Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Journaling and oracle consultation can be empowering and developmental. The unconscious person usually requires tragic shocks to learn and to punctuate his stagnant equilibrium. But the conscious person can learn through the subtle shocks provided by oracles, dreams, synchronicities and intuitions. Never underestimate journal writing as a powerful practice and form of inner journey. Among…

You can’t see clearly while you are off balance. Don’t make long-term choices until you have regained a calm, clear center. Don’t take actions of great consequence while in a state of agitation or inner chaos. Wait for clarity to return.

Pick your target and hit it, and if you can’t hit it straight off, keep moving toward it. We live in the most distraction-intensive period of human history, but there are some times when we need focus and determination. This is a propitious time to bring unbending intent to your highest value endeavors.

Be alert to the value of the unexpected and make use of accidents creatively. Accidental art is art formed by serendipity, and possibly synchronicity, out of seemingly random objects found on sidewalks, torn ad posters that accidentally collage themselves with other layers of ad posters beneath them, etc. Some artists are “accident takers” — they…

Sometimes you may find your mission in the world mundane. A centering question of almost universal application is to ask yourself, “What’s the best use of my time right now?” The answer might be the highest value activities, but it might also be to relax and do nothing, and quite often it will be some…

You have drawn the Joker or Wild Card. I took this picture when I arrived around June 21 at the 2003 Utah National Rainbow Gathering and was shocked and dismayed to find that freak weather had brought a massive snowstorm. Many left. I stayed and soon the snow melted, the weather was beautiful and summery…

Beware the Military/Industrial/Fundamentalist Religion Complex. If you put your faith in patriarchal systems, your spirit may sink like a rock in polluted waters. Obviously, if you are using an oracle like this, you probably don’t have much faith in such systems anyway. But the danger they can generate still surrounds us. As Yeats wrote in…

“Yesterday is ashes. Tomorrow wood; Only today the fire burns brightly.” — Native American saying What you have to work with in the present may seem weird, unexpected, incomplete, but those are just ego judgments. Your job is always to work with what is present in the moment, whatever it is. Engage what the moment…

Memory is shadowy, but sometimes it holds the seeds of new life. Conscious reflection on the past can deepen the soul and even provide revelations of great value for the present and future. On the other hand, returning to the past obsessively out of emotional addiction can be a massive, massive draining of vitality needed…

Decay is natural. Let what is obsolescent in your life, what no longer serves, fall away. Decay is necessary for new life.