Last night I spoke with a young Chinese woman clearly troubled about confronting deeply negative circumstances in her life; and one of my best friends is struggling with disease and heartbreak.
In their own way, each of them brings their whole Being, everything they are, into this personal moment of struggle and suffering, wondering why things have to be this way, and whether there isnât a force, a material inner force, that can go against such things.
It prompted me to explain to my friend that people think metaphysics is about some cosmological pie-in-the-sky stuff; angels and cosmic evolution and so on. People write extraordinarily complicated texts about metaphysics, filled with magical diagrams and rays of cosmic energy, hydrogens and galaxies, and so on. Itâs fair to say quantum physics is probably simpler to understand.
But thatâs not what itâs like at all. Metaphysics is about here and now; it is about the power of Being, which emerges from the divine inward flow and is manifested through intellect and will. So we have an ability to manifest something materially, something extraordinary and positive, which affirms our Being; yet outward circumstances so often arrange themselves as destructive forces, and they seem more powerful than we are.
All of the great stories of heroism, from the epic of Gilgamesh to the stories from the concentration camps, celebrate humanityâs efforts to manifest the positive forces of being against these destructive outward circumstances. It is easy to swallow them as stories on a grand scale; but it is much more difficult to digest them when they are served cold and dirty on the hard plate of oneâs personal life. That is when we really have to tighten our belts, pick up the fork, and eat what is true about our life and ourselves; and this is a dish we come to most reluctantly. It takes a greater kind of courage than the courage we read about in the heroic epics to confront our own lives; and although we can take inspiration from the great stories, it is every inward and outward breath of our own life that we have to deal with. This can be an anguishing labor. No one feels as grand as Hercules cleaning out the stables when one is dealing with the mental illness of a loved one or cancer.
This is where real metaphysics comes in. Physics is the study of objects, events, circumstances, and conditions; material things, things as they are. Metaphysics is the study of Being; of what we are as individuals, of how our consciousness encounters the material. So itâs an incredibly practical discipline; and everything about it is about beginning to understand that the external forces and events we confront are not who we are; in a certain sense, they donât even exist. All they are is data; and data has no organized form or objective sense of what it is. It isnât intelligent.
In the same sense that atomistic materialism tells us there is nothing more than these little bits of stuff that make up bigger stuff, all that data can ever say is that it is there. But our Being, our awareness â that is what allows us to inwardly form a relationship to the outer, and it is in that place, within us, that the outer events acquire form, which we can have an attitude towards.
This means, oddly, that the realm of heroism doesnât lie in outward action; it is within us, where we form our attitude towards things, that the hero is born, not in the deeds that he or she does to save the world. Every human being who gets up in the morning and forms a positive attitude to overcome their obstacles and live in the face of the destructive forces around them is a hero. And they will always be a hero, whether they succeed or fail, because the hero is already there in the attitude, regardless of whether they live or die in the context of all the forces that would drag us down.
The hero starts here, and starts now, by saying, yes â I can Be. I can have a wish for the good.
We have a choice in our lives. We can practice this simple science of metaphysics in simple ways, by understanding how we form the outer world through our inner attitude; and we can begin in every moment by trying to make an effort for the good, rather than letting everything go down.
âLux spent the ride dialing the radio for her favorite song. "It makes me crazy," she said. "You know they're playing it somewhere, but you have to find it.â
â Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides
Christiane Singer. /Ana Laguna and Mikhail Barychnikov in Place,Mats Ek /2009
* * * * *
âPeople think intimacy is sex. But intimacy is about Truth. When you realize that you can tell someone your Truth, when you can show yourself to him/her who you really are, and their response is, âYou are safe with meâ, that is intimacy.â
Mitch McConnell - BREAKING... oh never mind. It's just rumors. And more rumors. So here are the FACTS.
McConnell was last seen in the Senate on June 11th. On June 14th his office said that he had "gone to the hospital where he was receiving excellent care." The office declined to say which hospital he was in.
It did not come out until last week, when reporters got the audio of the emergency call, which said that McConnell had been found unconscious in his Townhouse on June 14, and received CPR for a possible "cardiac arrest".
He was taken to "a medical facility" - but we STILL do not know which one. His staff continues to say that he is "recovering nicely."
OK, first of all. You do not get CPR for being unconscious. You get CPR when you are dead. When your lungs are not breathing and your heart is not beating. Nobody said how long it was between the time he fell "unconscious," and someone found him "unconscious," and called an ambulance, and a couple of burly EMTs arrived did what was necessary to bring him BACK from death.
When it comes to old, frail people, CPR unfortunately usually involves breaking every bone in their rib cage, according to a big burly EMT neighbor of mine. If he survived THAT, then when he arrived at the hospital, the doctors not only had to stabilize him, they STILL had to deal with the conditions brought on by the "possible cardiac arrest" or whatever ELSE it was that killed him in the first place.
But he's "recovering nicely". So says his Senate staff, who said June 22 that he was "working on Senate business" but was not yet ready to return to the Senate. Their latest statement is that "The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session."
But that was not enough for People Who Have Questions. So today, Tuesday, there was a whole FLURRY of official statements from Republicans.
Senate President John Thune says he spoke with McConnell Monday - a "lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security," according to Thune's spokesman.
Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso's spokesperson said that Barrasso and McConnell discussed "a number of topics, including national defense spending," during a 20-minute phone conversation on Tuesday afternoon.
And there was a post on X from a former adviser of his, Scott Jennings, who is now a conservative pundit on CNN and loses debates to young Democrats like Adam Mockler. Badly.
"I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning.. Heâs still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes ⌠about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history..."
Wow. So much talking. Each call lasting 20 minutes. Pretty good for an 84 year old guy who very likely has crushed ribs. And who already had lung issues - he was hospitalized in February for "flu-like" symptoms.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, all this time, his wife, Trump's former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has been in China on "a philanthropic trip," which included a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. She left the USA on June 12, and returned TODAY, Tuesday, July 7.
So she left two days before her husband was "found unconscious."
And she did not rush home to be at his side.
Why? According to a FOX News report, she "did not see a need for an immediate return." FOX found that totally reasonable.
Well, even though his hospital trip was so trivial that his wife did not rush home to be with him and oversee his care, and even though SO many upright, honest Republicans say they have spoken with him, STILL, there has been a great deal of speculation that McConnell has died, or is brain dead and on life support.
There is also speculation that his death might have been covered up, so that the Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Bershear, could not appoint a Democrat to fill is seat in the Senate.
However, it does not work that way in Kentucky. Under a law updated in 2024, a U.S. Senate vacancy must be filled through a special election called by the governor, rather than by an appointment - in this case the election would be between the two candidates who won their primaries in May, Democrat Charles Booker and Republican Andy Barr.
And the quickest a governor could call an election is "63 days after the vacancy occurs". Which would bring us to the middle of September, and the winner would only serve out the rest of McConnell's term, to the beginning of January.
And meanwhile the winner presumably would not be able to run in the midterms in November for a full term.
And where would Thomas Massie fit into all of this, if he is planning to run as an Independent? Trump really, REALLY hates HIM. He co-sponsored the Bill that made releasing the Epstein Files LAW - a law that Trump's Attorney General Todd Blanche STILL refuses to follow.
So, the question is, who is most likely to win the midterm election, and would stalling things until then be worthwhile, for the kind of shenanigans that would be involved in covering up a death?
Apparently, the only folks who would know, are not very likely to tell us.
"The global village is at once as wide as the planet and as small as a little town where everybody is maliciously engaged in poking his nose at everybody else's business"
A letter from Albert Einstein to his daughter: on The Universal Force of Love
In the late 1980s, Lieserl, the daughter of the famous genius, donated 1,400 letters, written by Einstein, to the Hebrew University, with orders not to publish their contents until two decades after his death. This is one of them, for Lieserl Einstein.
âWhen I proposed the theory of relativity, very few understood me, and what I will reveal now to transmit to mankind will also collide with the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world.
I ask you to guard the letters as long as necessary, years, decades, until society is advanced enough to accept what I will explain below.
There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us. This universal force is LOVE.
When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force. Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals. For love we live and die. Love is God and God is Love.
This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will.
To give visibility to love, I made a simple substitution in my most famous equation. If instead of E = mc2, we accept that the energy to heal the world can be obtained through love multiplied by the speed of light squared, we arrive at the conclusion that love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.
After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energyâŚ
If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.
Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.
However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.
When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.
I deeply regret not having been able to express what is in my heart, which has quietly beaten for you all my life. Maybe itâs too late to apologize, but as time is relative, I need to tell you that I love you and thanks to you I have reached the ultimate answer! â.
This single poem gets, via the heart of all theatre, to the heart of the communal in all the arts, and to the heart of form, the heart of voice and silence and to the heart of a kind of life that will never actually stop. Thatâs what Morgan does, he gets to the heart of the heart, selflessly, wide-openly, with the joyous shock of energy thatâs the core heartbeat of life-form and art-form.
âAli Smith, in From Saturn to Glasgow: fifty favourite poems by Edwin Morgan
Published in Edwin Morgan: Centenary Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2020).
A recording of Ian McKellen reading âInstructions to an Actorâ in July 1979:
Ian McKellen reads Edwin Morganâs poem âInstructions to an Actorâ, in which Shakespeare himself instructs the boy actor playing Hermione in the original production of The Winterâs Tale to hold as still as a statue in the final scene of the play.
He hates us all. He looks like hell. He sounds like hell. And he is mad as hell - using BOTH definitions of the word.
He reportedly lost it when his FIFA team lost, and never got it back.
Right now he is at the NATO Summit in Turkey, which started Tuesday and ends today, Wednesday, where he is making it all about HIM.
Where he is demanding that NATO force Denmark to turn Greenland over to him. Where he sexually insulted Italy's leader. Where he said, âI donât want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits."
Where he is whining the NATO countries did not join his aggression against Iran, saying, "I spoke to Germany, I spoke to France, I spoke to UK, I spoke to Italy," he said. "They were not there for us." Ignoring the FACT that joining in on aggression is NOT part of the NATO pact. NATO responds ONLY when a member nation is ATTACKED.
Where he is complaining that NATO countries âhave not treated us right, we been treated unfairly; we pay disproportionately.â Trump demands that all NATO countries pay 5% of their GDP. The US only pays 3.2%. SIX NATO countries pay MORE than us. Including Denmark.
Where he has been bragging non-stop that he ended 8 wars. He did not. And now he cannot even remember the names of the countries he has been rattling off. He has difficulty even bringing up one or two, before sputtering to an enraged stop.
Over the past couple of days, Iran IRGC boats fired on three tankers that were not obeying its instructions on which route to use in the Strait of Hormuz.
So Trump put the US sanctions back on Iran's oil and petrochemicals, and revoked the oil export license issued by the US Treasury that allowed them to MAKE those sales.
Which is something he never should have given them in the first place until the USA got something substantial in return - at LEAST the unrestricted re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
But, whatever, doing something rational was not enough for Trump. He had to take it further. He had to take his rage out on SOMEONE.
US Central Command said Tuesday night that US strikes Trump ordered hit 80 targets, including Iranian air defense systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile weapons and more than 60 small boats used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranâs paramilitary force.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that the ceasefire is "over."
"I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum! You know what scum is? They're scum, they're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over," he ranted.
The MOU negotiations have been paused during the funeral of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah and his family members, who were killed on the first day of the attack on Iran by the US and Israel. The funeral ends Thursday.
The reporters asked Trump if he would allow the MOU negotiations to continue. Trump said the negotiators from Pakistan and Qatar were "good people" but that for him, "I think it is over."
"They'll have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars."
SO. If he is saying the ceasefire is over, and negotiations are over, and he has re-started the war with Iran, it should be time for CONGRESS to be involved, right? That is their JOB, under the Constitution.
But NO. The Senate and House BOTH voted to take back their war powers. But then, Trump's people bullied two of the Republican Senators who voted against him into reversing their votes.
Trump retains sole authority to do whatever the hell he wants.
When will enough be enough for Republicans to realize they are not only destroying our national security in every way, for their own PERSONAL GAIN, but that in doing so, they are destroying THEMSELVES as well? They will NEVER get what the power they think they are going to get. The power he promises them.
Trump is TRUMP. Everything he promises is a lie. Everything he gets control of, he takes what he wants up front, and then runs it into the ground and walks away, leaving everyone else holding the bag, paying the price, and cleaning up his mess.
Just like his Crypto investors. His cell phone investors. His DC "project" investors.
Europe has realized that. This NATO Summit will be the final straw. Trump did nothing to strengthen it. Instead he attacked it with childish rants and tantrums, spending more time on Truth Social, posting, posting and posting trivial CRAP, than talking with THEM.
They are now in private talks to form their OWN alliance. Other countries, like Canada, are indicating they want to join in.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Arab nations, INCLUDING Iran, are in talks to create a new alliance of their own.
BOTH alliances excluding the United States of America. BOTH having the potential to create two NEW Superpowers. And leaving the United States NO LONGER a Superpower.
China would love that. So would Russia. Trump has made enemies of our friends, because he thinks our enemies ARE our friends. They are not. They most assuredly are NOT.
But why does he think this way? Because with our NATO allies, everything is above board, and he has to follow the rules, and there is nothing in it PERSONALLY for HIM.
With dictators and royals and oligarchs, well, that is quite a different thing.
Thanks to the Republican Party's greedy support of Donald J Trump, THIS is where we are. He could NOT have done it alone. This is the doing of Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, and their Billionaire DONORS, from Steve Bannon's Cambridge Analytica project, bankrolled by the Mercer Family, and the Tea Party bankrolled by the Koch Brothers, to the Project 2025 conspirators, Stephen Miller and Howard Lutnick and Russell Vought, bankrolled by Peter Thiel and the Tech/Crypto Bros. - and of course, Elon Musk.
None of this was for US. It was NEVER for us. It was always for THEM. For THEIR power. For THEIR money. For THEIR Empire.
To them, we are pawns. Serfs. Cannon fodder. Suckers. The "unwashed masses" used and manipulated by EVERY authoritarian system, no matter if they are called Royalty or Fascists or Communists - or CORPORATIONS.
We all know what our rights working for a Corporation are. THAT is the model for America's future government put forth by ALL of the above. THAT is what they think Donald Trump will give them.
Hell. Hell right here on earth.
Look at him. Look at ALL of them. THIS is America's true enemy.
"Strive to become the true human being:
one who knows love, one who knows pain.
Be full, be humble, be utterly silent,
be the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand."
"Some people make you feel better about living. Some people you meet and you feel this little lift in your heart, this 'Ah', because there's something in them that's brighter or lighter, something beautiful or better than you, and here's the magic: instead of feeling worse, instead of feeling 'why am I so ordinary?', you feel just the opposite, you feel glad. In a weird way you feel better, because before this you hadn't realised or you'd forgotten human beings could shine so."
â Niall Williams, History of the Rain                               [exhaled-spirals]
What exactly happens in the body when you press your tongue against your palate, as advised in Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Taoist literature?
In Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Taoist practices, pressing the tongue against the palate, specifically the area behind the upper front teeth, is believed to close a circuit, connecting the Conception and Governing Vessels (Ren and Du Channels) and facilitating the flow of Qi (vital energy). This action is thought to initiate a specific energy flow, potentially leading to a sensation of energy, tranquility, and even a connection between earth and heavenly energies.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
Closing an Energy Circuit:
The tongue acts as a switch, connecting the Ren and Du channels, which are considered part of the body's meridian system. This connection is believed to be crucial for the Micro-Cosmic Orbit (also known as the Small Universe) to function correctly.
Qi Flow and Sensation:
By completing this circuit, the practice is thought to allow Qi to flow more smoothly and powerfully, potentially resulting in feelings of energy, relaxation, and a sense of connection.
Subtle Energy Flow:
Some interpretations suggest that this tongue position can redirect subtle energy upwards, potentially promoting higher consciousness, aiding concentration, and stimulating intuition.
Practical Applications:
Beyond the perceived energetic benefits, some practitioners believe this tongue position can also improve focus and breath control during practices like meditation and Tai Chi.
Potential Physiological Benefits:
Some proponents also link this practice to potential physical benefits like increased tongue strength and improved facial muscle tone.
Here some the Answers and explanations:
1. This is pretty high end stuffâŚwhen you press the tongue to the roof of your palate, twist/tighten your anal sphincter and gently roll out your lower back (ming men) you are connecting governing(back) and conception(front) channels of your energetic body.
This is a secret that is only orally shared with senior students after many years of dedicated training.
Energetically and Spiritually you are connecting the grounded energy of the earth (below)to the heavenly energy of the cosmos (above you) within your body.
For practical purposes, this produces the much desired result of silencing our constantly chattering âmonkey-mindâ. Try it and experience the calm void left behind when the primative mind is silenced.
Obviously, this is benefical to any student of meditation.
2. This closes a meridian so Qi can flow in a particular circuit. Much like a light switch touches metal together, and closes a circuit so electrical current can flow.
In Chinese medicine (Qigong practice being a part of) there is a meridian or conceptual energy pathway in the body often seen on diagrams or posters on acupuncture points. This major pathway forms a virtical circle along the front and back of the torso, split into the governing channel and the conception channel respectively. These two channels have a âjump pointâ between the palate and the tongue.
By placing the tip of the tongue gently and precisely where the tongue touches the palate if one says âtâ, effectively closes the circle, as in an electrical circuit.
In the beggining of my Qigong training (spanning 6 years now) I was not sceptical about itâs effectiveness, but I was in doubt of the precise theory of the different maridians and also of the nature and meaning of Qi. Nontheless, I carried on with my training because it worked pragmatically, and at this moment closing the circle, though I did not understand at the time, now produces an incredible sensation of energy, Qi flow and tranquility, along with a warmth in my Dan Tien, among other things. Turned out, itâs not bullshit. It is just the nature of fundamentals that they deepen over time and require a little faith, and a little doubt.
Though you may be practicing something that does not produce results immediately, if you hold on to a scientific, curious and open mind you will eventually discover the secrets within your body, the feelings and gifts of sensation that Qigong attempts to develop in each individual and eventually, also, perceptual insight toward enlightenment.
3. I prefer to describe these things as Iâve experienced them first hand, over time, without resorting to foreign (âŚto English speakers) words or concepts. The TCM concepts are very precise and pragmatic, but the issue here is that âweâ have a reflexive tendency to question/doubt foreign words just because they sound weird. This mental reflex makes it harder to grasp the actual point, which has nothing to do with words at all.
You may have noticed that our physical structure is more or less âbilaterally symmetricalâ (i.e., left and right sides âmirrorâ each other in major respects, even though several internal organs donât). Check out the âearly pre-natal developmentâ drawings in an anatomy/physiology book, itâs cool how symmetrical and orderly things are from the outset, starting with the very first cells.
This symmetry means there is clearly a center-line, i.e., the plane that defines/separates the two sides. It is common sense to realize that this particular dimension is important/meaningful to our structural well-being, right? Stab yourself in the arm - ouch. Stab yourself in the center line - uh-ohâŚ.
We are physical structures that depend on movement, on muscles, on an incredibly complex web of fascia/muscles/bones/ligaments that can pull and twist us in an infinite variety of ways, ways that are often barely perceptible to our own consciousness (until youâve worked on it for a long time as a âpracticeâ). These distortions accumulate with the traumas of life, thatâs just the way it is.
When the physical integrity/vitality of our center-line is being overburdened or underused somehow, then our whole system suffers, at least a little bit, often a lot. Weâre less efficient in our movements, both internal (digestion/breathing/etc.) and external (shaking our booty, walking, flipping people off, etc.).
We âthinkâ and âlookâ too much, as modern beings, thanks to our screens and our incessant chattering. This tends to fuck up the natural/optimal connection of our center-line in the head/neck/upper chest region in particular. We tend to âgawkâ and jut our heads forward a bit, which creates extra tension in our necks (holding up our head as it sticks forward).
The front side of this neck tension is the âgapâ/deadspot in the front of our head/throat/chest. Weâre still talking about muscles and fascia here, simple and obvious. The tongue, it turns out, can be a big player in this part of the body, as a powerful muscle âin your headâ that connects right down into the front of your throat.
You can use your tongue intentionally to help âreconnectâ the front of your center-line and promote better structural balance. Press the tip of your tongue lightly against your palate, and keep it there as you do stuff (shuts you up for a minute, too) - thatâs all it takes. You wonât see fireworks or anything - think of it as one of many subtle but intentional âpatchesâ to help piece together a more efficient structural form, whether in motion or at rest.
4. Pressing the tongue against one of the points on the roof of the mouth connects the ren and du meridians. For people who do not practice qigong, they probably wonât notice anything. There will probably be a very slight and completely unnoticable increase in flow between the two.
For people who practice qigong, they may feel the movement of energy between the palate and the tongue. If their goal is to drain energy from the head, or to circulate energy, they may feel that energy move.
5. Pressing the tongue against the palate, a practice often recommended in QiGong and Taoist traditions, is believed to have several physiological and energetic effects on the body. Hereâs a breakdown of what happens:
Physiological Effects
Activation of the Tongue Meridian: In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the tongue is considered a vital organ that connects to various meridians. Pressing the tongue against the palate may help activate the tongue meridian, promoting energy flow (Qi) throughout the body.
Stimulation of Saliva Production: This action can stimulate the salivary glands, increasing saliva production. Saliva plays a critical role in digestion and maintaining oral health, and it is believed to help in the absorption of Qi.
Nervous System Response: The tongue is rich in nerve endings, and pressing it against the palate can stimulate the vagus nerve. This can promote relaxation and a sense of calm, potentially reducing stress and anxiety.
Facilitating the 'Microcosmic Orbit': In QiGong practices, pressing the tongue to the palate is often part of a technique called the Microcosmic Orbit meditation. This involves circulating energy through the Governing Vessel and Conception Vessel, which are two key energy channels in TCM.
Energetic Effects
Balancing Yin and Yang: The practice is thought to help balance the body's Yin (passive, receptive) and Yang (active, creative) energies, fostering overall harmony and well-being.
Enhancing Meditation and Focus: By creating a physical connection between the tongue and palate, practitioners may find it easier to enter a meditative state, as this action can help ground and center the mind.
Connection to the Body's Energy Centers: In TCM, the mouth and tongue are seen as gateways to the bodyâs energy centers (Chakras). Pressing the tongue against the palate may help align and harmonize these centers.
Conclusion:
Overall, pressing the tongue against the palate is believed to facilitate energy flow, promote relaxation, and enhance meditative practices. While these effects are rooted in traditional beliefs, many practitioners report subjective benefits, such as increased focus and a greater sense of calm
It is necessary to realize that technology itself is not the cause of our problem of [not having enough] time. Â Its influence on our lives is a result, not a cause â the result of an unseen accelerating process taking place in ourselves, in our inner being. Â Whether we point to the effect of communication technology (such as e-mail) with its tyranny of instant communication; or to the computerization, and therefore the mentalization of so many human activities that previously required at least some participation of our physical presence; or to any of the other innumerable transformations of human life that are being brought about by the new technologies, the essential element to recognize is how much of what we call âprogressâ is accompanied by and measured by the fact that human beings need less and less conscious attention to perform their activities and lead their lives.
The real power of the faculty of attention, unknown to modern science, is one of the indispensable and most central measures of humanness â of the being of a man or a woman â and has been so understood, in many forms and symbols, at the heart of all great spiritual teaching of the world. Â The effects of advancing technology, for all its material promise they offer the world (along with the dangers, of course) is but the most recent wave in a civilization that, without recognizing what it was doing, has placed the satisfaction of desire above the cultivation of being.
The deep meaning of many rules of conduct and more principles of the past â so many of which have been abandoned without our understanding their real roots in human nature â involved the cultivation and development of the uniquely human power of attention, its action in the body, heart and mind of man. Â To be present, truly present, is to have conscious attention. Â This capacity is the key to what it means to be human.
It is not, therefore, the rapidity of change as such that is the source of our problem of time. Â It is the metaphysical fact that the being of man is diminishing.
Democrats are having a rough week, but the question is, âCompared to what?â
July 8, 2026
Robert B. Hubbell
The political press is having a field day with Graham Platnerâs unresolved status as Maineâs Democratic Senate nominee. Conservative outlets are proclaiming that the Democratic Party is at war with itself. See, for example, WSJ, Graham Platner Succession Crisis Lays Bare Democratsâ Deep Divisions Ahead of Midterms and The Hill, Graham Platner debacle inflames factional turmoil among Democrats. Left-leaning outlets are already running the âWhat went wrongâ analyses before Platner has stepped aside. See Vox, Graham Platner allegations and campaign collapse: What should Democrats have done?
It is incontestable that having a Senate nominee withdraw a week before the general election filing deadline is bad, though it could have been worse. The Politico article could have been published a week after it became clear that Platnerâs place on the Maine ballot could not be undone.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party does not have a leader who is falling asleep at his own press conferences, threatening to take over the territory of a NATO ally, trying to relitigate an election loss in 2020 as the main issue in the 2026 midterms, raking in obscene crypto-profits while claiming that the affordability crisis is a hoax, or primarying incumbent members of his own partyâthereby threatening the partyâs slim margin of control in Congress. Nor are Democrats supporting a Senate candidate whom they claimed was unfit to hold office before he won the partyâs primary in Texas. Neither have Democrats failed to enact a single substantive bill in the last year despite controlling both chambers of Congress. And to the extent that Republicans do not have internal divisions, it is because their leader has exiled every dissenting voice, leaving only sycophants and cowards to rubber-stamp every crazy idea on his revenge-filled agenda.
So, sure, the Democratic Party has problems, but they are problems that arise from healthy debates over the direction of the party that center on policy differences, not on an obsession with enforcing the cult-worship of a megalomaniac. Have those disagreements become acrimonious and heated? Yes. But that is a state of affairs more generally known as âpolitics.â
The frenzy in the political press over Graham Platner is a classic case of false equivalency. Yes, the Platner situation is a mess. No, it is not the same as a party leader who is singularly responsible for an uptick in inflation due to an unpopular war, who demands that everyone in his party pretend the war is over and that it was a great victory.
There is only one meaningful political story in 2026, and that is Trumpâs vivisection of the Republican Partyâthe removal of its spine and conscience as GOP members look on in horror and resignation. Media pundits who do not offer that comparison in every story about the Democratic Partyâs alleged âdeep divisionsâ and âfactional turmoilâ are creating a profoundly misleading and asymmetrical political narrative. Complicit? Possibly, but inept and lazy at the very least.
The Graham Platner episode will sting, no matter what happens. We may lose ground that Platner gained, but with each passing day, Trump is further compromising the campaigns of every Republican on the ballot in November. So, yes, Democrats are having a rough week, but the real question is, âCompared to what?â For the answer, read on!
It sure looks like voter-fraud crusader Ken Paxton committed voter fraud.
Although international issues dominated the news on Tuesday, letâs start with the Republican Senate troubles. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the GOP nominee for Senate after knocking off GOP incumbent John Cornyn. Paxton has more baggage than a luggage cart at Heathrow. He is universally reviled by the Republican political establishment in Texas, but his âno-holds-barredâ style of politics appeals to a certain segment of the Texas population.
Paxton has made a name for himself, in part, by running on an anti-voter-fraud platform that pledged to crack down on voters who use a registration address that does not match their actual residence. Guess which prominent Texas politician ran afoul of Paxtonâs claim of voter fraud based on a mismatch in registration and residence addresses? None other than Ken Paxton. See Texas Tribune, Ken Paxtonâs voter registration may violate Texas election law. (This article is based on a joint investigation with Pro Publica.)
Per the Texas Tribune, the guidance published by Paxtonâs office says, in part, âYou must register to vote using the address where you reside,â and âit is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records . . . .â
The Tribune also reports,
Despite his own warnings, Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in the past two years, including in Mayâs runoff that made him the Republican nominee for U.S. senator, according to records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
State Sen. Angela Paxton said in a 2025 divorce filing that Paxton, whom she accused of adultery, moved out of their Collin County home a year earlier. But Paxton continues to list the homeâs address in the northern Dallas suburb on his voter registration. Angela Paxton declined to be interviewed. A source close to the Paxtons said the attorney general has not moved back into the home since leaving.
Paxton may have stumbled into a situation that is common for many Americansâchanging residences after a separation or divorce. That circumstance should not give rise to claims of voter fraud, but Paxton says it does, so he should be forced to explain why his actions do not constitute fraud, even as the actions of other Texans who innocently neglect to change a registration address are deemed fraudulent.
Paxton may be reluctant to assert that he intends to return to his former residence (current home of his wife) because that would suggest that his adulterous affair (a term used by his current wife) is temporary, and that he plans to dump his current girlfriend. Got that? Itâs complicated, I know. But thatâs the point. Paxtonâs life is a mess and will be front and center in James Talaricoâs effort to flip a Texas US Senate seat in November 2026.
Trump offends allies (again) at NATO summit in Ankara
As predicted, Trump is upsetting the NATO alliance with offensive and bellicose statements directed at the alliance itself. See Politico, Trump rips NATO allies, dashing European hopes for a kumbaya summit.
Among Trumpâs choice comments,
Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and [NATO is] not there for us? Weâve always been there for [NATO].
I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if it werenât held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, itâs possible that I wouldnât have attended.
Greenland doesnât help Denmark . . . [and] should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.
Trump also said he was considering selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, currently prohibited by US law. A confidential source in the administration suggested that Trump would work with Turkey to remove Russian-made air defenses from Turkey so the sales could go through. Turkey, of course, would return the Russian air defenses to Turkey as soon as it has the F-35s in hand.
In public, of course, leaders of NATO countries try to avoid conflict with Trump. But it does not take a rocket scientist to know that those leaders are chafing under Trumpâs insults and threats.
While the US president is given deference even when he is a buffoon, Trump is the first US president ever to start a war of choice and then surrender in short order. The fig leaf covering his surrender is the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran. That fig leaf is in tatters on Tuesday, as the US has resumed attacks against Iran for the second time during the first month of the temporary ceasefire. See CNN, US hits more than 80 Iran targets, reimposes oil sanctions.
As a result of the renewed hostilities, oil prices spiked again. See CNBC, Oil jumps as U.S. âpowerful strikesâ against Iran risk unraveling fragile Mideast truce. Oil prices had effectively returned to their pre-war prices on Monday of this weekâbefore the latest round of attacks. If sustained hostilities renew, it is possible that oil prices will return to their wartime highâapproximately $120 per barrel.
That possibility is becoming more likely by the minute. Late Tuesday evening, Iran announced it had attacked 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. See NYTimes, Iran Launches Attacks Across Gulf After Latest U.S. Strikes. (Gift article, accessible to all.)
Per the Times,
Iranâs armed forces said they had targeted 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. The U.S. said its strikes were in response to what it said were Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump will be unable to end the hostilities against a newly emboldened Iran, which is using force to control the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
By comparison, the question of which Democrat ends up challenging Susan Collins in the midterm elections pales in comparison to Trumpâs massive self-inflicted wound on the economyâthe issue that ranks at the top of nearly every poll of votersâ concerns. As I said, Democrats are having a rough week, but the real question is, âCompared to what?â
Concluding Thoughts
Be prepared for another round of news stories warning of the passage of the SAVE America Act, stories that will fail to mention that the Act is subject to the filibuster in the Senate and will not pass.
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes that congressional Republicans are becoming so weary of Trumpâs incessant demand for passage of the SAVE America Act that they will pass a bill called the SAVE America Act that does include the voter suppression provisions of previous versions of the SAVE America Act.
Why would Republicans do something like that? Because they want to placate Trump and believe he is too ignorant to notice the difference. See Talking Points Memo, SAVE Act Switcheroo, Pt. II.
Per Josh Marshall,
Trumpâs allies in Congress seem to be betting the president wonât have the attention to detail to distinguish between his signature bill (which cannot get through reconciliation) and something that is very much not his signature bill (which can). Getting Trump off congressional leadersâ backs seems to be the animating objective.
Be prepared and educated. Just because a bill is titled âSAVE America Actâ does not mean it contains the provisions of the SAVE America Act that the Senate Parliamentarian rejected last month. If you receive urgent text messages that say, âThe sky is falling because the House just passed the SAVE America Act,â check out what the bill says before jumping to panicked conclusions.
