both

And just as the boundary walls

Marked off the sacred territory

From the surrounding wild countryside

And the Rose’s shadow caught my supplication...

My prayer vanished into the ether

The vast dome Round,

And I had faith it had reached it’s destination

As a child can find his way home…

An Answer to the 'New Atheism'

New Atheism is not to be confused with classic Atheism of the stripe of Iris Murdoch or other older classical authors. New Atheism, as opposed to classic Atheism, is characterized by dogmatism, polemic and as the author shows throughout this book, uncritical thinking which has devolved into brute force and name calling.

While Alister McGrath gives plenty of leg room for the classic Atheistic writers, showing them respect for their open minded and open handed approach to their world view; where they respect the opinions and arguments of their recognized Christian or Theistic peers, Mr. McGrath shows in short order the New Atheists, namely the 'Four Horsemen' consisting of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett, can be characterized finally as foaming at the mouth dogmatists...exactly what they accuse those of a more religious stripe to be.

Mr. McGrath has read their books and studied the online communities of New Atheism for years now, and is well equipped to answer questions this rather new (and ultimately quickly dying out movement in my view) has raised.

Specifically, the author shows the leaders of the New Atheism appeal to Science and Rationality, yet show gaping holes in their knowledges of either. Mr. McGrath takes us on a short cruise through the philosophy of Science, where we are shown there is a huge difference between those who practice Science (empiricists who recognize the limits of human reason and their Art), and those who proclaim Scientism....folks like the New Atheist who believe credulously Science is the ultimate saviour of mankind and is infallible practically. Most interesting in these chapters is Mr. McGrath's distinction between Proof and Truth. Proof, he maintains, is limited to the sphere of Logic and Mathematics, while Truth ultimately is what we (Atheists or Theists) believe, for what ever supporting Reasons we have.

A very quick read, but containing a liberal and broad minded approach to the tension between Faith and un-Faith, I highly recommend this book to any Believer or no.

a summer - a poem

there is now no summer
like the ones spent in the apple orchard
of the neighbor's yard, plucking fruit
from the succulent trees and vines
running through the greenery and brush
eating blueberries and wild strawberries
our clothing torn by the brambles
skin opened under scrapes and cuts
blood seeping like sweet water through the knees

...
and later in the fire-flied night, staring
at Orion, wandering to the Northern Star
finding the big dipper and beholding the milky way
it all revolving about some invisible axis
there before our eyes
...

and the taste of honeysuckle and persimmon
the sugar sweet and sour pucker of the wild fruit
taken too early, forever etched in the mind
...

there is now no summer
as the winter approaches no matter the season
with only the brisk fall at best, blasts of hope and promise
only keeping the body moving forward
where there once was technicolor, now only grayscale exists
with small glimpses of color
seeping through the edges...

rags - an original poem

if you were to ask for riches,
I would give you my rags,
that you would have the gift
that was given to me long ago

in the sackcloth of my heart
i was given ashes and grey
for to grieve in this world
is the only kindly response

that a bluejay lights on a limb
only to devour the worm
and a bee lights on the flower
to steal it's very life, the amber

is the law we have been given
and only those who deny this
truly come to deep sadness
and go beyond the mild melancholy


for just as the strawberry winter
robs Spring of it's coming
and the Summer still can rage in October
so in the deepest joy is there a hint of sadness
and in the darkest night, the hint of morning...

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr

Mr. Rohr does us all a service with this gem by applying Jungian thought and Joseph Campbell mythology to spirituality. By doing so, he has tapped into a deeper strata of the religious life and requested we all take the Hero's Quest with him.

Beginning with the plight of Odysseus, (love the homeric reference material) Rohr highlights that the quest will be fraught with danger and temptation and will always be an invitation to go even further than what the initial task requires. Home is where the heart is, but alas, in this earthly sphere, we may never arrive!

'The Two Halves' refers to Jung's program of life, where in the first half, we build the Ego and secure a 'living'. There is more, however to this story, and oftentimes the unconscious pushes us into terra incognito...thrusts us into an initiation of maturity, that if heeded, brings a fuller, richer energy to the the Self, or the totality of the conscious Ego and unconscious Archetypes. And this journey, the journey of the Self is nothing, if not Archetypal and transpersonal.

Drawing from the great world Traditions, (not Christianity alone), Mr. Rohr effectively poses many prescient questions and even offers answers to boot.

Saint Francis (Christian Encounters Series) by Robert West

Archetypal Journey of a Saint - or A Story of Repentance Par Excellence!

St. Paul, on the road to Damascus, and having persecuted the new sect of Christians, was struck by a blinding Light and called to a new Life. Our Hero in this story, St. Francis of Assisi, on the road to Pelugia from Assisi to make war with the nobility and as a member of the mercantile class, was halted by a still quiet Voice.

I'm beginning to see a pattern here, methinks!

Radically different in their missions, the one to preach to the Gentiles, our Hero to eventually preach to the birds and minister to the poor, both seem to strike uncanny resemblances with one another in that they are leading a life, however unconsciously, that will take a radical shift in focus after a Salvific experience.

St. Francis, the author makes no bones about it, was quite the party boy. As the head dissolute youth of a band of epicurean to say the least, if not all out debauched crowd called the Sons of Babylon, and son of a wealthy fine cloth merchant, leads a proverbial life of the party existence. As the bankroller for one drinking party after another, he gains fame as a rounder and makes a name for himself among the hangers on who surround him.

With dreams of becoming a Knight that the troubadours sang of, St. Francis is taken captive and held in prison for a little over a year and of course falls ill as a result. In his dark hour, he is known to sing and make light of the situation, seeing beyond the bounds of an early medieval thirteenth century prison camp.

Upon being ransomed by his father, although he returns to the wild life of his youth for a few stints, St. Francis soon trades his chivalric cloaks and ornaments for the clothing of a beggar. Having dreamed he was in a palace and wed to a beautiful bride, our hero works out the betrothed is Poverty herself and soon finds himself making a pilgrimage to Rome in the garb of an impoverished monk.

I will leave off here, as the rest of the story is most widely known and appreciated by folks of many different faiths.

Wonderful portrait of a man who's destiny was to become a Saint.

A Hike Through Hoosier National Forest

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Dylan (my son) and I went on an overnight hiking trip with our scouting troop this past weekend.  We arrived at the trailhead around 10:00 a.m. and hiked through Springs Valley Lake for around 3.2 miles.  There were many inclines and switchbacks along the way, and we all were carrying weighted down backpacks, of course.  We set up camp on a hill in the cedars and pines, where just when we got our tents pitched, the snow and sleet began to fall.  We ate spaghetti and meatballs m.r.e.s for dinner and hit the hay early.  The next morning, I was the first out of my tent.  Two inches had fallen overnight.  All was quiet.  I could see the lake below and the sky was still dark.  Then about a half an hour later, just as the sun came up, a flock of geese flew overhead, moving west to east.  The squawking and perfect formation was absolutely amazing.  We broke camp after eating our trail breakfasts and made it another 2 miles before arriving at our destination. to be picked up.  Again hilly terrain with switchbacks.  The picture above shows the dam that stretches the expanse of the lake we hiked over at trail's end.  The sun had come up, a wind was blowing east to west, and the water was absolutely glittering.  It was a time to reconnect both with Nature and my son and friends.  Wonderful.

The Essential Erasmus (Essentials) by Desiderius Erasmus

Handbook for the Militant Christian. Sounds off putting doesn't it? A call to arms to defeat some faceless infidel, a war cry to wage against the world? In a word, no.

In the last chapter, Erasmus makes no bones that we are to forgive those who harm us and love those who would do us ill. We should look to the Supreme Example, Christ, who died for a world that didn't accept Him, and in so doing gained the keys to the Kingdom. Revenge only deepens hurt and portends disaster, Erasmus lets us know on a more practical level. In seeking recompense for errors committed against us, we ironically only create more trouble for ourselves and not our 'enemy'.

In these words, I have not found a better voice that blends the best Pagan Wisdom with the Truth of the Revealed Word.

So who is the enemy? Earlier in the book, Erasmus lets us know it is the flesh. We have both an inner and outer man. The outer, connected to the world and all it's trappings, the possibilities of gluttony, drunkenness and lustful pursuits which only end in death, and that inner man, which is connected to things Spiritual, and Christ utmost. Clearly, as St. Paul stated, who is oft quoted here by the author, the flesh must be crucified. We must recognize another irony. That the more we deny the flesh, the more we flourish Spiritually.

Thoughts are given on how to flee temptation, where we are urged to reign in Vanity, Pride in order to live a simple, humble, Christian life.

Seneca wrote letters to a Stoic. Erasmus wrote this manual for a boy just being initiated into manhood.

What a resplendent re-capitulation of the Old World Wisdom during the Renaissance where the knowledges of Plato, Origen and Augustine could once again be remembered and carried forward to us here in the postmodern world.

A gem.

Ashera, Wife of Yahweh

Asherah, Wife of Yahweh

Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.12) by Carl Gustav Jung

In the first half of this book, Jung uses the dream analysis of a mentally ill patient to draw conclusions based on what he calls universal archetypes. Jung flagrantly filters this person's dream symbolism through his own alchemical bias, where personally I could come up with all kinds of different interpretations that seemed to me just as valid. But I'm no Jung. So moving on. The flip side to the coin, for the first half, is you do get a nice exposure to the tenets of alchemy along with it's rich symbolism. It is up to the reader to decide if the trade off is worth it. Learning about alchemy, while doing so through what many may consider questionable means. There are two principles Jung brings out that I happen to agree with. The first is concerning the psyche. In the beginning of the book, Jung categorically states the psyche is ancient and pagan. The second principle I agree with deals with archetypes. Jung makes pains to say that just because he is focusing on the archetype, which he defines as an image, he is not denying an imprinter. So the door to objectivity is left at least slightyly ajar.

In the second half, Jung focuses on alchemy as a science that predated christianity, and that though it was pagan, it's motifs were certainly congruous with christian ideals. Parallels are drawn between the Virgin Mary and Prima Materia. Between a metal's blackening, whitening and sublimation to the philosopher's stone as the state of the christian soul through it's stages of redemption. In this section of the book, Jung characterizes the royal art as being objective and practical, but also subjective and spiritual. The author can't rid himself of the possibility that the earliest philosophers were projecting their unconsiousnesses into their art. He also brings out the gnostic feel of alchemy in that the art attempts to separate the pure spirit out of foul matter. Some readers may question his veracity as he states in one of his footnotes christianity actually was subsumed into gnosticism due to the presence of Simon Magus. This reader said 'what'? Also, alchemy is monadic in that the philosopher's stone comes out of one, becomes few, and is returned to one, now ennobled, higher state. Philosophically, monadism can lead to problems of it's own, and again, it is left to the reader's discrimination as to what to accept and reject.

The capstone, of course, is the epilogue. Jung finally tips his hand that he is a modern through and through and relegates the art to a purely subjective level. He hints that it is the the breadth of the modern psyche that as Auguste Comte said, poses such endless need and endless danger to ourselves. And in this, the pieces all fall neatly into place.

The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome - Otto Rahn

I give this first English translation of Rahn's book only four stars as opposed to five due to it's beginning, 'Parcifal'. A long, convoluted histriography of English and French noblemen is given that in short, to me, is bordering on the incomprehensible.
The text moves along, though, to the Cathars at the turn of the thirteenth century in the south of France. The 'pure ones' profess God is Love, and a Spirit, and that the Heaven we long for is beyond the stars. Flesh is separated from Spirit in man, resulting in a radical dualism that did not sit well with the Holy Mother Church. Gnosticism is present in their worldview as they look at the Old Testament God as evil, the one who enclosed the pure souls of men in foul matter. There is too much misery in the world, at the turn of their century to accept an all god Creator, benevolent and all knowing. A little sophistication is required to explain the harsh realities of day to day life. And theirs is the longing. The longing for something 'other', something greater than flesh and blood and ultimately transcendent.
The Grail, a stone that fell from the sky, presumably this version being it was a jewel stone in the crown of Lucifer when he fell, is destined for the bowels of Mt. Tabor, home of the last Cathar castle in Montseg'ur.
Troubadors, steeped in Catharism and protectors of their near holy Minnes, are keepers of the oral tradition concerning the Grail. Specifically, Wolfram Von Eschenbach, in his version of Parcifal, is the real deal according to Rahn.
As in other Grail romances, the stone just appears, and is pre-christian. It's main miraculous power is to fill the serving bowls and goblets with food and wine.
The crusade spoken of in the title is the Catholic Church, and specifically Pope Innocent III, swearing to stamp out the hideous heresy fulminating in the south of France. Politically, Paris wants a unified France, and is the secular arm to the holy crusade against Catharism.
Much time is spent revealing the horrible methods of torture and killing in the name of stamping out the heresy. The Church certainly is not depicted as either 'Holy' or as a 'Mother', but rather a vehicle through which corrupt Popes realize their full capacity in obtaining every earthly power possible.
Heartbreaking.
Rahn's language, here translated, is lyrical and poetic in it's own right, highly reminiscent to me of Goethe with his Faust at times.
A very good read for those interested in history, mysticism, esotericism, or Gnosticism.

The Essential Titus Burckhardt: Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations (The Perennial Philosophy) by Titus Burckhardt

Titus Burckhardt, whether fixing his attention on the proper philosophy, or the proper architecture, or the proper occultism, brings a liberal yet formiddable intelligence to whichever of these works he sets his hand to.
Burckhardt, when laying out a sacred temple, would have it oriented north-south with one door leading in and one door leading out, ensuring it's earthly and squarely relationship to it's heavenly and circular origin. The language and ideas both sound archaic due to a radical loss of traditional forms and even degenerate customs to the point that what is old now sounds new. Burckhardt, I'm sure, would delight in such a circular manifestation of tradition. In a society where number has lost it's gender, where sacred art has lost it's object, and philosophy it's inner meaning, Burckhardt's plaintive sentences recall all of this and brings the perennial philosophy to bear in many of it's traditional manifestations. This philosophy, this perennialism is shown by virtue of man's loss of meaning when he attempts to abandon it, quite simply will not go away. Or will it?

The Golden Thread: The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions by Joscelyn Godwin

In modern Western society, we take it for granted what is real lies outside ourselves and is objective, substantial. Highlighted by Plato, however, the 'Real' was subjective and consisted of ideas...the world then emanated from Mind. Living in Alice's Wonderland, us Westerns have lost grasp of this vital Truth and have spent centuries chasing various rabbits down various holes. Comical. Beginning with Orpheus, Godwin traces this perennial philosophy through such luminaries as Pythagoras and Plato, highlighting how each added their own nuances to the Idealistic Philosophy. A wonderful read for anyone seeking a good introduction to Platonic philosophy and before, as well as for those with more esoteric interests.

Care of the Soul : A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life - Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore, influenced heavily by Carl Gustav Jung, and a contemporary of the archetypal psychology school that sprung from Jung's psychoanalytical movement, puts on quite a breathless show here with this wonderful book.

Moore's thesis is that the soul, as Jung said, should be considered polytheistic, answering to many different archetypes, rather than being One Big Thing cobbled together from the Many. The archetypes include the Father, the Mother, the Puer Aeterna (eternal child) complexes along with the Ego which in Moore's mind can remain perhaps more inflated than Jung ever would have allowed.

Just as Jung parted somewhat from Freud, the archetypal theory of Moore gives Jung many props, but differs from the Master on some key points, in my view.

To me, the most significant departure is made where Moore seems to allow an inflated Ego some free range for expansion...a 'homeopathic' approach in his words, where an Ego or even complex, once they are diagnosed as needing help, are given a little encouragement to grow even more or at least are acknowledged as including positive aspects for recovery, where Jung and his school would have acted in a more compensatory fashion and given the patient a healthy dose of humility in such cases of inflated Egos and complexes.

Another point early on Moore differs from Jung on is the possibility of wholeness. Where Jung sought Individuation, the process of uncovering complexes and developing them slowly over time into the Self along with the Ego, Moore rather seems to shoot for the middle while realizing Unity in this day and age might just be too heady a target to aim for. One is carefully urged on to acknowledge the various facets of the Self (the totality of the conscious and unconscious) rather than to strive for One Integrated Whole.

All that said, perhaps too technically, this book is aimed at the Conscious Thinking Ego, in my book..the myths described have little to nil to do with Jung's Collective or Personal Unconscious, but are geared toward helping realize things about ourselves that perhaps others can see in us quite easily. Where we may think we are a Savior, with just a little Imagination, Moore's Franca Lingua of the Soul, we can see we simply are helpful spirits and are here to provide for others.

Many case studies are provided alongside myths that speak to the Soul in all of us...Moore truly develops a broad ranged and even handed psychology that can be applied to just about anyone, I would think. Pragmatic without being staid, Moore proves to be a nuts and bolts Healer who is not afraid to get his hands dirty with the nastier things in all of us in order for recovery to begin.

Highly recommended, this!

Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code by Stephen Skinner

Tight, neat and succinct chapters throughout this book show that the ancients assumed the world was a Cosmos in the sense it was ordered and could be understood. Skinner begins with arithmetic, and Pythagorean number theory, highlighting the Lambda and it's relationship between the order of the planets and the notes on a stringed instrument. Skinner continues on through Geometry as it applies to the Universe, the World, the Landscape, and Man himself. Interestingly, for example, the Yard is a function of Time as well as Length, for example. Early Temples and other constructions are shown to have a relationship to either the Zodiac, the Earth, or Man, sometimes all three simultaneously! Sadly to my knowledge, we have lost the Art of Sacred Geometry for use in our Temples, but the Work has continued on in our mundane architecture, where Skinner presents modern day examples of these principles being applied by modern architects.

Don't let this one slip by if you've developed an interest in the subject!

The Cross and the Grail: Esoteric Christianity for the 21st Century - Robert Ellwood

Many books on this subject tend to condemn the flesh as evil, or at least as an impediment to Spirituality. In this book, however, Ellwood makes the case that in order to live a wholesome Christian life, one must include the flesh. Beyond that, the entire world and further cosmos must be seen as at least potentially charged with life, rather than dead and inert.

Ellwood covers much ground in such a short amount of space, I am tempted to call this the best book on esoteric Christianity I have read, in terms of efficiency. One looks at the size of the book and thinks it would be an easy, short read. However, if one has ears to hear, there is so much Wisdom here, one must slow down and take it all in by pacing oneself.

What I like the most about this book is that it doesn't eschew exoteric religion for the inner symbolic life of esotericism. Ellwood skillfully makes the case the two complement each other like colors in a spectrum of common Light. Though he spends little to nil time discussing the esotericism of other religions, Ellwood certainly has treated the subjects with respect.

Unabashedly Christian, Ellwood makes a curious point of showing other religions are largely cultural in character, mainly relating to a certain group or nation of people. Christianity, Ellwood cogently proves, is universal. The symbols are easily adapted by any race or culture.

Try as I might, though my experience has changed, I cannot ditch my Christian roots. This book silently and respectfully echoes many of the Truths I have experienced. Give it a try. It may do the same for you.

Writing In The Sand: Jesus, Spirituality, and the Soul of the Gospels by Thomas Moore

The Kingdom. The thing Jesus seemingly preached the most, yet remains the elephant in the room for almost any Christian denomination. Metanoia, or a radical change of mind is the attitude of the Kingdom, and Agape the way. While we tend to focus on Heaven as remote both physically and in the temporal sense Jesus announced the Kingdom had arrived and was something available here and now, now that he had come. Again, the whole of the Law is to Love God and then yourself as your neighbor, simple maxims if acted out via the imperatives in this book and by extension the New Testament, results in no less than a radical shift in thinking.

Mr. Moore in places has an agenda. Who doesn't? Politics aside, the book is a much needed way station for the soul.

Aspects of the Masculine by Carl Gustav Jung

One thing about Dr. Jung. He doesn't take an impersonal, detached view of his subjects, rather it is obvious he has lived the experiences he puts the analytic lens to, and that with heart. This is perhaps the most personal and heart wrenching work I have read from Jung. He faces the psyche of the male with all the gusto of a matador facing a prize bull.

Although we like to consider ourselves unique, I don't think hardly any of us could argue with Jung's insights on masculinity. It turns out there are a limited number of psychological experiences we can encounter which manifest in yet again a limited number of archetypes. So, the masculine journey we find, follows most closely that journey of the supreme example of the Father, the Sun. The sun rises in the morning, reaches it's apex at high noon where it shines the most light, and makes it's way back down to the nebulous realm below the horizon. Symbolically, in life the male rises from the primordial unconscious, attains Ego after much striving, only to begin to lose libido as he approaches old age, again descending to the unconscious.

But we find Nature abhors a vacuum and this loss of libido is compensated by the Anima, or the feminine side all men possess. We in older age become softer, gentler and more creative, or else we stultify and become rigid, set in our ways as if those ways depend solely on us to carry them forward. Having attained the age of forty five, I can relate deeply to this book and the phases of life it brings to light. Not only in others do I see these psychological workings, but in myself as well.

Because of works like these, I consider Jung a pioneer. Not just in psychological knowledge does he excel, but in the prudential variety as well. One would do good to read closely books such as these and ponder their nuances and even echoes in one's life.

The Didascalicon of Hugh of Saint Victor: A Guide to the Arts by of Saint-Victor Hugh

Here, in Hugh of Saint Victor, we find philosophy comprises four parts: The theoretical, whose study is the divine, the practical, whose study is human ethics and morality, the mechanical, whose study is the relieving of human misery, and last the logical, whose study is the operation of Mind. Included in this writing is an exposition of medieval cosmology; where the empyrean and the infernum are discussed, the superlunary and sublunary are highlighted, and the anima mundi is but hinted at.

There is a difference between the intelligible and the intellectible and between study and discipline. There is a method and an order to studying the liberal arts, whose apprehension is to insure nothing less than perfection, if not strength.

I've not read a book that covers Everything with such Little. Here there is breadth and depth, the concrete and the abstract, the particular and the universal.

Confused with how to proceed in your studies? Let Hugh of Saint Victor point the way.

Synchronicity: Multiple Perspectives on Meaningful Coincidence by Lance Storm

Highlighting various scientists' views on Jung's principle of Synchronicity, this book is a wonderful addition to the smattering of volumes available on the subject. Most interesting to me are the essays that bring in the views of Wolfgang Pauli and others that explain various facets of Jung's psychology.

Along the way, we find that Synchronicity is meaningful coincidence that on the surface at least is not bound up in Nature...the laws of Cause and Effect. Again, Synchronicity is an event wherein an external occurrence lines up with an internal experience, almost always to an uncanny effect. In addition, these nodes of subjective meaning are shown to tap into Archetypal images...which are dynamic (both good and bad) as opposed to Platonic Ideas...which are static and Good alone.

Throughout the essays in this book, episodes set both clinically and naturally of Synchronicity are presented, where with the wide variety of experiencers, it is shown to most probably be a universal phenomenon.

The mind, in all it's complexity, seems to operate by it's own laws, where Nature and the external world seem to work within their separate realm, so the two seem never to meet. Our bias to Cause and Effect, or what lies outside, denies the rules the Mind seems to follow, which allows it to move forward and backward with ease...fluidly.

Synchronicity links mind and matter through subjective meaning, and seems to show there is at least an occasional rhyme and reason to the interplay of the two.

Interesting indeed.

Lisa Gerrard - The Silver Tree - Music Review

I have been a Lisa Gerrard fan since her Dead Can Dance days. What I have appreciated most about her is the way she uses her voice as an instrument. Atop spare, sweeping electronic orchestration, Lisa's distinct and obviously strictly trained voice and breathing truly take on a dimension of their own. And that is where this music takes you. To another dimension. In the opening track, InExile, Lisa attains what I've never heard from her before. A dusky, sonorous timbre that will set the tone for the rest of the album. On the way home listening to this in the car c.d. player, 'cinematic' came to mind, and I see here from other reviews this is a valid label for this disc. I even checked the insert when I got home, thinking 'The Silver Tree' may have been a movie I missed.

This is not a lively c.d. It is slow and unfolding, spiraling in places. Perfect music to listen to intently as there is more to this than meets the ear at first.

Haunting.

gum trees and bananas - a poem

grandfather kept bananas
in his closet
because, doctors told him
they cured sadness

out in the yard
the gum trees produced
spiky balls one could throw at another
without doing any real damage

bibles were kept in wine boxes
the wardrobe held a smart suit
my grandmother, not drunk
would sit me on her lap
and pop my knuckles and laugh
(the real cure to sadness)

the t.v. had ears on top
that were strong enough to televise
a moon shot.

there was a darkness
even in summer in the house
outside beneath the great elm
where ghosts would appear
in the broad daylight
locust shells would dot the ground
hollow death beds for insects
in the summer heat

once I stood on the beach
with my grandfather
the ocean big and blue with whitecaps
the waves crashed to our toes
he was in Bermudas and had a tan
his face deeply wrinkled
I thought he was bigger than the sea.

though boyhood dreams
turned to the world of men
and stories were whispered
that destroyed a man,
I found I still loved that man from
so long ago beneath the broad elm tree.

On Art and Life (Penguin Great Ideas) by John Ruskin

Nietzsche said that with the death of the sacred, Beauty would continue, albeit accidentally.

Mr. John Ruskin, however, set his sights on an earlier age, developing six principles that could be applied to gothic beauty, and in so doing, in my eyes, set down the principles for Beauty in general.

The principles are: Rudeness, Changefulness, Naturalness, Grotesqueness, Rigidity and Redundancy.

In our post-industrial age, perhaps the most telling is the first, Rudeness. Mr. Ruskin defines Rudeness as the introduction of originality into a work at the expense of a polished, finished product. What, you may ask? That's not how I do it at work! Me either brother, but it's nice to know why nothing I produce is beautiful.

Which leads me to my next point concerning this little gem of a book. These principles can be applied, in my view, to Beauty in general, not just gothic. And it provides an interesting point of view with which to look at life. Suddenly, many of the 'best things' in life truly are free.

I had no real education in aesthetics before reading this book, and have now delved deeper into the subject because of it.

Maybe you will too.

Boundaries of the Soul by June Singer

Having read Carl Jung now for the past twenty years, and having given his psychology much thought over this amount of time, it should come as no surprise I still turn to introductory material to help broaden and refresh my understanding of this analytical genius.

I read June Singer first back in the eighties. It was a little book called 'Seeing Through the Visible World' and was a nice rumination on Jung and his relationship to the gnostics.

In this great book, though, Singer proves to be expansive, well read and well experienced in Jungian philosophy and psychology.

Singer proves, chapter by chapter, her deep grasp of the material and provides wonderful clinical examples of this particular brand of psychology at work.

If nothing else, in seeking Wholeness, the crux of Jung's psychology, there is a dynamism and tension of opposites because Jung does not arrive at Platonic Forms that are static and good, but rather Archetypes, which are dynamic and therefore hold out the promise in polarity of both good and evil. His is an honest and sobering psychology and philosophy, a bareknuckled approach to the realities of life that sometimes borders on a Religion, what with Jung having become the prophet and harbinger of the modern subjective view to reality.

Singer begins in this work with complexes, continues on through archetypes, the persona, the shadow, individuation and culminates in the reality of death and dying. But she does so with an extreme intelligence on the subjects that makes the material available and most, relevant, for a new generation of discoverers.

While I have read other Jungian analysts such as Jaffe and Edinger, Singer takes the cake with this one, in my humble opinion!

A landmark!

Overall, this album boasts a live drum kit, lower than octave bass, and sixties guitar and sentimentality. Song by song, the band shows they've got the chops and can keep up with Barney as he sways through blue-eyed soul, dances through subdued disco and rocks quite heartily through most of this offering. With but a few electronic flourishes, this is the stuff of the Partridge Family, not Electro in the slightest. Heartfelt lyrics about Love, Love, and um Love show Barney can actually write a lyric. The boys back 'im up with some mighty fine vocals as well. Oooh and Laaah are brought to the fore along with Yeah!

1.) Sink or Swim - rave up about a guy torn between a young mistress and a more mature lover.

2.) Twist of Fate - High stepping rocker that has kewl chord progressions.

3.) Summer Days - autobiographical tune with a backbeat.

4.) This is Home - minor keyed entry with sonorous vocal. Coming of age story set in L.A.

5.) Running out of Luck - 'Ooh Baby', 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' sentimental and sweet little ditty about the end of a relationship.

6.) Dynamo - the most electronic of these songs, Who's that I hear? Sounds like the Who keyboards there!

7.) Poisonous Intent - Yours Truly's fave on this disc. Good swinging rocker with disco interjections...but a flourish of electronics.

8.) These Changes - Brit Pop never died, one would think. Grandiose, even majestic music meandering through some nostalgic vocals here.

9.) Walk on Silver Water - Barney gets all metaphysical and stuff lyrics wise with some acoustic work that leaves one breathless.

10.) Shine Like the Sun - more sixties guitars with a good lead. Need I say more?

11.) Runaway - the most heartbreaking of this bunch, glittery and shimmery.

12.) Head into Tomorrow - the band gets the Led out with this one. Great acoustic flourishes ala' Jimmy Page. Interesting closer.

This is the a.m. radio of my youth. Great songs about girls, love and heartbreak. Well worth the ticket!