Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze. – Carl Sagan The human collective has in the last several years transitioned into a new stage of its birth process. I will draw from Stanislav Grof’s concept of perinatal matrices, a four-stage description of the psychodynamics of birth. Stage 1 is Uterine

A friend wrote me about her dilemma. She owns a company employing hundreds of people and is a staunch critic of that-which-shall-not-be-named. She said she has been trying to fly under the radar until sanity is restored, but with looming mandates for large employers, the radar will soon turn on her. What will she do?

All right everyone, I said was going to expand beyond formal essays here on Substack, so here are some reflections on things I’ve been reading, hearing, and watching. To continue reading, please visit my Substack.

Let’s say I’m addicted to prescription pain-killers. You are my concerned friend. “Charles,” you say, “you’ve really got to get off this medication. It’s ruining your health, and someday you’re likely to OD.” To continue reading, please visit my Substack.

Moving Beyond Redemptive Violence This essay is the final installment of a series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 3.5 The purpose of this essay series is to illuminate a path toward the transcendence of the ancient pattern that Rene Girard called sacrificial violence, in which society discharges its rage, its anxiety, and its

Part 3-and-a-half of the Girard series Note to readers: This material didn’t quite fit into Parts 1, 2, or 3, but it has some relevant ideas and sets up Part 4, which is about the transcendence of the scapegoating pattern. Sacrificial victims are proxies for disorder, pollution, and evil. In normal times they come from