These are troubled times. Even if it weren't for Trump, we'd have climate change and nuclear weapons. If we could somehow deal with that we have pollution, genocide, overpopulation and endless war. How do we deal with this personally? I'd say the first thing is to realize that we do have a problem dealing with it personally - this is not at all the same as just worrying about world affairs which, admit it, we can't do anything about. Most of us feel helpless and depressed about all that, but fail to deal with these feelings separate from the endless bad news that causes them. It is these personal feelings of despair that we need to deal with. Most importantly, we need to see that these feelings have real-life consequences. In what follows, I tell you about how I build a personal "air raid shelter". I think of it as a "home base" where I can go at any time. From a foundation of peace and security, I am able to "keep my shit together" in spit...

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.  T. S. Eliot - Little Gidding I have been writing for a long time about the concept of "supermind" and the "dragon". Groups of humans - armies, governments - have a life of their own and thrive at the expense of the humans that oppose them - even their own members.  These groups steal our identity and prevent us from thinking for ourselves. It's all true, of course, but what is new is the total acceptance of the situation. Comfort almost. This is the human condition. Our "minds" function as part of a whole. It may be a mistake to "analyze" - to break things down into pieces, but indulge me for a moment while I describe things that make up our "minds" that are usually regarded as something happening between our ears. The brain, especially considered as part of the body (Damasio). The functio...