Perspectives, Stories & Beautifuls

Stories of, reflections on, and practices around expanding consciousness

Justin Stokes Justin Stokes

On Music and Collective Consciousness

As a musician, it is a true privilege to stand on stage and watch a crowd of disparate individuals lost to the common, inclusive vitality that music offers; to observe people transcend themselves, united by that innate spiritual sameness that is buried beneath the condition of identity.

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Justin Stokes Justin Stokes

Schrodinger: How conscious is the cat?

Erwin Schrodinger was invited to deliver the Tarner Lecture at Cambridge University. His topic was not quantum mechanics. Instead, he delivered a lecture entitled the Physical Basis of Consciousness

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Justin Stokes Justin Stokes

Calligraphy & Collective Presence 

Two hundred people are gathered for the U.S. opening of Thich Nhat Hahn’s Calligraphy exhibit. Thay, as his followers affectionately call him, is accompanied by 25 fellow monks.

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Justin Stokes Justin Stokes

Barnstorming

The old wooden barn serves as a performance hall and gathering space on the campus. Wooden floors, wooden walls, high rafter ceilings and big windows for the early summer sunshine. Youth from around the state has gathered for a three day retreat on the topic of diversity, inclusiveness and social progress.

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Beautifuls

Some things that are beautiful and difficult to categorize…


The Perfect Garden, Kanazawa Japan

The Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa is considered to be one of Japan’s most beautiful gardens. It integrates all six elements of a perfect garden, as defined by the ancient Chinese book of gardens: spaciousness, seclusion, panoramas, watercourses, artifice, antiquity.  Grouped in complementary pairs, these six elements illustrate three primary tensions in the human experience: space, perspective, and creation.

The three tensions of a perfect garden:

  1. Space: Seclusion <> Spaciousness 

  2. Perspective: Watercourses <> Panoramas

  3. Creation: Antiquity <> Artifice

What can the design and experience of a garden teach us about cultivating consciousness in ourselves and each other?


Root Systems Drawings

Wageningen University has a publicly available library of drawings of root systems of trees. They are organised by scientific name and captivating.