In an age where science has unraveled the mysteries of the cosmos, offering us unparalleled knowledge about the physical world, we find ourselves grappling with a profound question: how do we use this knowledge wisely? The distinction between knowledge and wisdom has never been more crucial. While science provides us with facts and understanding, wisdom...Read More

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was a 20th-century German author with a stature in that language more or less equivalent to Hemmingway or Melville in English. His last novel was The Glass Bead Game, for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature (1946). Most Nobel Prize-winning literature goes over my head, but not this book....Read More

“We have art so that we shall not die of reality.”  —  Friedrich Nietzsche The book of Genesis in the Bible famously says that God created humanity “in our own image.” We’ve returned the favor – creating Gods in OUR own image. That is, human-like, only really really big. For example, the God of the...Read More

I recently encountered the story of Rengetsu (1791-1875) — a Japanese Buddhist nun with an extraordinary story. She was the love child of a geisha and a high ranking samurai. At 10 days old she was adopted by new parents. As a teen she was called to serve as an attendant at Kameoka Castle, and...Read More

It seems to me that humans occupy two worlds at the same time. One is the external physical world, the other is our inner psychic world — the world of our inner consciousness. As we explore the physical world, we encounter other beings who seem to have an inner world like ours: fellow humans, and animals, such...Read More

Mighty is geometry — joined with art, irresistible. — Euripides (480-406 BCE) The idea of ‘Sacred Geometry’ is that mathematics can be beautiful. For example, here’s one of the most famously beautiful equations in mathematics: eiπ + 1 = 0 It’s called “Euler’s Identity,” after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783, pronounced “OIL-er”) who first...Read More

Introduction Spiritual alchemy uses the quest for turning physical base metals into gold as a metaphor for the path of transforming the ‘base’ human soul into the ‘gold’ of enlightenment and our best/highest selves. Rooted in mystical and philosophical teachings, it is the art of transmuting the soul, leading to spiritual enlightenment and inner transformation....Read More