The Unclad Soul

War is a bloody, filthy business. It’s a deadly enterprise and mostly wasteful. I think of some lines from the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus: “They sent forth men to battle, But no such men return; And home, to claim their welcome, Come ashes in an urn.” We hide that reality, really well. We hide it in flags and snappy uniforms, in patriotic songs and cheering parades. The dead don’t see or hear any it. They are buried and forgotten because what is promoted and endlessly exhibited before us are the supersonic bombers, the giant warships, the sleek nuclear missiles that promise our protection. Our soldiers are strewn across a battlefield of gross cynicism and lethal greed created by what must be completely soulless politicians, warmongers, psychopaths, killers, puffed up blowhards, and scandalous hustlers who pay our soldiers pennies, use and waste them, and leave them broken, ravished, and demolished. And we celebrate these atrocities as patriotic? It’s all...

It is becoming more and more clear every day, for those who didn’t see it the first day, that President Trump is an unruly and unprincipled leader. He may have a good side buried somewhere beneath the outer impenetrable layer of bravado that defines him. But so far it has not surfaced in any meaningful way. I know people, friends and acquaintances, who still support and like him. And I try not to talk about the president with them. We simply see things much differently. I have among my Facebook friends some who have no real issue with Mr. Trump. People who voted for him and will probably vote for him again. I try to be aware of them when I write because in the past I have often been insensitive to those who don’t agree with me about the president. But whatever good his supporters believe he has accomplished or wants to achieve, I cannot help but think they, too, see the obvious flaws in president Trump. We all have them. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Carter and all the...

Steinbeck once said he was born lost and had no interest in being found. I think I understand that comment. I feel that way at times. Well, in the sense that it’s nice now and then to mentally, and if possible, physically, get lost and leave the chaos and the absurdity of the nonsense around us. The moral and social fabric of our country is in alarming need of repair. One can only stand staring at it for so long before panic sets in and the ground opens up in some yawning gloom of darkness. I picked up an acorn cap the other day while walking. You know that little textured hat that sits on an acorn? They are elaborately constructed if you take the time to look at them. And they all fit so perfectly on top of the acorn. It’s quite a tiny miracle when you realize that the acorn produces an oak tree. The ancient mystics wrote, “Seeing the small is insight.” What could we learn from that? We live in an obsession with bigness. Everything is bigger in Texas, we say. Why ...

Kant, the brilliant German philosopher, wrote, “Wisdom is organized life.” That is genius. And that is what we are missing today; organized life. Well, genius, too. Everything is a mess. Our president. Congress. Religion. Education. The economy. The environment. It’s all a disorganized, sloppy jumble of ideas and chaotic priorities. And our own lives reel in the confusion. We lack wisdom. We are missing any real guiding principles. What do we represent as a people, as a nation, other than angry personal divisions, a shallow obsession with materialism, empty religion, and a contorted political system that only works for affluent, well-connected individuals and corporations? Our major social platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter can be places of real connection, family photos, invites to fun events, cute videos of pets, helpful news and interesting pieces of art, essays, and great music. But too often these are also places of vitriol, rage, bullying, bigo...

War. What are we doing still fighting wars into the 21 st century? In WWI, 6 million soldiers and civilians were killed. In WWII, the numbers soared to an estimated 50 to 55 million people. During WWII, 6 million Jews were murdered in the Nazi death camps. In the Vietnam War, more than 5 million North and South Vietnamese civilians were killed. Approximately 250,000 Vietnamese soldiers died. America lost 58,220 soldiers. In the War in Iraq, 4,486 U.S. soldiers died and so far, 2,345 have died in Afghanistan. More than 1 million soldiers were wounded in both wars. Those wars cost America 6 trillion dollars. And in spite of the carnage, Iraq remains entangled in a civil war and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan are still undefeated. Without even listing the statistics of the fighting in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Palestine, and other places, one begins to wonder what has war accomplished? Japan was bombed into submission with the Hydrogen Bomb and Hitler and the Nazis were ...

There is this from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” (There is a long pause.) “Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. “No, I give up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?” “I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter . And so, there you have it. My dilemma. I’m trying to figure out what happened to us as a nation. It’s a riddle I can’t answer. I haven’t the slightest idea. There are possible answers, I suppose. We got too big. We overachieved. We mixed religion with politics and politics took over religion. We became insanely selfish. We forgot our neighbors. We learned to hate more than we learned to love. We confined ourselves to our own kind and decided “others” were our enemies. We stopped thinking. We stopped caring. We stopped growing. The list is pretty much endless. So here we are. A nation in crisis. We’re surrounded by the greatest gadgets and devices and pla...

I am a Netflix and Amazon Prime fanatic. There are so many good series on these streaming platforms. I have written about some of them here before. I recently started watching “Mozart in the Jungle,” an Amazon Prime series and a Golden Globe winner. It is in its fourth season and I have watched from the beginning. I’m now into season 3. And I’m totally captivated. The show is about relationships, ambition, failure, jealousy, and of course, music, and a passion for life, all set around a New York City symphony. The characters are smart, talented, zany, conflicted, and charming. A retiring and testy maestro, (Malcomb McDowell), is replaced by the young Rodrigo, a Mexican genius and a playful eccentric. Played by Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo gives the series a magical energy and joy that fits perfectly with the other talented actors. Early in the series, Hailey Rutledge (the loveable Lola Kirke), a sweet twentysomething oboist trying to earn a spot in the symphony, is aske...