music of the mind.

Recently, two incredibly talented people joined forces and created something amazing. A neuroscientist and a composer worked together to create music and poetry that expresses the mystery and miracle of the human mind. The resulting art is truly amazing: its layers express such beauty and intensity. You can close your eyes and visualize brain cells interacting and bringing thought to life. In the harmonies you can begin to imagine the complex process of a sea experience becoming images and words. It's a celebration of humanity -- a celebration of the miracle that is consciousness. It's about everything that makes us uniquely human. The ability to imagine. To become. To shape thoughts and futures.

One of the lines of poetry reads: "Once minds began blooming, nothing was ever the same." I love this image, the idea of the mind blooming, like a plant opening to life and possibility. And suddenly the entire landscape was changed. There are so many miraculous things that happen every day that we take for granted... especially within the worlds of our own bodies. This artwork reminded me of this whole complicated world that exists within my skull and makes me who I am. Listening to this music and imagining the intricacies of the mind, I am completely in awe of this vast mystery that is life.

We so often see art and science as separate and even competing fields, but this is a great misconception. Both the arts and sciences search for and express truth and mystery. Art is not just about feeling, and science isn't just about reason. Both are this incredible mixture of reason and feeling. Both are about a passion for discovery and creativity. Both are significant. Both make us human. One is not to be valued over the other. Artists and Scientists are not in opposition with one another. Both are in the business of expressing and revealing life's beauty. I think this collaboration that represents the music of the human mind is proof that science and art are deeply connected, and intimately intertwined in the most wonderful way.

To hear the music and hear the whole story, follow this link to NPR's website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103713700

Happy listening.

new obsession.

I have a new obsession: a Canadian worship folk duo. These songs are so beautiful, and her voice is AMAZING. It's worship in its purest form. In short, I love Jacob and Lily. And I want you to love them, too:





beautiful.

hello again.

Okay, I know. It’s the oldest story in the blogger book. I started a blog and in all the excitement started with at least weekly postings; soon, these began to dwindle to a more irregular bi-monthly posting… and then April came, the end of the semester craziness began, and suddenly it was mid-June and there wasn’t so much as a word of update on my blog page.

Well, I’ve decided to resurrect my very sad and neglected blog. Mainly because life is full of beauty, chaos and general absurdity, that too often it goes unnoted and unnoticed. Blogs are this great place where we can jot down our thoughts and observations to share with each other, and to look back on later. The poet John Ashbery once observed, “What is beautiful seems so only in relation to a specific life, experienced or not, channeled into some form…” I think that blogging has to do with this urge to offer some bit of beauty to the world by putting our lives into a kind of form and offering it to others. Little snapshots of a life experienced.

I must admit, my desire to return to this world of internet sharing also has to do with the fact that I am coming to point of huge changes in my life. In May, I got engaged to the love of my life. Getting to spend my life with him is the biggest blessing I can imagine. Not only because he is a wonderful person, but because he helps me see things in new ways. Having a partner in the journey makes the landscape so much more beautiful. We also made the decision to move together to Berkeley, California (right across the Bay from San Francisco). I will be transferring to the Pacific School of Religion to finish my Masters of Divinity and Kyle will be attending the Graduate Theological Union to begin his PhD work. This means packing up and moving across the country, beginning the job search once again, finding new friends and new ministry opportunities—building a new life together. It is scary and incredibly exciting all at the same time.

Anyway, I’m back and I’m going to try to make regular updates. In honor of this momentous (not-so-much) occasion, I would like to celebrate with the creepy old man who loves the 30 rock theme song. He’s the best.