Essays by Larry Barnett
In a previous column about consciousness, I proposed that it is a matter of degree, stretching from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from the sub-atomic to the super-massive, and everything in between. In the smallest, single-celled organisms, consciousness appears as simple awareness, which… Read the rest
Seventy-five million Americans voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and remain fiercely loyal to him, this despite, or rather because of, his bad boy behavior. Trump’s appeal lies not in his grasp of difficult policy issues nor his ability to think clearly; to the contrary, his clumsy buffoonery, inarticulate… Read the rest
We love stories. As far as we know, human beings are the world’s only story tellers, although it’s possible that songs of the Humpback Whale may, in their way, be stories. The stories we tell are narrative, which is to say, with words that convey events and images. Even though film and video now dominate… Read the rest
Yesterday was one of those remarkable days. It suddenly hit me: I AM THE UNIVERSE. Now this realization might strike you as trite or simply intellectual, but for me it felt momentous, a truth I experienced right down to my gut.
I’m not saying I run the universe or that it’s mine. If I am the universe, then … Read the rest
All major religions include esoteric and exoteric expression. Esoteric is the inwardly manifesting, mystical dimension of religious experience sometimes referred to as the great work, secret realm, transcendence, or liberation. As such, it is beyond rationality, full explanation, conceptualization,… Read the rest
Now that the age of AI – Artificial Intelligence – is upon us, so are fears of being replaced. Workers in disciplines as varied as medicine, engineering, law, and scientific analysis are running scared, and they should be.
History teaches that any new groundbreaking technology disrupts… Read the rest
Neurological function varies and past conceptions of “mental disorders” unfairly placed some people in pejorative categories. With increased understanding, “retarded” gave way to “handicapped” which yielded to “disabled” and finally to “neurodivergent.” Appreciation of differences in neurological… Read the rest
So read a recent comment on one of my philosophical articles, and it’s a worthwhile question to contemplate. A friend of mine made a similar remark during a past conversation. “I like talking about practical things,” he said, indicating that philosophical talk was not useful. Yet another friend of … Read the rest
The definition of consciousness complicates any discussion about it. Consciousness is a matter of degree, ranging from subtle to gross, lower to higher. At its minimum, consciousness is simple awareness, ie: perception that generates responsiveness to events and conditions in the immediate environment.… Read the rest
We all know about something, how it looks, how it feels, how it smells, and so forth. Our lives are fully populated with things, both objects and ideas. We live in a positivist world, treating all the things we know as if they are absolutely real.
When it comes to things made of matter – eggs, cars, … Read the rest
Life grows, that is its character. It grows over time, has duration, and passes along growth information when the spark of life is bestowed upon successive generations. Growth requires energy, however. Complex plants solved that problem through photosynthesis, the sunlight-driven process that… Read the rest
“Be here now,” wrote the late Richard Alpert, aka Baba Ram Dass, fellow researcher of psychedelics and consciousness at Harvard University with Timothy Leary in the 60’s, and self-made mystic sage. His instruction is easier said than done, since now is a timeless transition of no duration; perhaps… Read the rest
It’s pretty easy to feel down about the state of human affairs. There’s so much greed, so much suffering, so much to feel bad about. What’s to be done when feeling blue?
There are those who view the current moment as deterministic, that everything that’s happening is simply the result of previous causes.… Read the rest
Responding to the many dire situations in the world reminds me of a Buddhist parable. While in the form of a Bodhisattva, the Buddha encounters a starving tiger with two cubs to feed and willingly sacrifices himself. He first offers his leg to the beast, and then his other leg. The starving tiger needs … Read the rest
In Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001, a pre-human hominid throws a thigh bone high into the air, and in a cinematic transition, the thigh bone becomes a space vehicle in orbit around planet earth. This scene typifies one quality of living things, the way we extend our reach to display ourselves in the space … Read the rest
Classical Buddhist cosmology places humanity within The Saha World system, a time-bound realm of endurance. “Endurance,” etymologically speaking, shares the same Pre-Indo-European word-root as “duration,” deru, (to be steadfast, firm, solid), associated interestingly, with trees and longevity.… Read the rest
This colorful portrait of me, insides and all, is one of a series of CAT/PET scans recently produced to determine whether or not a lump in my right lung is malignant. I particularly like how it captured the profile of my nose. Thankfully, the lump appears to be some scar tissue that formed during a serious… Read the rest
I’ve been wondering about the purpose of things, personal and universal. Of course, it’s possible there is no purpose as such, and the very idea of purpose is simply a by-product of human thought. But the universe seems purposeful, and one might say the existence of anything, let alone everything, is… Read the rest
“It says here that seniors are changing their spending habits due to inflation,” my wife mentioned to me yesterday, “eating out less, just like us,” she added. “Yup,” I replied, “we’re just a statistic.”
For many years I’ve said, “I’m just a statistic,” a comment that’s often irritated my wife, but as… Read the rest
Simple rules can produce complex outcomes. This is easily illustrated in games like chess, where the rules governing the movement of pieces on a fixed playing board arranged in a grid of squares produces over 10111 positions, a number greater than all the observed atoms in the universe.
Despite… Read the rest