Steve, Author at Firefly Horizons Under Hummingbird Skies

Practicing Eternity

April 30, 2022 By Steve Leave a Comment

“…time passes more quickly than man is able to live, and that life is terrible, because everything in it is necessarily doomed to extinction…”

— Milan Kundera “Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead”

(Hear Steve’s Audio file for this Blog 6:14)

Contrary to prevailing beliefs, becoming a sage or a doyenne is not a goal or aspiration, it is a phenomenon. If we seek it we will not find it, if we lay claim to it, we lose it. For if you were to arrive there, castaway by the tempest of life, you would find it a journey in the abstract; a place not found on any map; a still point in time; perhaps a quantum of eternity.

Proof of Life

March 18, 2022 By Steve Leave a Comment

Palingenesis (/ˌpælɪnˈdʒɛnəsɪs/) From the Greek palin, meaning ‘again’, and genesis, meaning ‘birth’. It represents the concept of rebirth or re-creation; a new beginning; to begin again.

(Hear Steve’s Audio file for this Blog 6:07)

“Is it over yet?”

“How about now?”

“Has it been satiated?”

The absurd quality of hope is still cast across the landscape of my mind, ever active, ceaselessly in search of that thing which it has yet to find. It continues to ripen in silence, leaving a modest impermanence which prompts my gaze. As Bono would say, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Perhaps I am a bit closer though. I suppose I am always getting closer.

The Fractured Mind

December 15, 2019 By Steve 3 Comments

(Hear Steve’s Audio file for this Blog 7:07)

“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti

Knowledge is spectrum and if you can accept that, then truth is spectrum. Those who love wisdom accept this, while those who love orthodoxy cannot. Borrowing loosely from Clare Graves’ “Spiral Dynamics,” all things build upon themselves. For example, when the molecule was discovered it was a truth, but when the atom that made up the molecule was discovered, it did not make the molecule an untruth. Imagine if those that followed the truth of molecules wanted to censor the discovery of the atom? We would hold an astonishment to the profanity of their fervor!

Steven in the Wild

May 4, 2019 By Steve 2 Comments

The Reunion of Body and Mind

(Hear Steve’s Audio file for this Blog 8:09)

“It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” – Atticus Finch “To Kill a Mockingbird”

I can now add activity to my words as I step out into the sunlight and fresh air. My bicycle awaits me with the eagerness of a lover anticipating her soulmates return. Here I reunite the free mind and captive body through consolidated renewal. The wind is back in my hair.

As I reflect on these past days, I realize how quickly life engulfed me as my beloveds whisked me away to a celebration of the fatted calf… in this case, Midwestern beef. It now feels strangely like a dream, as if I was never there, but I was. Denied the opportunity for a shower and wearing the clothes from the day I entered the gated community, I was nevertheless embraced by my escorts on 25 April, my birthday… a poetic irony, perhaps more so, poetic justice… for while the judge and my ex-spouse intended to retain me, I received my early release from an unanticipated authority in this drama. The first of May held no vigil for me.

Steven in the Blind Trilogy 3/3

April 27, 2019 By Steve Leave a Comment

With Malice Toward One…

(Audio file 10:39 Written and narrated by Steve Thomas)
This is an audio recording of Steve’s remote phone-in

“When thought is closed in caves
then love shall show its roots in deepest hell.“
– William Blake

I hear the whistle of a locomotive in the distance and open my resting eyes of contemplation. The whistle informs me that the world is still in motion out there. My morning nurse stops at my corner office with her offering of allergy and anti-inflammatory capsules. “Good morning, Sonya,” I say with a smile as I leap up to greet her. “Good morning,” she says with a cheerful countenance. “Have you put in for your ‘good time’ early release yet?” “Yes, I did,” I responded, holding firmly to my smile. I have demonstrated good behavior all my life, but have rarely been awarded for it, especially from small minds. “You’re going to get an early release,” she said reassuringly with a knowing smile, almost as if she could read the doubt on my face. Such is the tone and tenor of many who have come to know me at Hotel PottCo. If only it were up to those who witness me. My hours of precious solitude and contemplation have sorted out the article of injustice in my Mind Garden. I hold the court in contempt.

Steven in the Blind Trilogy 2/3

April 20, 2019 By Steve 2 Comments

The Equanimity of Choice

(Audio file 8:02 Written and narrated by Steve Thomas)
Because this is a recording of the remote phone call from Steve, sound quality has been diminished.
We invite to listen to his voice and follow along with the words written below.

The coffee is hot this morning. I hazard a cup with the cows 2% contribution. I hold my breath so as not to corrupt the aroma with the mugs industrial odor. “Ahhhh, taste like the trail coffee on our Boy Scout expeditions.” The breakfast tray of “mourning,” without the hard-boiled egg, looks like a second-grade science project. This is the kind of food that sustains you in the short-term but kills you in the long-term. Such is my present state, working in a peasants office performing the duties of a serf.

This is Steven in the Blind writing to you from a remote location in exile with both a resilient mind and a steely heart. Lest I seem boastful; I ask you to bear witness to my claims as you join me in today’s post. I am frothing for a challenging discourse.

Steve

About Steve

The Reunion of Body and Mind

With Malice Toward One…

The Equanimity of Choice