1. Genius is the capacity to blend exemplary ability with focused intelligence and well-managed obsession. 2. Obsession is the fuel of sustained creativity. 3. To reduce the mind, without effort, to a single, sharpened focus is the primary effect of obsession. 4. Both romantic love and acerbic hatred are woven out of the tangled twine…
Month: May 2011
Fulfillment Unpostponed: Reflections on the Love of the Now
What nonsense keeps the mind buzzing in shallow activity! When we set aside its crippling inhibitions for a moment, we fall into a deep openness to what is, to reality as it is, not as we wish it to be. And in this opening up, there is a deep, deep peace and a love that…
Meditating with Nature
The sky was a brilliant blue above me and white clouds moved over it like light cotton balls across the surface of a beautiful pond. All around me, countless yellow dandelions swayed with the gentle breeze and waves of grass undulated with the currents of the wind. I carefully selected a tree with cool shade…
Reflections on a Meeting with a Stranger
Last week, I went for a walk in the rain. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as intrinsically “bad weather”; there is only weather, which we call “good” when it suits our purposes and “bad” when it obstructs them. To me, the rain is beautiful. It is calm and peaceful. It…
The Dark Powers of the Human Imagination: Some Thoughts on Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer
By Adam J. Pearson Anyone who wishes to deeply understand the nature, potentials, and powers of the human mind cannot simply survey its beautiful aspects and products. These positive currents and fruits of the human psychological experience are undoubtedly essential and remarkable; we must certainly attend to the powers of the mind and human heart…
On the Life of Wonder
by Adam J. Pearson Each of us possesses an unspeakably powerful faculty, a capacity that our age often fails to recognize, let alone fulfill to its highest potential. This powerful force is the capacity for wonder. A life stripped of wonder is a monotonous, insipid existence. When we live without wonder, we scarcely live at…
The Place of War, the Goal of Peace
Photo by Jayel Aheram and taken on October 29, 2006 in Rawa, Al-Anbar, Iraq. We are happier when we aim to be more irenic than bellicose, but lasting peace sometimes requires confrontation in the short term. We should be wary, however, of those who claim year after year that the war of today is necessary…
Words from the Wind 