Friday, September 30, 2022

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 8

 Dao De Jing, Laozi

Chapter 8


"The seer flows like water
Lying low along the way
Nourishing whatever comes
To be held on display
The seer keeps to simple ways
And therefore is content
When joy or sorrow manifests
To give complete assent


If you can clearly be yourself
And never rise to interfere
Everyone will cherish you
And always hold you dear"
-  Translated by Jim Clatfelder, 2000, Chapter 8




"A person with superior goodness (shan) is like water,
Water is good in benefiting (li) all beings,
Without contending (cheng) with any.
Situated in places shunned (o) by many others,
Thereby it is near (chi) Tao.
(Such a person's) dwelling is the good earth,
(His/her) mind (hsin) is the good deep water (yuan),
(His/her) associates are good kind people (jen),
(His/her) speech shows good trust (hsin),
(His/her) governing is the good order,
(His/her) projects (shih) are carried out by good talents (neng),
(His/her) activities (tung) are good in timing.
Because he does not contend (pu cheng) with any,
He commits no wrong."
-  Translated by Ellen Marie Chen, 1989, Chapter 8



"The highest good is like water.
Water give life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In daily life, be competent.
In action, be aware of the time and the season.
No fight: No blame."
-  Translated by Gai-fu Feng and Jane English, 1989, Chapter 8 


"The highest goodness that we know has water for its type,
It benefits all things, yet ever flows
To the spot which men disdain, the gutter and the plain,
And so is near the Tao, its archetype.
A residence is excellent according to its place,
A heart for eddies passion never knows,
Generosity for kindness, words for faithfulness,
A government for order, business for its gain,
And movements for their timeliness and grace.
As the man of excellence does not quarrel for his place,
There are none to find fault with him for the places which remain."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 8



"Perfect excellence is like gentle water.
Gentle water benefits all things and yet it does not struggle.
Do away with what all people hate.
Thus this is approaching Dao.
Give to what is of perfect personnel.
Stay in a perfect place,
think in a perfect way,
cooperate with perfect people,
speak perfect truth,
govern in perfect order,
work for perfect potentiality,
move when the time is perfect.
Because of non-struggle, therefore, there is no blame."
-  Translated by Tang Zi-Chang, Chapter 8



上善若水.
水善利萬物而不爭.
處衆人之所惡.
故幾於道.
居善地心善淵.
與善仁.
言善信.
正善治.
事善能.
動善時.
夫唯不爭, 故無尤.
-  Chinese characters, Chapter 8, Tao Te Ching 



 shang shan ruo shui.
 shui shan li wan wu er bu zheng.
 chu zhong ren zhi suo wu.
 gu ji yu dao.
 ju shan di xin shan yuan.
 yu shan ren.
 yan shan xin.
 zheng shan zhi.
 shi shan neng.
 dong shan shi.
 fu wei bu zheng, gu wu you.
 -  Pinyin Romanization, Chapter 8, Daodejing
  


"The best way to life is to be like water
For water benefits all things and goes against none of them
It provides for all people and even cleanses those places a man is loath to go
In this way it is just like Tao
Live in accordance with the nature of things
Build your house on solid ground
Keep your mind still
When giving, be kind
When speaking, be truthful
When ruling, be just
When working, be one-pointed
When acting, remember, timing is everything
One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things
He moves in harmony with the present moment always knowing the truth of just what to do"
-  Translated by Johathan Star, 2001, Chapter 8 




"The highest form of goodness is like water.
Water knows how to benefit all things without striving with them.
It stays in places loathed by all men.
Therefore, it comes near the Tao.
In choosing your dwelling, know how to keep to  the ground.
In cultivating your mind, know how to dive in  the hidden deeps.
In dealing with others, know how to be gentle and kind.
In speaking, know how to keep your words.
In governing, know how to maintain order.
In transacting business, know how to be efficient.
In making a move, know how to choose the right  moment.
If you do not strive with others,
You will be free from blame."
-  Translated by John C. H. Wu, 1961, Chapter 8 


"El hombre de bondad superior es como el agua.
 El agua en su quietud favorece a todas las cosas,
 ocupa el lugar despreciado por los hombres,
 y así está cerca del dao.
 Su lugar es favorable;
 su corazón, sereno;
 su don, del agrado del cielo;
 su palabra, leal;
 su gobierno, en orden;
 en sus empresas, capaz;
 sus movimientos, oportunos.
 Sólo la falta de quietud
 impide la superación."
 -  Translated by Juan Ignacio Preciado, 1978, Tao Te Ching, Capítulo 8  


"Heavenly Love is like water.
Water blesses all things,
It does not hurt them.
It loves the lowly place that men dislike,
Therefore it comes very near to Tao.
The Master loves to dwell upon the earth.
In his heart he loves Infinity,
In his benevolence he loves giving,
In his words he loves sincerity,
In his government he loves peace,
In his business affairs he loves ability,
In his movements he loves punctuality.
The Master, indeed, does not fight,
Therefore his Inner Life increases."
-  Translated by Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 8 




"Highest good is like water.
Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures
    without contending with them and settles where none would like to be,
    it comes close to the way.
In a home it is the site that matters;
In quality of mind it is depth that matters;
In an ally it is benevolence that matters;
In speech it is good faith that matters;
In government it is order that matters;
In affairs it is ability that matters;
In action it is timeliness that matters.
It is because it does not contend that it is never at fault."

-  Translated by D. C. Lau, 1963, Chapter 8  


"The highest excellence is like that of water.
 The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying,
 Without striving to the contrary, the low place which all men dislike.
 Hence its way is near to that of the Tao.
 The excellence of a residence is in the suitability of the place;
 That of the mind is in abysmal stillness;
 That of associations is in their being with the virtuous;
 That of government is in its securing good order;
 That of the conduct of affairs is in its ability; and,
 That of the initiation of any movement is in its timeliness.
 And when one with the highest excellence does not wrangle about his low position,
 No one finds fault with him."

 -  Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 8


"The foremost goodness is like water.
Water is good at benefiting all living things,
even though there are arguments about how it could reside
in places that most people hate.
In that way it is very close to being like Dao.
It is good at residing in the earth; the mind sees that goodness as bottomless.
It is good at giving through nature; words express that goodness with sincerity.
It is good at showing the right course of governing.
It is good at enabling all work to be completed;
through motion goodness adjusts to the time.
Well then, there is really no reason for arguments.
Because there is nothing that is at fault."

-  Translated by Nina Correa, 2005, Chapter 8  


  

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.  These are hypertext documents, and available online under Creative Commons 4.

  

Chapter 8, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.  Complied by Mike Garofalo.  

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu


English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index


Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index


Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices


Taoism: A Selected Reading List









The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life,” 2017, by Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh.

Tao: The Watercourse Way,” 1977, by Alan Watts and Al Chung-liang Huang.  Illustrated by Lee Chih-chang.  








Thursday, September 29, 2022

Naselle and Gray's Rivers, Washington

Walked along the nearby Benson beach for the last time on this September trip. 

Drizzling rain in the early morning.  Rain expected today at the coast and inland.   

Cleaned up my Yurt.  Backed up all my belongings in my Ford Escape.  
Breakfast at McDonald's in Long Beach.  Checked out by 8:15 am.  

Drive back to Longview from Ilwaco via Washington Highway 4.  Always and interesting and beautiful drive home.  3 hour drive from Ilwaco to Vancouver.  

Photos, notes, and information to follow later after 9/30.  


Naselle

 

Naselle:  Naselle River  Images   Store  Gas  Inland from the Columbia River.  The Naselle River flows into the south end of Willapa Bay

Naselle River  Images 

Naselle Library TRLS

Naselle is about six miles east of the junction of US101 and WA4.    Junction of US101 and WA4.  Johnston's Landing.  Along the wide Naselle River valley, and near the bridge over the Naselle River.  The Naselle River flows into the south end of Willapa Bay.  Parking near the bridge.  62 miles east of Exit 39/I5. 

Fort Columbia Historical State Park    South of Naselle

Megler-Astoria Bridge   South of Naselle 

Chinook Village

Junction of US101 and WA4.  Johnston's Landing.  Along the wide Naselle River valley, and near the bridge over the Naselle River. 
The Naselle River flows into the south end of Willapa Bay.  Parking near the bridge.  62 miles east of Exit 39/I5. 

Junction of WA4 and WA401.  Head south on WA401 if you want to get to the Ilwaco/Astoria Bridge. 

Return to Top Index

 


Skamokava

 

Skamokawa   Images   Population: 150 people.  Market. 

The road WA4 turns inland from Skamokawa most of the way to Naselle.  You will be driving through the forests of the Willapa Hills
Evidence of logging is everywhere. 

Vista Park   Kayaking  B&B Campground at Vista Park, yurts, boat ramp, playgrounds, yurts.

Skamokava Museum 

Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge   Images  Large refuge for deer.  Viewing Station.  Beautiful low areas inland.  Access to the shores of the Columbia River.  GMM 34.

Columbian White-Tailed Deer National Wildlife Refuge   Viewing Station. 

 

Gray's River     Images  

Gray's River Valley 

Gray's River Covered Bridge   Some beautiful small river valleys in these areas along WA4.  

Deep River    Images   Boat Launch 

Rosburg   Population 416    Store 

Four Days in Grayland by Michael P. Garofalo.  Travels in Southwestern Coastal Washington State. 

Return to Top Index

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Long Beach Peninsula, Washington

Raining today and into the night hours.  Cold!  

I visited the small and interesting museum in Ilwaco.  Drove over to Astoria and visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  

I was tired today, so I walked very little in the rain and cold.  Rested indoors while the first rain of the fall season rattled for hours on the canvas rooftop of my old Yurt #88.  

More information, reports,  and new photographs to follow when I return home to my computer on 9/30.  






The California Gulls and brown seagulls
gather by my parked car seeking a
food handout from me.  It feels like 30F
with gusty winds, intermittent drizzle.


A short drive northeast from Seaview is the 
southeast side of Willapa Bay.  Then on to the
Naselle River and bridge on US101.
Beautiful county in the Willapa Bay National
Wildlife Refuge.  






The Columbia River at Baker's Bay.
Rough river on an autumn day.












Nobody in the campground but me.





Seaview 

Seaview Information   South of Long Beach. 

42 Cafe and Bistro    Depot Restaurant

Sportsmens Cannery

Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and Information in Seaview

Seaview - Wikipedia

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail



Long Beach City

Long Beach   Population 1,390.  WB.  Long Beach 29 mile Peninsula with wide sandy beaches facing the Pacific. 

Long Beach WB   Images   Travel   Lodging, shops, restaurants, rentals.  Long Beach's 8 mile Discovery Bicycling Trail

Long Beach Peninsula     Images

Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and Information   Videos on Facebook

Long Beach Peninsula.  By Nancy L. Hobbs and Donella J. Lucero.  Arcadia, 2005, 130 pages.  History, photographs. 

Long Beach Travel Opportunities

Long Beach:  Cranberry Museum and Gift Shop

Shopping on the Long Beach Peninsula

Friends of the Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Food:  Benson's By the Beach   Breakfast     Lunch    Dinner   Crab Pot

Visitor Information     Tourist Information

Ocean Park Timberland Library

Long Beach - Chinook Indian People







Monday, September 26, 2022

Astoria, Oregon

Today, I traveled from Portland to Astoria via Oregon Highway 26, 47, and 202.  This route took me through the forested areas of the Clatsop State Forest.  There are few people living in this area of northwest Oregon.  

In Astoria, I visited the port area, Godfather's Books, and lunched at the Bridgewater Bistro.  There were many Asians walking around Astoria today because a huge Cruise Ship, the Ruby Princess, had docked in Astoria.  A cold, damp, and foggy day along the Columbia River.  

Then, over the bridge to Ilwaco, WA, and my campsite at Cape Disappointment State Park, Yurt 88.  






Astoria   Population 9,500   A small town with many tourist attractions.  There are many motels, restaurants, cafes, grocery, museums, theaters, historical sights, marina, docks, hospital, gas, stores, services, supplies. 

Clatsop County   Population 38,000   The Clatsop County Courthouse is in Astoria.  Astoria is the largest city in Clatsop County. 

Astoria Images  

"Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state of Oregon and was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.[7] The county is the northwest corner of Oregon, and Astoria is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean. The city is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor and entrepreneur from New York City, whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site and established a monopoly in the fur trade in the early nineteenth century. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.  he city is served by the deepwater Port of Astoria. Transportation includes the Astoria Regional AirportU.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 101 are the main highways, and the 4.1-mile (6.6 km) Astoria–Megler Bridge connects to neighboring Washington across the river."

Columbia River Maritime Museum

Museums in Astoria

Astoria Lodging

Fort Astoria (1811-1825) History

Astoria Food 

Astoria   History1    History2

Astoria Column Historical Tower

Charter Boat Services in Astoria 

Lower Columbia River: Astoria to Portland, Ilwaco to Vancouver

Long Beach Peninsula  

Lewis and Clark Historic Sites

Clatsop County, Oregon  Population 38,000 

Fort Clatsop  Camp of Lewis and Clark in the Winter of 1805.  Video: Winter Story

Fort Steven's State Park  A World War II military base defending the Columbia River. 

Northwest Coastal Oregon Travel Guide: Astoria to Cape Lookout.  By Mike Garofalo. 

Clatsop People

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Cannon Cane: Eight Immortals Chen Taijiquan Cane Routine II

 

Eight Immortals Taijiquan Cane
Cannon Cane, Routine Two
Based on the Chen Style of Taijiquan

Created and Taught by Master Jesse Tsao, PhD.

List of Postures, Movements, Forms 

Section I

1.  Opening Form

2.  Lazily Tying Coat

3.  Six-Seal and Four Close
4.  Single Whip
5.  Striking Left and Right
6.  Wrapping Head with the Cane
7.  Uppercuts Left and Right
8.  Grand Eagle Spreads Wings
9.  Embracing the Moon
10.  Cat Catches Rat
11.  Golden Rooster Standing on One Foot
12.  Whipping Sleeves and Slamming Cane
13.  Overturn the Ocean
 

Section II

14.  Dragon’s Tail Stirring Water
15.  Pinwheel Cane
16.  Fair Lady Works at Shuttles
17.  Batting a Home Run
18.  Ruthless Lord Holds Up Flag
 

Section III

19.  Strike Low and Strike High
20.  Dragon Descends into Ocean
21.  Dragon Emerges from Water
22.  Parry Left and Right
23.  Turn-Around Strike
24.  Dragon Swings Tail
25.  Head Smashing Cane
26.  Lock Front Door
 

Section IV 

27.  Black Bear Turns Around
28.  Lock Back Door
29.  Heart Thrusting Cane
30.  Waist Blocking Cane
31.  Crotch Striking Cane
32.  Head Striking Cane
33.  Dragon’s Head Up
34.  Dragon Coiling Around Pillar
35.  Wind Devil Cane
36.  Closing Form

 

Mastering Tai Chi Cane for Health and Self-Defense. By Jesse Tsao, PhD. Tai Chi Healthways, 2022, 225 pages.


Traditional Tai Chi Eight Immortals Cane, Routine 2 (Cannon Cane, Chen Style).  By Jesse Tsao, PhD.  Tai Chi Healthways, Instructional DVD 62 Minutes. 

Way of the Short Staff  By Michael P. Garofalo, M.S.  A comprehensive guide to the practice of the short staff, cane, jo, walking stick, gun, zhang, whip staff, 13 Hands Staff, and related wood short staff weapons.  A detailed and annotated guide, bibliography, lists of links, resources, instructional media, online videos, and lessons.  Includes use of the short staff and cane in martial arts, self-defense, walking and hiking.  Separate sections on Aikido Jo, Cane, Taijiquan cane and staff, Jodo, exercises with a short staff, selected quotations, techniques, selecting and purchasing a short staff, tips and suggestions, and a long section on the lore, legends, and Magick of the short staff.  Includes "Shifu Miao Zhang Points the Way."

 Cloud Hands Taijiquan, Valley Spirit Center, Fir Grove, Vancouver, Washington.  List by Michael P. Garofalo, September 24, 2022. 










Eight Immortals Taijiquan Cannon Cane Routine

1.  Opening Form  Section 1

2.  Lazily Tying Coat

3.  Six-Seal and Four Close
4.  Single Whip
5.  Striking Left and Right
6.  Wrapping Head with the Cane
7.  Uppercuts Left and Right
8.  Grand Eagle Spreads Wings
9.  Embracing the Moon
10.  Cat Catches Rat
11.  Golden Rooster Standing on One Foot
12.  Whipping Sleeves and Slamming Cane
13.  Overturn the Ocean

14.  Dragon’s Tail Stirring Water  Section 2
15.  Pinwheel Cane
16.  Fair Lady Works at Shuttles
17.  Batting a Home Run
18.  Ruthless Lord Holds Up Flag

19.  Strike Low and Strike High  Section 3
20.  Dragon Descends into Ocean
21.  Dragon Emerges from Water
22.  Parry Left and Right
23.  Turn-Around Strike
24.  Dragon Swings Tail
25.  Head Smashing Cane
26.  Lock Front Door

27.  Black Bear Turns Around  Section 4
28.  Lock Back Door
29.  Heart Thrusting Cane
30.  Waist Blocking Cane
31.  Crotch Striking Cane
32.  Head Striking Cane
33.  Dragon’s Head Up
34.  Dragon Coiling Around Pillar
35.  Wind Devil Cane
36.  Closing Form

 


Friday, September 23, 2022

Autumn Equinox Celebration

Repost from 9/23/2011!

The Autumn Equinox occurs today, Friday, September 23, at 2:05 am (PDT).  Today is the first day of the Fall season.  In Red Bluff, California we are expecting a low today of 63F and a high of 102F.  

Today is one of the Eight High Days for celebration or feasting by Neopagans around the world, and the day is variously named: Welsh Mabon, Late Summer Harvest Feast, Autumnal Equinox, Alban Elfed, Harvest Home, Second Harvest Festival, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Tide, Witch's Thanksgiving, Night of the Hunter, Apple Festival, High Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone, September 21st - 23rd, September Celebrations, NeoPagan Thanksgiving, Winter Finding (Teutonic), Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Wine Festival, Winter Nights, Zhong Qiu Jie (Moon Festival).  Check out my webpage on the subject of Mabon.  

Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon.   By Ellen Dugan.  Woodbury, Minnesota, Llewellyn Pubs., 2005.  Bibliography, index, 208 pages.  ISBN: 0738706248.  VSCL.  A very informative book on the subject.  




This morning, at 5:30 am, I lit a fire our Sacred Circle Garden.  I sipped Irish coffee (a tip of the hat to John Barleycorn's gift to us).  I meditated.  I opened the Circle and called the Quarters, made some offerings, and called on spirits for healing support.  The element of Water, Autumn, aging, intuition, Demeter, waning of the year, the Crone, feelings and emotions were the themes.  After sunrise, I read Druid and Taoist books and scriptures, and made some notes.  I did my daily Tarot reading.  I enjoyed playing Taijiquan and Qigong.  I listened to an MP3 recording from the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids during the day.  

I am a NeoPagan and borrow from modern Druid and ancient Taoist practices, legends and ideas to acknowledge and celebrate our many gifts from the Tao, Mother Earth, the Goddesses/Gods, our Ancestors, and the Nature Spirits.  I am mostly a solitary Druid/Taoist.  My temple is my home garden.  I have ample reasons for gratitude, respect, reverence, awe, and inspiration.  What I believe has more to do with mysticism, creativity, vitality, and beauty than any fixed set of religious doctrines or dogmas. 




Our Gushen Grove Sacred Circle Garden is used for outdoor fireplace activities, relaxing during the cooler hours of the day, and for meditation and rituals.  The blue pole, set in the west side of the garden, was the place for a Mabon altar.  The blue ceramic pot in front of the blue pole is filled to the brim with water.




Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Mind Writing Slogans, Part II, by Allen Ginsberg

   II Path (Method, Or Recognition)
 
1.  "No ideas but in things." "... No ideas but in the Facts." — William Carlos Williams
2.  "Close to the nose." — William Carlos Williams
3.  "Sight is where the eye hits." — Louis Zukofsky
4.  "Clamp the mind down on objects." — William Carlos Williams
5.  "Direct treatment of the thing ... (or object)." — Ezra Pound, 1912
6.  "Presentation, not reference." — Ezra Pound
7.  "Give me a for instance." — Vernacular
8.  "Show not tell." — Vernacular
9.  "The natural object is always the adequate symbol." — Ezra Pound
10.  "Things are symbols of themselves." — Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
11.  "Labor well the minute particulars, take care of the little ones.
      He who would do good for another must do it in minute particulars.
      General Good is the plea of the Scoundrel Hypocrite and Flatterer
      For Art & Science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars." — William Blake
12.  "And being old she put a skin / on everything she said." — W. B. Yeats
13.  "Don’t think of words when you stop but to see the picture better." — Jack Kerouac
14.  "Details are the Life of Prose." — Jack Kerouac
15.  "Intense fragments of spoken idiom best." — Allen Ginsberg
16.  "Economy of Words" — Ezra Pound
17.  "Tailoring" — Gregory Corso
18.  "Maximum information, minimum number of syllables." ─ Allen Ginsberg
19.  "
Syntax condensed, sound is solid." — Allen Ginsberg
20.  "Savor vowels, appreciate consonants." — Allen Ginsberg 
21.  "Compose in the sequence of musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome." — Ezra Pound
22.  "... awareness ... of the tone leading of the vowels." — Ezra Pound
23.  "... an attempt to approximate classical quantitative meters . . . — Ezra Pound
24.  "Lower limit speech, upper limit song" — Louis Zukofsky
25.  "Phanopoeia, Melopoeia, Logopoeia." — Ezra Pound 
26.  "Sight, Sound and Intellect." — Louis Zukofsky
27.  "Only emotion objectified endures." — Louis Zukofsky

Mind Writing Slogans, Part II, compiled by Alllen Ginsberg, 1926-1997. 

Allen Ginsberg. "Mind Writing Slogans," copyright © 1993 by Allen Ginsberg, in
What Book: Buddha Poems From Beat To Hiphop
, Gary Gach, ed., copyright © 1998, Parallax Press.]





Friday, September 16, 2022

Science and Spirituality

I highly recommend the very well written books by Chet Raymo.  Outstanding reflections on science, life, spirituality "religious naturalism", and history.  His writing style is engaging, enlightening, and full of scientific insights.  

Like me, he was educated in a Catholic High School.  He attended Notre Dame University to study physics.  His views on "religion" are close to my own, i.e., pantheism, immanence, animism, wonder, mystery, beauty, scientific knowledge, skepticism.  A philosopher's spirituality!

When God is Gone, Everything is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist.  By Chet Raymo. I read this book in 2016 and again this week in 2022. VSCL.

Honey From Stone: A Naturalist's Search for God.  2005, 205 pages. VSCL.

The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe.  2003, 203 pages.  VSCL.

Other fine books by Chet Raymo

The Sacred Depths of Nature.  By Ursula Goodenough.  Oxford, 1998, 224 pages.  VSCL.

VSCL = Valley Spirit Center Library.  Purchased for my home library in Vancouver, Washington.  




 

"Chet Raymo (born September 17, 1936 in ChattanoogaTennessee) is a noted writer, educator and naturalist. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts. His weekly newspaper column Science Musings appeared in the Boston Globe for twenty years. This is now a daily blog by him. Raymo espouses his Religious Naturalism in When God is Gone Everything is Holy – The Making of a Religious Naturalist and frequently in his blog. As Raymo says – "I attend to this infinitely mysterious world with reverence, awe, thanksgiving, praise. All religious qualities." [1] Raymo has been a contributor to The Notre Dame Magazine[2] and Scientific American.[3]

His most famous book is the novel entitled The Dork of Cork, which was made into the feature-length film Frankie Starlight. Raymo is also the author of Walking Zero, a scientific and historical account of his wanderings along the Prime Meridian in Great Britain. Raymo was the recipient of the 1998 Lannan Literary Award for his non-fiction work.

Raymo espouses a scientific skepticism for his beliefs:

"For the Religious Naturalist, darkness and silence are not the paradox, they are the resolution. The apophatic tradition ends in effective negation (God is not this, God is not that, God is not). Not only do we fall silent in the face of the Word, the Word itself dissolves into silence. We too walk a fine line; not between skepticism and faith, but between skepticism and cynicism. We try to stay firmly on the side of skepticism, open to whatever winds of wisdom blow our way, and as for knowledge of the world, we cherish the scientific way of knowing -– tentative, partial, evolving".[4]
- Wikipedia