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Help from a Cat (a Haibun)

Backyard, 62 Theta Avenue, Daly City, CA–1960 I was yielding to the insidious, growing tendency to dwell on my advancing age, as it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the reminders of my deteriorating appearance and function. The inevitable end was quite clear, only the timing and manner remained hidden. It was tedious to “count one’s blessings,” rotely, as a palliative to this recurrent…

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Satori at Age Eight?

(Posted November 6, 2018 in my ‘Being Old’ weblog, now shut down) At age seven or eight I had an experience which I ever-more perceive as a satori. “Satori (Chinese kāi wù) may be defined as an intuitive looking into the nature of things in contradistinction to the analytical or logical understanding of it. Practically it means the unfolding of a new world hitherto unperceived in the confusion of…

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Ode to a Swedish Bakery...

… and ‘Boulangerie—Patisserie’ I have enjoyed the ubiquitous coffee shops of Stockholm for almost 23 years. There are many varieties and owners, local and national (the only Starbucks I’m aware of is in Stockholm’s central railway station). Typically, such ‘shops’ are much more than a place to get my cafe latte. There will always be kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) and kardemummabullar (cardamom) and…

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Final Report

Ronald A. Pavellas, Stockholm, May, 2025 All has been said before: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun”. This lover and hater of words dares (“vanity of vanities”) to add his own to the overburdened “dominion of Earth”. (Quotes from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Old Testament). In recent…

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First Citation in my 'Final Report'

As reported earlier, I am in the process of reading as many as 50 books (I keep adding to them) to aid me in imagining a ‘Final Report‘ in this weblog. I have completed transcribing notes from several books, but the latest one has only a single passage that I have kept. It is from That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis. Here is the passage, uttered by one of the characters, Grace Ironwood: The laws…

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"If the universe is infinite, it has always been infinite"

My latest discussion with ChatGPT Ron: How can we comprehend that the universe is expanding, without having reference to a ‘something’ that it is expanding into? forbes.com ChatGPT said: Comprehending the expansion of the universe without reference to it “expanding into something” can be challenging because our everyday experiences are based on objects moving through space. However, the…

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Uniqueness in Humans; Human dependence on other organisms

Still in pursuit of material to consider including in my ‘Final Report’, I continue my conversations with ChatGPT… — What, in the species homo sapiens sapiens, is unique among all other species in the animal kingdom? ChatGPT said: The species Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans) possesses several unique characteristics that distinguish it from all other species in the animal kingdom. These…

Uniqueness in Humans; Human dependence on other organisms

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New Blog--Please subscribe

I ask that you engage the ‘subscribe’ feature (by entering your email address) continue reading my posts, but now in: https://dialogueswithclaude.com/ Here is the ‘About’ page of the new blog: I began my journey in 1937, in San Francisco. I completed my formal education in 1965 and have continued educating myself ever since — through a career in hospital and medical group management, extensive…

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What to do With the Rest of My Life...

Let us suppose, for the purpose of conversation, That I will live no longer than did my father, A few days past his eighty-seventh birthday. I am now less than half-way past seventy-eight. No, no, I feel perfectly well. I am quite fit and healthy. It’s just that I am a serious fellow, always have been, And it seems time to set a general course for my remaining years. There is a growing…

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The fundamental energy — the living ground of the universe — remains beyond full human ken

I have been ‘corresponding’ with three AI ‘bots: Grok, ChatGPT and Deepseek. I do not prefer one over any other, and find gems in each that I value. I ask complicated and serious questions. The following conversation was with Grok… I was hiking at around 11,000 feet elevation in the high Sierra in California when, after a scramble up huge, irregular boulders, I stopped at the top of a ridge,…

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Thus begins my Final Report

Eighty-eight years of living fully, studying and writing… and now to say something in a final kind of way. I started this project upon reaching the 87th anniversary of my birth, intending to complete my Report no later than my 90th. I vowed to issue the Report in two pages, but this is unrealistic. I started by gathering scores of books and other reading materials, many garnered through the…

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Words tend to obscure the Real

(Excerpts from a quarterly letter to my children and grandchildren) Although I have had many physical adventures in life, from pleasurable to painful and back, my main focus is inward, toward learning and the development of my world- and self-perception. Not everyone will be interested in the workings of my mind and in the things I believe I have learned. Most people will be satisfied only with…

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Christianity, Zen and "AI"

I have a extraordinarily intelligent friend who will not tolerate my mentioning or introducing the idea of querying the various AI ‘bots available through the Internet. I, on the other hand , find ChatGPT and Grok very helpful in responding to my thoughts and queries. The following is an example of a conversation I would love to have with a human, and I ask you to perceive: where will I find such…

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"Reason is a Vast Tautology"

Without expectations from the audience who reads these posts, yet with the feeling that the reading of it might provide a benefit to the reader,  I offer this conversation with ChatGPT on Reason and Enlightenment, and their corollary and counter-posed concepts, with continuing conversations leading (I assert and intend) to a enlarged view of mankind and mankind’s development and future on…

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Final Report

Ronald A. Pavellas, Stockholm, May, 2025 All has been said before: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun”. This lover and hater of words dares (“vanity of vanities”) to add his own to the overburdened “dominion of Earth”. (Quotes from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Old Testament). In recent…

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[oldblogger]

Thus begins my Final Report

Eighty-eight years of living fully, studying and writing… and now to say something in a final kind of way. I started this project upon reaching the 87th anniversary of my birth, intending to complete my Report no later than my 90th. I vowed to issue the Report in two pages, but this is unrealistic. I started by gathering scores of books and other reading materials, many garnered through the…

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Thomas Cromwell & Henry VIII of England

He served the King well, then was executed (I posted this on another of my weblogs many years ago. Since Eva and I are now watching the video series made from the book, Wolf Hall, I reckon it is time to show this book review again) Compelling and believable historical fiction continues to encourage me to look further into non-fiction accounts of historical figures, in this case a complex of…

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