The Translucent View

In the last few decades, an increasing number of psychologists have shifted their attention from what is wrong with us, to what is right with us. Rather than focusing on healing, this new field of “Positive Psychology” focuses on the symptoms of psychological health and how to foster them. This field has been pioneered by Martin […]

Go out walking in nature. It could be in the forest, or on the beach, or by a river. if possible walk barefoot. Let yourself feel the trees, the dew, the sun, And the earth itself, through your skin. Allow nature to be a sensuous experience. Let yourself be caressed By nature as a lover. […]

Take three minutes… listen to this song… think of a life long friend… and give thanks… I dedicate listening to this song today to my friend Garrett Thomson, who i have known for 56 years and counting. Since my birth. Specks of pure gold. Who are you most grateful to have known in this life?

The Last Laugh will be published on May 1st by Hay House Visions imprint. Please enjoy here the back cover description, some early endorsements, and excerpts from three chapters, with audio downloads to enjoy later. “I stood on the bridge just before midnight, the wind from the ocean arriving in violent blasts, as if saying […]

Last night I watched Kumaré, a mock documentary made by the very talented Vikram Gandhi. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly highly recommend that you do. It is extremely engaging, touching, funny, but most important it drives home a very important point with extraordinary skill. Vikram Gandhi was born and raised in New […]

A couple of years ago I spent a very pleasant few days over New Year’s Eve at a conference in Monterey, California. One of the other speakers was my old friend, Coleman Barks, who most of us know for his brilliant, touching and soul-stirring translations of Rumi. We got to chatting over lunch one day, […]

Today I was walking in the street with Chameli, and we came across this amazing band, playing in the street.  They tour the US and Mexico, on 5 bicycles, with all their gear on the back:   drum set, amps, speakers, guitars, clothes.  No vehicle backup.   During the gigs, the bicycles become generators to power the […]

Let’s take a deeper look at American Beauty, written by Alan Ball, directed by Sam Mendes, and the winner of my contemporary translucent cinema poll. On its surface, the film addresses such common contemporary themes as meaninglessness, infidelity, ambition, and family dysfunction. But, as the movie poster urged before we even bought our tickets, “Look […]

      New Age Mush is easy to spot, mainly because it offers very little variety. There are now literally hundreds of CDs available with titles like Dolphin Rainbow Suite or Angelic Symphony. The covers display the same narrow range of what’s acceptable: soft pastel colors, a unicorn, dolphins, rainbows, throw in an angel […]

    The term ‘baby boomer’ refers to the population bubble born sooner after the Second World War. Many young men in America and Europe had gone off to fight between 1939 and 1945, and not all returned. For those who did, their priorities were clear: settle down, marry your sweetheart, rebuild … and procreate. […]