Every night we die and every morning we are born anew. Thus, every day is our first and last day of life. As it's our first day, everything is fascinating. As it's our last day, we appreciate everything....

The size of a star is a function of how distant it is. Stars in the Milky Way seem tiny from Earth but are unimaginably huge up close. Popular stars who are far from our real lives seem huge but aren't bigger than us up close. The popular stars who think their big are ridiculously funny in the context of real stars....

Yesterday, I pulled out of my driveway for my weekly trip to the Darien Cheese Shop and a hundred feet later the car started seriously shaking. A flat tire awoke me from my routine. I stopped the car and started working with an air pump to inflate the tire. As it was taking some time, I wondered whether the tire would hold enough air for me to make it to a repair shop or I'd need to get it towed. Either way, it sounded like a bit more fun than the routine trip to the cheese shop. Soon a passing car pulled over and an elderly woman with grey hair came out and asked: "Do you need any help?" To which I replied: "Actually I'm terrific; blessed with a high-class problem, a flat tire." We both laughed, connected by compassion and wisdom as the truth was revealed: temporary common problems are not problems but experiences to be enjoyed by all....

Easter is the most important holiday in Christianity. Easter commemorates the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ which Christians believe is proof Jesus Christ was the messiah, the one who would bring peace on Earth. The historical events of Easter are the basis for the ubiquitous symbol of Christianity, the cross or Jesus on the cross (the crucifiction). It's a funny symbol for a religion espousing peace. As Christ preached brotherly love among people regardless of their religious identities and was ultimately crucified for his heretic views, the symbol suggests that those who preach peace will be crucified. True to this view, murder and horror is what many who have walked under the banner of Christianity have brought to peaceful non-Christians since the time of Christ. Ultimately, Christians believe that Christ, the messiah, will return and bring peace on Earth. Perhaps so, but in light of the violent history of the those professing to be Christians, clearly Christ is not a Christian....

I + Word = World "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." -- John 1:1, The Gospel of John. Words were first transcribed symbolically, in cuneiform tablets, around 5,400 years ago. This is soon after the start of the world according to the Jewish calendar which marks this year as 5,784. It was then that man became god as man memorialized words and thoughts which created the world as we know it now....

If someone doesn't love or respect us, that's their problem. We can only feel badly for them because they simply don't get it. However, we too have a problem if we resent them for it....

"We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience." The past can teach us valuable lessons. However, defining ourselves by stories we create about our past has no value and distracts us from making the most of things to come....

In the play of life, we often respect those in roles of great wealth and power. However, those are easy roles that unremarkable people can play. Actually, most people who play those roles are unremarkable; if not before, than after they assume those roles. Difficult roles involve issues of poverty, poor health and harm's way. We need respect and be thankful to those playing such roles; if they didn't, then we might be called to do so....

"Silence is the greatest secret in the world." "He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak." --Lao Tzu. "Silence is the only voice of our God." -- Herman Melville. In true silence we not distracted by sounds or other stimulation or by our mind's thoughts. In true silence, we are in the present, the pre-sent, the space before the universe expresses itself and time begins. In true silence the universe is revealed as an ineffable ethereal experience. Attempting to share these revelations through words with others breaks the silence, shrouds its revelations in oblivion and keeps silence a secret....