My Children

My Children, then and now.

Leonard Cohen Concert

I attended a Leonard Cohen concert at the Paramount Theater in Oakland on March 3, 2013. It had been held over a second night due to the first night's sold out performance. The theater was again packed. Scheduled for 2 hours, it lasted 4 hours with 7 curtain calls and ended with the entire audience dancing and singing in the isles. He began the concert by whispering, in his deep, whiskey voice: “I don't know when we will meet again, but tonight we will give you all we've got”.

Cohen was 78 years old. I have always cherished his poetry and music but age has perfected the man beyond anything I imagined in the past. His orchestra and accompaniment are pitch perfect. He appropriately delivers many of his songs on his knees: they are deeply personal metaphors; often more prayer than song: “Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my own way to be free”.

During the magnificent performance my mind kept wandering to recently published photos of our 'Milky Way” galaxy . It is easy to feel small and powerless viewing these photos. We are dwarfed by the tiny rock we ride upon, which, in turn, is surrounded by incomprehensible immensity. In my imagination I saw the Cohen group, with Cohen's verse, musical score and the complexity of the music the musicians were making, as a defiance of the meaninglessness the universe imposes upon us. From the smoky stage I dreamt of a giant fist rising into the starry night.

Things I Cannot Read Aloud

I hear middle aged whites shouting “i want my country back” and “follow the Constitoootion!” at tea party rallies. Why are they saying this? I want to ask them: “who took your country and which constitution?”. I think they are referring to the original version of the Constitution which did not prevent restrictions on voting rights or ownership of slaves. Furthermore, I think these folks look around, see a black president, lots of brown faces and unfamiliar religious symbols and say to themselves: “this is not America because America should be run by white, Christians.”

I cannot read some things aloud. There are some ideas so sacred that my voice quavers and tears fill my eyes to the point I cannot see to read. I have tried so many times to read certain passages to my children and students but to no avail. One verse comes to mind:

“- - - Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" *

This has always been my vision of America. It stands in stark contrast to much of our history; especially today when so many demonize so called “illegal immigration”. However to me this is the essence of America.


* Poet Emma Lazarus "The New Colossus" engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty

Kandinsky & Physics

Still trying to find words to help me conceptualize Vasily Kandinsky's paintings. I believe his abstract vision of reality helped physicists conceive of quantum mechanics. I was amazed when I realized his work was a progression from real to abstract.

Early in his career he begins with the familiar portrayal of nature that our senses perceive and gradually moves to the world our senses can never perceive: a vision of the actual world: one which we can never grasp with our senses and can only partially imagine. A world only artists and dreamers can see.

Burn all "holy" books!

Big flutter over burning Korans. I think we should burn all holy books! All the bible, koran, book of mormon, bhagavad gita, etc. have ever done is create divisions among us. We would be healthier and happier without any of them.

Let us seek god, if one exists, in spirit, without books or idols.

What is a Dog?

I didn't understand dogs until I met Lucy. Now I am realizing how complex and beautiful dogs are. They sense human emotion faster than another human can. Their presence can help us heal. Their love for us is steadfast. They are like guardian angels.

What am I?

Doesn't seem possible that I will die. I have been with me so long and I feel real, permanent, enduring. It doesn't seem right that I will disappear forever – I exist right now, I feel so real – just as real as the universe.

How can I feel so real and yet be disappearing, dying? Maybe that's because I AM REAL! Maybe I am the only real thing because I AM NOT A PHYSICAL THING.

Speaking of the physical world Heisenberg said: “There's nothing there.” Whatever I am, I am not physical. I am not matter – I'm pretty sure at this time, that, whatever I am, I am not the stuff my body is made of.*

* I must give Steve Grand credit for my thinking on this concept. I ran across his blog when I was in New Zealand last fall and have followed him ever since.