Not-yet-published pieces, stories, essays, rants, and random strangenesses

“A Prayer for Us,” by Rob Brezny And so I am starting to pray right now to the God of Gods . . . the God beyond all Gods . . . the...

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many....

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” —William Blake

You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant,...

We’re in a freefall into the future. We don’t know where we’re going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you’re going through a...

Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind. A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable...

I mentioned on Facebook that poetry saved my life. Adam and I were discussing Gerard Manley Hopkins (Adam had written a few lines of...

You know it’s fall when the Gala apples are better than sex and the cinnamon brooms are back in stock at the grocery store. Now, it’s...

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the...

Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness? —American humorist Artemus Ward (1834-1867) From the Publishers’ Preface to the...

once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. —e.e....

From an online forum: Many of my friends in their 30s are starting to play around with psychedelics again. Mushrooms & LSD. I guess we...

From the recently published Reagan Diaries. The entry is dated May 17, 1986. A moment I’ve been dreading. George brought his...

Did I ever tell you that Dr. Seuss gave the commencement speech at my college graduation ceremony? It was the shortest speech in the...

Right meditation is not escapism; it is not meant to provide hiding-places for temporary oblivion. Realistic meditation has the purpose...

Since I seem to be incapable of writing anything original these days, I thought perhaps you’d at least care to hear what I’ve been...

Writer, psychologist, and medical anthropologist Alberto Villoldo tells an interesting little story about a famous neurosurgeon who is...

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today you’ll see a strange sight: people walking around with smudges on their foreheads, like gray bindis over...

All sorrow comes from fear. From nothing else. When you know this, You become free of it, And desire melts away. You become happy And...