Essays by Larry Barnett
The simplest of things is orderly, a monad, a fundamental unit, indivisible substance, or concept representing “unity.” As such, it is only something we can imagine, a philosophical idea of perfection. The world we inhabit is complex.
We too are complex beings, an amalgam of bodily physical… Read the rest
Sneaker waves of sadness regularly overwhelm me nowadays. The world is such a mess, filled with struggle and misery, and yet, and yet, it’s so beautiful. What’s to be done with such a situation?
The brilliant writer and poet Wendell Berry has died. He spent his life writing from both ends of his pencil,… Read the rest
There’s plenty of advice being offered to us constantly, some of it intended to capture our money and some of it to capture our attention. Advice about politics and who to vote for fills my messaging app. Which non-stick pan to buy, what sort of insurance I need, where to turn for household help, why this… Read the rest
I don’t know all of you, but many of you know me. When I first moved to this community 36 years ago, I was a young man. Now I’m old; that’s the way of things. Over these many years I’ve occupied positions of public office, volunteered as a commissioner, owned several businesses, and have written a weekly column… Read the rest
I’ve been writing about Samsara, the human reality we create and inhabit individually and collectively. Human reality consists of belief systems, social structures and the material results of imagination. We function and operate within and between these interrelated components; as an exceptionally… Read the rest
Given the press of everyday life it’s easy to forget about all the things we are, but that doesn’t change the truth. We exist in multiple manifestations simultaneously, none of which obstruct the others, including our manifestation as “me,” which although only one of many commands most of our attention.… Read the rest
Like most of us, I keep pretty busy. Since the death of my wife of 50 years a year ago, keeping busy has provided some sense of purpose as I work through project after project. I’ve transformed the garden space around the condo I live in. I’ve kept up with the laundry, cooking, the dishes and paying the bills.… Read the rest
“Love is all you need,” sang the Beatles, but what is this thing called love? Is love a manifestation of altruism, desire, attachment, attraction, instinct or a combination of all? Love arrives in many forms and many costumes, sneaks up quietly or strikes like a lightning bolt. It softens and intensifies,… Read the rest
The laws of nature govern the universe, and we have long struggled to discern and understand them. For a while, we relied upon myth and tales of the supernatural to do so, and they remain popular. When the scientific age arrived, reliance upon experiment and prediction came to dominate our explanations,… Read the rest
In his 1907 book Creative Evolution, philosopher-scientist Henri Bergson describes an impulse of becoming, a universal force that underlies the existence of matter and animates life. When applied to living systems, this force propels life forward, providing elements of purpose without delineating… Read the rest
My father was dying in 2010. In the hospital after a systemic collapse, his condition had been stabilized, and he was awake and conversational. At ninety-one years of age, my Brooklyn boy of a dad had already beaten the odds and was still scrappy.
“Why is this happening to me?” he asked. “Well, dad, you’re… Read the rest
I miss my late wife. I miss talking to her, holding her, feeling her warmth and enjoying her affection. I still think about all the things I could have done differently over the fifty years we were together, ways in which perhaps I could have made her happier. When I’m in that space, with those thoughts, … Read the rest
It feels good to feel happy, and happiness is widely promoted. From the Declaration of Independence to the Dalai Lama, the pursuit of happiness seems to be offered as a worthy goal in life. It raises the question: why are so many people unhappy?
The continuous pursuit of happiness is, ironically, a source… Read the rest
Life appears to be very rare, at least in our solar system. There are trillions of planets scattered throughout the universe, of course, and among them many may harbor life of some sort. If we survive long enough as a species, we might actually verify life on other planets. Big if.
Despite how miraculous… Read the rest
We were warned. No less than James Baldwin, the brilliant black writer, observed the heinous conduct of white America towards people of color, was horrified, and said as much: “moral monsters.” This was in 1979, and if anything, things have gotten worse.
Yes, America elected a Black President, and … Read the rest
During Europe’s medieval period guilds dominated the working environment; apprentices learned their trade at the feet of a master craftsman. From shoemakers to cooper’s to blacksmiths, a trade was not simply a livelihood, but provided a valuable, stable and reliable place within society. The rise… Read the rest
What is life? Erwin Schrodinger, of cat-in-a-box-simultaneously-living-and-dead fame, wrote an entire book of that title on the subject, arguing that life emerges from the physics of “Negentropy” or negative entropy, i.e., extracting order from the environment. However, in some way as yet not… Read the rest
Fascism is more than political or organizational structure; it’s a state of mind, and that state of mind is about justifying dominance of strength over weakness. Taking their cue from a misunderstanding of nature, Fascists view human survival and achievement in simple predatory terms of winners … Read the rest
People are remarkable creatures. Liberated from walking using arms and hands thanks to our bipedal gait, we’ve used them to successfully manipulate matter, from lighting fire to assembling spacecrafts. We play music, dance and create drawings and paintings. For better or worse we’ve mastered chemistry,… Read the rest
There might be a purpose to life but answering that question is above my pay grade. An easier question might be is there a purpose to thought?
We don’t know how long it is that humans have been thinking. It’s likely that some form of thinking precedes humanity altogether. Whales and elephants, for example,… Read the rest