"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." —William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell I’m acutely aware of the passage of time lately. A remembered observation from Sam Harris regarding how to access a mindful state goes as follows. Every meaningful event — a kiss, a story read at bedtime, a familiar bicycle ride, a picking up from school — for each one there is a last time it will happen. This applies to mundane events as well of course. ...

"The one who plants trees knowing that he will never sit in their shade has at least started to understand the meaning of life." —Rabindranath Tagore I spoke with V by phone last night while walking the dog. We do this every few months. V turned 50 over the summer and described to me the speech he presented at that celebration with hundreds of his kin and colleagues present. In that speech he recounted my own experience of first seeing a 70mm photo slide of my mom, as a teenager, and my grandfather, at the dining room table at what I knew to be my grandma’s house — brighter, decorated differently, but nevertheless a familiar scene for my childhood self. ...