Everything Under the Sun

August | Travel and Experience  |   Week 33 | 8/20/2023 California Like every kid born in America, I too am drawn to the grand cities of potential and promise - New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Vanity and wonder draw one in, and visiting for the first time, we can all appreciate the superposition of that moment. The first time I was in California I was in middle school on a family trip to San Francisco. At that time, in the mid 2000's, California was still the supercenter for dot com and not yet a relic of a once past boom. That meant the surrounding environment was still inviting and not yet hostile. Much changed in the following two decades, particularly during COVID. My first time back to California was January 2020 on the precipice of the death spiral of California. Given my particular political predisposition I was expecting the dichotomy I would soon observe but expecting only one side of the dichotomous emotional spectrum. I expected to witness the haves and the h...

August | Travel and Experience  |   Week 32 | 8/13/2023 Traveling alone Unlike the rigor of accompanied travel there is something about traveling alone which is often marked by serendipity - fortuitous, if one is Taoist in their approach. It is the duty of psychological individuation to spend time with oneself alone, in the quiet contemplation of introspection. This is accomplished most effectively in the lonely, regular, mundane nights, where duty to one's schedule is priority 1 of 1. It is also accomplished in the challenging moments spent alone, voluntary or otherwise: pushing oneself to run 10 miles with no extrinsic motivation, dealing with illness or loss alone, or simply getting through a week of letdowns, failures and setbacks, alone. There is a third way, one can truly individuate and it is context dependent - traveling alone.  My first solo travel was immediately after I graduated; a trip out West that I needed to take to reset my mind after years' long battles ...

August | Travel and Experience  |   Week 31 | 8/6/2023 Traveling with friends The sources of pure elation in this life are truly scarce, but with proper due diligence, genuine connection and adequate resources, there is one which can be reoccurring and reliable - travel with friends. The due diligence; picking great friends. The genuine connection; deep friendships not reliant on substances or situations. The adequate resources; enough capital to fund a plane ticket, a rental car and a hotel, if necessary.  I've been extraordinarily fortunate to meet and cultivate the right friendships that have allowed me to experience the joy of travel, both domestic and foreign, on more than one occasion. The three of us, Zach, Daniel and I had a first glimpse of travel together back in college when we took a day trip to Cedar Key to watch the sunset on Earth Day. We snuck onto an abandoned air strip to get as close as we could do the water and finished the night at a wooden bar that s...

July | Philosophy and Religion |   Week 30 | 7/30/2023 What are the modern Philosophic and Theological doctrines today? Philosophy and Religion have long marked the centuries and millennium as summative vectors behind eras. It was the Abrahamic religions which underpinned the Crusades. It was Confucius who brought China to bear. It was Plato, Socrates and Aristotle who likely began the Golden Thread. We know of the Enlightenment, Classical Antiquity, the Hundred Schools of Thought, the Renaissance, and Contemporary History. Each period can be quickly and easily matched with the prevailing Philosophic and Theological doctrines of the time. The perennial metamorphoses of philosophy and theology is the apheresis and coagulation of our species. It is what pushes and pulls humanity's journey. Taking contemporary history as ours to examine - what are the modern philosophic-theological camps that prevail today? Where do they come from and what do they represent? I can think of 8, which cr...