Yesterday I received an email from one of my former high school students. He asked me a few questions that indicated he has really entered into a reflective state of mind: Am I familiar with C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity? What do people mean when they refer to other people, situations, or anything else as…
Category: Religion & Philosophy
The Buddha ate my blog, or, The peskiness of nondual insight
Well, I’m back from another long hiatus. It’s been four weeks since my last confession—er, blog post. I’m certainly making good on my previous claim, circa early September, that my foreseeable activity here at The Teeming Brain would be sporadic. At the moment I thought I’d drop in to mention that this downturn in blog…
Spiritual investment in the age of financial disaster
Greetings, Teeming Brainers. I’m back from attending the 29th annual Armadillocon in Austin, Texas, where I spoke on several panels (and served as moderator for one of them, which was a new experience) and enjoyed hobnobbing with various writers, editors, and fans of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative literature. It was a nice time overall….
Stephen King on life callings: the daimon meets the geiger counter
As I’ve stated here many times, I’m fascinated by the idea of the daimon, the guiding force inside a person’s psyche that acts like a spiritual/psychological compass, always pointing north, always reminding you of what your true life direction is no matter what direction you may currently be turned. This has led to my always…
The Greeks and their daimones
This week I thought I’d share another excerpt from my essay “The Angel and the Demon,” which was published recently in the two-volume reference work Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Fears (Greenwood Press, 2006), edited by S.T. Joshi. Regular readers of The Teeming Brain will recall that I’ve already…
So just what the hell is post-modernism?
Background: Last week somebody posts a famous quip from Oscar Wilde at a popular message board: “In the old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.” This leads to a conversation about what the quote means and whether…
R.I.P. Robert Anton Wilson and Douglas Harding, 1/11/07
I was rather stunned to receive the news today that two of my most cherished philosophical and spiritual influences have just died. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007) was an American author, philosopher, wiseguy, and all-around mega-genius who co-wrote, along with Robert Shea, the legendary Illuminatus! trilogy that became an instant counterculture classic when it was published…
Autumn Longing: Peter Shaffer and AMADEUS
First, my standard proviso: If you haven’t already read the first installment in this series of posts, then please do so before reading this one, since the first one lays the groundwork for what I’m going on about. But for now, to reiterate briefly: Since childhood I have been overcome from time to time by…
The Daemon is someone inside you
Apologies for my failure yesterday to make my regular Monday blog post. I really have no excuse, especially since I was off work yesterday due to last week’s winter storm that has resulted in several days of school cancellations. Today we’re in our fourth day of this unexpected vacation, with a return to work tomorrow…
Religious Horror: the burgeoning cultural moment
What an interesting cultural moment it is for somebody like me, who holds an obsessive interest in religion, horror, and the interface between them. For example, it’s widely recognized that zombies have become the monsters of the moment in contemporary horror entertainment. Zombie-themed movies have been flooding movie theatres for the past five or six…