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Meta
Tag Archives: meaning
From clickbait to transcendent meaning
This evening the weather was perfect for reading outside, and that’s what we were doing, enjoying the rustling leaves overhead, the trickle of water from our little fountain, and the antics of four of our cats, when my phone gave … Continue reading
Posted in history, salience markers
Tagged attention, cognitive framing, history, interest, meaning, salience
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Growing up “meta”
Our young friend Maddie recently celebrated her first birthday. Maddie loves berries and books! We do too! And thus, my partner and I gave her three books about berries. One is a book about colors of fruit. One is a … Continue reading
In love with the land – the real clash of civilizations
What does it mean to love the land? Two very different things, apparently. Today I was reading Ezra Klein’s column in the New York Times, where he was talking about anti-liberalism. Remember, we have multiple meanings for “liberal,” and this … Continue reading
Why we keep hanging onto the past – and what that costs us
For a couple days this week, I found myself highly motivated to hold my head relatively still, so as not to aggravate the massive headache that had wrapped itself relentlessly around it. I needed a fairly mindless way to pass … Continue reading
America’s Irony Problem
Irony can be a lot of fun. And it’s everywhere, from the most scathing sarcasm to the gentle wit of Kermit the Frog. We love to laugh at satire and parody. The “mockumentary” has become a popular film genre – … Continue reading
Mindfulness IV: Making Choices – Ethics and Mindfulness
Ideally, mindfulness would make us more conscious of the world around us and more sensitive to the way our actions affect others. But is that necessarily so? Caveat Four: Mindfulness doesn’t always lead to “goodness.” Here are some possible ways … Continue reading
Mindfulness III: When Mindfulness Sets Us Adrift
One benefit often mentioned for mindfulness is the value of shaking up one’s complacent perspective on life. Jon Kabat-Zinn explained that “we lock ourselves into a personal fiction that we already know who we are, that we already know where … Continue reading
Doing uncomfortable things: Two approaches
Back when I was about to have my first baby, the hospital educator taught us about two philosophies of natural childbirth. In the Lamaze method, the mother-to-be focuses her attention on specific breathing patterns, along with pleasant memories or her … Continue reading
The Meta-Narrator 