I love nothing more than having my assumptions demolished. I enjoy being put in my place. This is not some masochistic desire to be debased or humiliated. Rather, I find it liberating to see how small we really are in the cosmos, via images of space and all kinds of beginner-friendly astronomical analyses. It was […]
cosmos
Postcard from Raymond: The Old Gods
What is a god? Human figures with the heads of animals are intentionally absurd images. They look frightening, ridiculous, inexplicably endearing. They arrest us, shake us out of our dull, seen-it-all before everyday complacency and force us to take a second look at them because they reveal themselves as intentionally strange beings. In ancient Egypt, […]
Postcard from Raymond: What is Dharma?
Dharma is the cosmic law of reality. It is simultaneously the Buddha’s teaching, meaning two very important things. First, it means that the Buddhist teachings and reality itself are one and the same; they correspond to each other. The Dharma is the fount of all things which lies beyond the universe and the wheel of […]
Postcard from Raymond: How interconnected do you feel?
This image is a simulation of the “cosmic web,” a network of the scaffolding holding together the structure of the universe. This structure constitutes galaxies, dark matter, the gas that coalesces into stars, and “filaments”: regions of galaxy clusters woven together through what resembles slender, cobweb-like threads. This image from UC Riverside highlights how these […]
Postcard from Raymond: The View from Afar
Artist Pablo Carlos Budassi has put together a stunning “logarithmic scale conception” of the observable Universe, with the Solar System at the centre. Thanks to discoveries by physicists, mathematicians, and many others in the 20th century, we know that time and space are interrelated, and that the universe is expanding every second, with galaxies, stars, […]
To Find That Place
Steve Braff To find that place beyond judgment beyond fear a place of presence the simple clarity of knowing this most gentle unveiling of the sacred in this moment of the whole in which I am forever no longer apart.
Songs of the Ocean’s Tides
Pixie Take a walk on the beach, holding a friend’s hand, and relax. Feel the sand squeezed between your toes and listen to the gently lapping waves. Peaceful, isn’t it? Well, maybe not. Choose a different beach, and the surface might be sharp edges of volcanic rock, a foam frozen in time and cut by […]
The Moon Has Disappeared. Now What?
Pixie It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the whole family has gathered to play with lanterns and gaze at the beautiful full moon. Suddenly, the Moon disappears. What happens to our family and the Earth? The Moon is a 3,475 kilometer-wide ball of rock. How could it disappear? Let’s take a look at a few different […]