Blogs in South Colton, NY - New York - Local Blog Directory

Haiku by Sharp Sand on Oct 27, 2009 in Poetry Reading Haiku in translation often require a fairly extensive set of notes or even scholarly apparatus in order for the reader to “get” the insight payoff that is the point of the form. For instance,  in this poem by Kikaku (1661 – 1707) A...

Attacking the Rationalists by Sharp Sand on Oct 25, 2009 in Philosophy Poetry Politics In the winter of 1906-1907, William James delivered a series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston on the subject of pragmatism. They were, in many ways, the culmination of a lifetime of work (James would die only two years later) and they al...

The Dogs Dream in Tandem by Sharp Sand on Oct 25, 2009 in Dogs River Notes Candy Jett I’m sitting on the bed looking out through the bedroom window over the river as I write and the two terriers are sleeping on either side of my outstretched legs. The dream together: at almost the same instant, both Jett and Candy begin twitchin...

Toi Theo Dao Phat Giao by Sharp Sand on Oct 17, 2009 in Personal Buddhism religion William James Not a conversion experience, really. More like waking up one morning with the realization that I had become a Buddhist. William James said of religion that it is the “fruits not the roots” that are significant markers of belief and if tha...

Two Fall Collages by Sharp Sand on Oct 16, 2009 in Birds River Notes art collages ...

Nothing If Not Eclectic by Sharp Sand on Oct 14, 2009 in Music Bob Dylan Christmas Gyuto Monks Two CDs I ordered came in the mail today, Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart and The Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir. I got the monks for meditation–it’s extremely low frequency chanting in very slow rhythm that I find very soothing. This...