Terence McKenna

Here American metaphysician and author Terrance McKenna (1946-2000) delivers a scathing but profound analysis of American culture ~ far different from his usual anthropologically abstract and mild-mannered talks. "Culture and language tend to become traps," he says here. "And yet they can be the platforms for enormous freedom ... if you understand what it's all about."

[My plan for these "Wisdom" clips is to provide interesting teachings that run two minutes or less. On some, the audio may be bad, others may exceed two minutes by a bit. But I hope they'll still be worth your time.]

Calculus "Is the Language God Talks"

The physicist Richard Feynman said, "It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvellous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil - which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama." 
That's by the Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Herman Wouk, whose new book "The Language God Talks" is due for release this week. 

Click here for a longer excerpt from New Scientist.

Mercury went retrograde at 12:06 this morning, Eastern time, and will remain so until May 11. Often abbreviated as "Mercury Rx," Mercury Retrograde ~ often abbreviated as “Mercury Rx” ~ is the three-week period when Mercury appears to move in reverse. This happens because Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun, and when it passes by Earth on its orbit, it seems to be going forward. When it loops back around the Sun, it appears to us be moving backward.

According to today's Tarot.com:

Since Mercury is the planet representing communication and motion, when it goes retrograde, there is a sense that movement-based things -- such as communication, travel, traffic, or business negotiations -- are interrupted and slowed. Cars break down, calls get missed, people say the wrong things at the wrong time. Energetically, it can feel as though the universe is blocking your efforts at progress.

 You can't demand life to flow more smoothly while Mercury's in retrograde. Double-check your work beforehand, set plans in advance and be willing to repeat yourself. Mercury Retrograde is a reminder that we're not as almighty as we think; peaceful surrender is the best weapon against Mercury Retrograde. Go with the flow and take each challenge as an opportunity to meditate on the unpredictability of life.

Astrologer Lynn Hayes says on her blog: “The recent air traffic problems caused by the Iceland volcano is an example of Mercury Retrograde reversals.”

A Musical Interlude ~ Lux Aurumque

Here American composer Eric Whitacre (born 1970) carries Internet communication to a heavenly level, combining 185 voices posted on YouTube clips to sing his Lux Aurumque.

The singers are from 12 countries around the world. Whitacre ~ who also is conducting this video ~ merged hundreds of individually recorded tracks to produce the beautiful finished rendition.

(If you want to see what just one of the hundreds of tracks is like, click here for Melody Myers of Tennessee.)

J. Krishnamurti

Here Indian sage J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) explains  individual responsibility for the condition of the world's people because "we are all one."

[My plan for these "Wisdom" clips is to provide interesting teachings that run two minutes or less. On some, the audio may be bad, others may exceed two minutes by a bit. But I hope they'll still be worth your time.]

Red Book Was Jung's "Numinous Beginning"

Recent publication of the Carl Jung’s Red Book ~ a 200-page manuscript also known as Liber Novus, Latin for new book ~ is regarded as a monumental event worldwide. Jung wrote it between 1914 and 1930 during a time of personal tribulation and enlightenment, composing it in calligraphic text and providing many symbolic paintings.

Of his Red Book, Jung wrote:

The years when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than one life. Everything later was merely the outer classification, scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then.

Click here for a link to a New York Times index of articles on Jung and on the Red Book itself.

On Forgiveness

"Jacob Seeking Forgiveness of Esau," Jan Victors, 1652.

[I believe forgiveness is one of the most important functions of our spiritual life. Recently reading an excellent book on remote viewing and associated psi activities ~ Limitless Mind by Russell Targ ~ I found his thoughts on the topic of forgiveness.]

"Carrying a grudge is like carrying a red-hot rock or giving the person who hurt you a lifetime of free rent in your mind. Why would you want to do that? In some families, grievances and resentment are held for years, even decades. We forgive people who we imagine have harmed us because, for our own mental health, we want to lay down the burden of the past rather than carry it into the present.

"…. It appears that forgiveness is an essential step on the road to peace. It is not forgetting, but forgiving and letting go that heals all separations.

"… The great Hindu mystic Shankara taught that the most important thing for us to learn is the discernment of reality from illusion. We then discover that most of what we thought we were experiencing was, in fact, illusion. Furthermore the Buddhists teach that there is virtually no objective reality to our judgments, so they usually lead to errors, and often to suffering. In our personal lives, our judgment of others always separates us from the loving connection with God."

A Celebration of Resurrection

For Easter, I'd like to offer this brief musical celebration of the Resurrection. It's performed by the Serbian orchestra Stupovi as part of an effort to raise funds for reconstruction of the Pillars of St. George medieval monastery. Some of the images of children, spring blossoms and joy are simply beautiful.