Epiphany

Happy New Year 2014. That is my wish for all living beings in whatever form peace and  happiness is attainable.

My 1200th and last piece of The Practical Humanist on Blogger will be posted on January 7th, 2014, one day after the Christian celebration of Epiphany, which marks the Biblical visit of the Magi (symbols of gentiles as defined by the Old Testament) to the Baby Jesus. I will continue to post daily on my Facebook page for The Practical Humanist.

Doing research on the current world of Web publishing has been somewhat humbling. I have come to find out that Blogger is considered de classe by the young and haughty. This is the way of things in an ageist society. Blogger, after all, is getting old in the time reference of the Cyber Age. For writers like myself, who started using Blogger some years ago, it has provided a wonderful free platform for our expression. I do not consider the fostering of intelligent free speech de classe wherever it may occur. That's just me.

This morning I heard an interesting segment on NPR. The segment began with the coverage of a new alarm clock, developed by Chicago techies. The alarm clock will wake you with your bank balance and the number of days you are expected to live, calculated by information the user programs in. This information is intended by the inventors to be stimuli for living life to its fullest. Really? A discussion about reality consciousness followed. A mental health researcher states that too much reality consciousness can be a symptom of depression. Really? This gentleman seemed to think that there must be a great recipe for zoning out on psychiatric drugs and zoning in on reality when necessary...perhaps when your alarm clock tells you that you have two days left to live.

This practical humanist wakes up each day to stories like this one on my local NPR station. My creaky joints remind me that I don't have oodles of time left to live as I toddle my way to the john. While there, I spend very little time thinking about my bank balance. I do wonder if my bladder is actually emptying. How's that for reality? And, strangely enough I am not depressed by any of this. I don't take antidepressants, unless you count the two subsequent cups of high-octane French Roast. I do practice being a realistic and ethical human being who is mortal.

I resolve to continue my personal practice in the upcoming year. I am looking forward to the challenge of reshaping my expression of my practice with a change in media. I hope to draw more and write fewer words. Drawing, even in awkward Microsoft Paint, brings me joy. Fewer words can often encourage more thought and action.