Category Archives: eThoughts
eThoughts : Perfection
Speaking about psychology running through it: How is it that humans get so caught up in either the pursuit or avoidance of perfection? I find it interesting that we base much of our worthiness on perfection. We are less than because we are not royalty, or president, or stars, or billionaires, or parents, or married, […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 19, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : April 1, 2009: Psychology Runs Through It
For those of you (such as Tom Cruise) ready to leap on the title as a product of a mental disorder, I’m not suggesting that psychology is really God. I’m suggesting that in any human endeavor that aspires to ascertain, create, or attach meaning, psychology is involved. Heck, even fact finding is about psychology, […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 01, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Passion and Commitment
Besides the role of intimacy in interpersonal relationships, passion and commitment are considered by many to round out the best of relationships. Keep in mind that these big three are not meant to have a static relationship, rather that the three interact in such a way that sometimes intimacy is the lead, at other points […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 21, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : March 1, 2009: Intimacy
Let’s start with a human relationship definition and not a completely dictionary one: Deep intimacy is the sharing, acceptance, and growth (declines can lead to growth in truly intimate relationships) between two or more people of all things personal, including strengths and vulnerabilities. This definition is not just about the individuals involved, but includes the […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 01, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Psychology and the Economy: A Psychological Stimulus Package?
Recently I had a discussion with a woman who has a client—an author—interested in discussing, via the radio, the rise of unemployment during this economic crisis. My input was that unsought unemployment was the psychological equivalent of abandonment and associated with feelings of suffering, scarcity, and helplessness. This is especially true of midlife humans in […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 22, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : February 1, 2009: Psychology, Rhetoric, and Grace: Prayer and the Presidential Inauguration
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States is complete. The legacy is anything but. The amount of work the world, the nation, and this man have to do is monumental. What is likely to make the task really difficult is that despite the enormous problems we all recognize, few […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 01, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Big Things
Okay, the previous post aside, let’s face it, sometimes it feels good to feel bad. And sometimes it feels good to create the bad—in big bold strokes. Think Revelations in the Christian bible. And no, don’t send your cards and letters to me, I’m not disparaging anyone, I’m thinking about how we manifest our craziness […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 18, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : January 1, 2009: The Little Things
I recently went to see the movie Seven Pounds, with Will Smith. I liked the movie though I saw the potential to add to the human karma-drama and the need for an epic reconciliation of bad deeds with good ones. I see nothing wrong with doing good, but I suspect that the human propensity to […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2009
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : More Holiday Cheer?
All right, we’ve got this party started I think. Let’s push the envelope of cheer and see what we come up with. It’s called play, folks—and I think we need some of that. Let’s practice something in the spirit of play—not doing what we usually do. Let’s upset the expectation apple cart. I’m not going […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 23, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : December 1, 2008: Holiday Thoughts
This ought to be an interesting holiday season. The economy is somewhere in the tank with no obvious sign of recovery. War still wages. Belief is more powerful than ever, holding reign over other ways of creating and apprehending reality. It’s a slippery slope and gaining momentum—one foot is on the banana peel and the […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Gaining Wisdom: Checking Belief and Truth With Reality
Both belief and truth are potential tyrannies. Witness California’s passage of Proposition 8 defining marriage as that between a man and a woman. A group of people—homosexuals—are denied marriage. How about the laws, passed by a majority, that governed the interaction of blacks and whites—or not as the case actually was. Separate facilities, no intermingling—including […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 17, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : November 15, 2008: Truth, Belief, and Wisdom
After the fiasco of the majority vote for California’s Prop 8—the one that defines marriage as between a man and a woman—I think it time to point a finger at belief. Before heading out on this musing, I think it may behoove us to go over philosophy’s basic tests of truth. The first one I’ll […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 15, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Helping All of Us
Lots of rhetoric in the previous post—almost like I was running for office. I’m not. I am interested in all of us being well. And I’m interested in that for very selfish reasons—I literally function better when all of us are happy. Want to know why we are so much better at enduring misery rather […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 05, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : November 1, 2008: Election Time
Sometime back, before the primaries, I wrote in one of these posts about my support of Barack Obama. I also noted at various other times, both before and after that post, about my take on politicians. I’m staying with Obama and I’m staying with my take on politicians. The kind of person it will take […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The End of Crucifixions
And while I’m at it the principle of paying attention per my previous blog… The entire point of the crucifixion was for that kind of cruelty to cease. However, we still nail ourselves and each other to the cross on a regular basis. We engage in suffering as though the scar of it is a […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 29, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : October 1, 2008 The Lazy Mind
Some days, some weeks, some months, some years, likely some lifetimes, some of us don’t feel like doing anything more energetic than powering our basic respiration. Struggling against the odds may be the stuff of movies, but as a way of life, it can just suck. It’s easy to fall into lazy mind—in fact when […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Purgatorio and Presidential Elections
I do not like the politics of hate, or of dislike, or of ego-epics. When hate is so generalized, it cannot serve the truth, it can only be self-serving. Is there any religious group that is unilaterally evil? Is there any political party that is unilaterally evil? And so on. Generalities are fine in some […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 18, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : September 1, 2008: Purgatorians
Traveling, as I said in the last post, is, among other things, about learning the art of saying hello and the art of saying goodbye. This is a valuable learning for Purgatorians, especially those with that darn helper gene, when it comes to the latter art of saying goodbye. All right, stay with me through […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : More about Wanderlust
I celebrated my 25th birthday at the base of the Matterhorn that summer of 1972. I told no one and it was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. It had been a journey to get there. I had eschewed a business, a marriage, and college. I knew that I needed to get out […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 02, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : August 1, 2008: Wanderlust Begins Again: Random Musings Before a Journey
Vacations are important, but getting ready to leave the home fires and returning to see if all is well can be very taxing—that to-do list can be quite an alpha in one’s life. However, this particular vacation is significant as I’ve not been back to Europe since my wandering days, during which I spent about […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Vulnerability, Part II
Vulnerability is an interesting polarizing force. And no matter how hard we try, we can mitigate the circumstances sometimes, but we cannot become invulnerable. However, that doesn’t stop us from trying. And in the name of preventing or protecting vulnerability, we have created a lot of human woes. One of the worst woes is the […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 21, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : July 1, 2008: Vulnerability, Part I
Okay, I could write about a lot of contemporary things like the credit crunch, the collapsing housing market, gasoline prices, global warming, the presidential election, etc. (note to the sarcastic ones out there: I didn’t say I could write about them well, I just said write). But a lot of people, and competent ones at […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Communion and Crucifixion
When my mother passed away in February of 2002 and my third love and I went our separate ways, I wrote Renewal as a way to heal. Renewal, however, was a hard time coming, so I took up writing some more—now listed as eThoughts on my website (travisgibbs.com for those of you that may not […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 24, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : June 1, 2008: Ben Stein’s Movie
I recently saw Ben Stein’s movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which was at times an annoying blend of Al Gore’s and Michael Moore’s movie styles. Though I think the subject of creationism, intelligent design, Darwinism, and evolution is an important subject and should be on the discussion table, I just don’t think the proper variables […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Our Yes and Our No, Part II
And then there’s the issue of affirmation, saying and hearing yes. As you might have guessed, there might be some potholes in this road as well. While we can spend a lot of time closing in on ourselves and others by saying no, saying yes on the other hand can be seen as an expansion, […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 15, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : May 1, 2008: Our Yes and Our No, Part I
I’ve been reading and thinking a bit about 1968. There is no question that it was a tumultuous year—riots, war, assassinations, circling the moon, weird elections, etc. Some are saying that it was the year that shaped who we are. Okay, it was a seminal year, even if there have been many years before it […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Learning to Listen: The End of Relationship Chaos
When we only hear the pain or embrace in ourselves, we have effectively blocked out a major part of the world around us. Those screams we hear that announce we haven’t received what we want can be siren songs calling us to crash on the cliffs of our fear. And that satisfaction in getting what […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 11, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : April 1, 2008: Blame and Fault
It can be an interesting human characteristic to find fault and assign blame. Sometimes such endeavors are appropriate, as in murder, robberies, car accidents, and those who lie for gain at the expense of others, such as politicians (Henry Kissinger was reputed to have said that “ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Expanding vs Narrowing Awareness
One of the ways to know it’s truly safe is the ability to both contract and expand one’s awareness. We all live in some sort of a bubble of perception, yet we all need to know that our bubble is somehow in the same sea as others and their bubbles. That’s a connection expanded awareness […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 12, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Civility vs. Genuineness
Civility is a good thing. Without it there is no telling how much more chaos human interactions would provoke. After all, we live on an incredibly beautiful planet, in a time ripe with the promise of heightened awareness (actually the time has been ripe for some millennia), yet populated by an abundance of human idiots […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Politics, Voting, and Economics
There is a political saying that people vote their pocket books. While that statement seems true, the problem is the timeframe—immediate pocket books or long-term, or both? Mostly immediate it looks like. That’s not wisdom, that’s just plain preadolescent—no offense to preadolescents. Boom or bust, bears or bulls, inflation or recession and robust or economic […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 13, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Politics, Voting, and Slogans
Super Tuesday is coming quickly and it’s time to do the preliminary casting of votes for President. Naturally, I’ve got some thoughts about that. I’m casting my vote at this time for Barack Obama. We’ll see what the fall brings. Here’s the way I see it: I gave the nod to Obama because I’m assuming […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Need For Devils, Part II
If there are going to be “us and them” distinctions, then why does it have to include a villain? And I’m not buying the argument that such “us and them” distinctions isn’t about devils—just look at what’s afoot in the world, it isn’t exactly joy and communion that are running our distinctions. And I’m not […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 16, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : January 1, 2008: The Need for Devils: New Year’s Thoughts, Part I
I recently had a conversation with a person—let’s call them Jane—who told me about a series of dreams over a two-week period, all involving the same individual—let’s call them Mary. The common theme was about Jane being victimized by Mary. Jane told Mary about her dreams, but offered a disclaimer, saying she knew her dreams […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2008
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Random Holiday Thoughts: Part II
You didn’t think I had finished did you? Nope, I only took a breather, and if you’re here, you went to another page. Hey, it’s a kind of commitment on both our parts. Why do we have pets? Have you ever thought about what the word pet actually means? It’s either we have ownership or […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 23, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Random Holiday Thoughts: Part I, December 2007
Random Holiday Thoughts: Part I, December 2007 It’s not like I’m a guru or anything even close, so this entire topic of sage little thoughts seems ludicrous. And, besides, even if I was capable, why would I be a sage—they either live lonely lives, get killed, kicked out of their countries, or some such thing. […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Endings and Forevers
Maybe I’ve read one too many books or watched one too many movies, but it seems to me we’re conditioned to focus our energy and our lives on the importance of endings or forevers. Yet, I think between endings and forevers is our life. Think about it—we want to live happily ever after, we don’t […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 16, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
Energy is available to us all of the time—there is no shortage of it.
At best, such a statement sounds a bit contradictory doesn’t it? At worst, the statement sounds like an outright lie. We all have experienced a lack of energy. We live in a world where people die because there is not enough water or food, or warmth or cool, or medicine, goodness, wellbeing, etc. So how […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Entertainment and Information
I deal in information, and entertainment—well, sometimes, this stuff may be neither. Nonetheless, both can and do go together very nicely. After all, if I cannot capture the attention of students, I often cannot get their attention, which is what they are in school to practice—even if they think they’re only there to increase future […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 24, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Psychology and the Media
I object, strenuously, about entertainment masquerading as psychological therapy. Most of you can guess that I’m talking about psychologists (real or imagined) who have radio or television shows and who purport to be helping others by showcasing (parading?) their guests’ (clients?) maladies in front of an audience. Oh I’m sure that all of the legal […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Vacations, Part II
For many, many years it has been a practice of ours to take a family vacation. Even when my children moved out and started their own adult lives, we kept the tradition. This year my oldest daughter procured a free condo—a very nice condo I may add—overlooking the bay in Monterey, California. This is the […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 10, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : August 31, 2007: Vacations: Part I
About four years ago, in August of 2003, I went backpacking into the Caribou Wilderness of Northeastern California. I had been to this particular place about once a year out of the previous twelve years or so, going to different locations only twice in that timeframe. The trips were always wondrous and enormously soothing, something […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 31, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : A Call to Politicians
As yet another presidential election looms, and as all you candidates are vying for attention and influence, perhaps it’s time to not do business as usual. Consider a world where influence is less important than well-being. Perhaps it’s actually crazy to think that you can’t do much if you don’t hold office or institutional power. […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Age of Ignorance?
It seems to me that future generations from now will look back on the present state of human reason, emotion, and spirituality, at least regarding politics and human interaction, much like today’s medical community looks back at the state of medicine during the Civil War—as relatively uninformed. Perhaps the Dark Ages are not at all […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 04, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Individual and Group Intelligence and Retardation
There is an article in the July 2007 edition of National Geographic about swarm theory, which essentially is about swarm intelligence and how bees, insects, some birds, herbivores, etc. work in tandem. Such organization seems like a stark contrast to the leader-driven hierarchy of most predators—including humans (but excluding such predators as the piranha). However […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : What Our Soldiers are NOT Fighting For
It’s been yet another run in which human lack of responsibility has reigned in the local arena. The ongoing effects of irresponsible dog owners, drivers, neighbors and music, cell-phone users, tossed-trash, and, well, add infinitum, sometimes seems to trump peace and beauty. Freedom and liberty and privacy cannot be used as an excuse to avoid […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 24, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Change and Stability, Living and Dying
Our college lost another colleague a number of years ago that was also a tough loss. Jim was a stabilizing and intelligent presence, avoiding gaining influence just for the sake of influence. He was not about winning, he was about making sense. He also died of a heart attack. In his early 50s, he was […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : May 20, 2007: In Memoriam
We argued when we first met. Not a disrespectful, knock-down, dragged-out assault, but one born of incredulity. She hadn’t wasted any time wondering what I thought, broaching, shortly after hello, the subject of discrimination—after all, she said, I’m in psychology, she in philosophy. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned how I had been […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 20, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Ahhh, Dissociation
Yeah, now that I’ve beat up on avoidance as a long-term strategy, let’s talk about the art of dissociation. Yep, we don’t much get along and we don’t much feel good and it doesn’t much look good, despite the pockets of well-being. But embracing depression or whatever is wrong isn’t the same as parading our […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Ahhh, Depression
Depression is inevitable, however it manifests itself. It’s a depressing world. More often than not, it’s depressing interacting with people. More often than not, our politics are depressing, our work is depressing, it’s depressing we don’t play more often, it’s depressing that things seem to be getting worse. It’s depressing how long a list it […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 28, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Soul of Us
What if we defined and lived like soul is a state of being nurtured? What if our work not only brought us money, but peace and healing? What if our schools taught in such a way that students felt it safe to learn—that being wrong and having time to learn were positive and basic ways […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 05, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Journeying Through Purgatorio
Some time back I wrote about the illusion of correcting the trouble created by the human occupation of Earth. Perhaps the concept bears revisiting. The point of the previous post was that one can’t fix Puratorio, but one can learn how to journey in Puratorio. This notion is usually translated Scarface style—one keeps going for […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 15, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Possessions, Needs, and Satisfaction
Possessions are necessary, as we all know. The trick is to not become some kind of possession packrat. Accumulation may seem like an important reality for a people afraid of being dispossessed, but a funny thing about accumulation is that we can find ourselves possessing a burden rather than the instruments to relieve us of […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Change and Maintenance
I finally had enough sense to get out into the hills recently and breathe. All of these nagging possessions are still having a go at me—and I live rather modestly. My muse has all but deserted me and I think it shows. In my best state of being, I can get still and become a […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 13, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Life in the Way of Living: Is Life an Intrusion Upon Our Sacred Space?
Sometimes my being is assaulted by all of the things in life that “should” not be the way it is. My reaction seems to be based on the premise that if these anomalies were corrected, the environment would be so much more supportive and it would be easier to learn what there really is to […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Fixing a Hole
About seven months ago, my aging car and house began to reach a point that became impossible to ignore. I’ve been at this kind of place before and it is not something that I relish—finding honest and reliable people is like trying to find diamonds lying along the roadway, it just isn’t easy. Buying a […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 15, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Struggling vs Suffering
Perhaps a helpful evolution for 2007 would be the ability to distinguish between suffering and struggling. Life appears to be a struggle at times and it appears that while we can dodge the struggle on occasion, we cannot avoid it altogether. Any kind of birth, learning, growing, etc. is marked by struggle. A baby chick […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2007
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : 2007 New Year’s Thoughts: Soul, Integrity, and Terror
2007 New Year’s Thoughts: Soul, Integrity, and Terror 2006 seemed to be quite a year—or maybe it’s only because it’s just the most recent year. The month of December, 2006 saw some passing of well-known people. I’ll only choose three of them and those choices are arbitrary in the sense that they fit my scheme. […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 31, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : We Are and the Age of Clarity
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003, or 2004 Holiday Thoughts and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts for December 2005 and 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued), or Holiday Thoughts: December 2006.) As I previously said, a realization that we’re all in this together and the clarity to see what really is […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 10, 2006
- eThoughts
- 1 Comment.
eThoughts : Holiday Thoughts: December 2006
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003, or 2004 Holiday Thoughts, and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts for December 2005, and 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued), or We Are and the Age of Clarity.) It seems to be yet another year. Funny how the Holidays never came around fast enough when […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Reversibility
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ From a movie to an email. I recently received an email from someone that noted a moral philosophy is one thing, the application of morality quite another. Yep, that seems like a good revelation to me. But what do […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 18, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Decentration
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ I was watching a movie recently and realized that the dialogue was supposed to be a kind of “European” versus “Native American” pattern of thinking. For me it raised some interesting questions—like who is seeing reality correctly, or are […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Cohort Communities: Housing People of Like Minds
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ What prompted my previous cognitive meandering was a lot of email about terrorism, supporting our country, supporting our policies, etc. As I and others have said, supporting the principles our country was founded upon does not mean we have […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 20, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Our Problems: Global or Local?
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Once again this morning I awoke to the neighbor’s dogs on my property tearing up part of my new redwood deck trying to get at something underneath. The damage is about $150, but the owner knows and the owner […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Sacred But Not Exclusive: Part II
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Perhaps it’s the way things blend together, perhaps my attention is being or has been directed towards this sacred-but-not-exclusive focus, but another conversation about a different subject, broached by my friend, seemed to land on the same nail. So, […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Sacred But Not Exclusive: Part I
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ A friend of mine sent me some stuff over the Internet—one was a joke about a priest who got a bit crocked during a sermon and screwed up the biblical language so that it came off as street language […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Practice of Seeing Reality
Part of the series Conversations™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ It is my thought that, like medical doctors, academic doctors, especially in the behavioral sciences and humanities, should call their work a practice. Unlike medical doctors, academic doctors, can, and should, practice way beyond the confines of our offices and classrooms. So, it […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Boundaries and Independence Day
Part of the series Conversations™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Recently, around July 4th—Independence Day, which I thought was significant to the conversion—a friend of mine and I were discussing interpersonal boundaries and the degree of attention that people pay to them. We noted that there were those who were unaware of their […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Letters to the Family
Part of the series Letters to the Family™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ My mother, brother, sister, and I didn’t much get together except on holidays or birthdays. We are all independent souls, yet all of us like to truly belong—to be a part of something we could call family, even if we […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 07, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : A Letter to Arlee
Part of the series Letters to the Family™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Family is an interesting entity. I once heard someone say that families would get along a lot better if we treated the members as courteously as we treat strangers. I’m not necessarily buying that statement, but it does seem a […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Memorial Day, 2006
(For more about Memorial Day, circa 2002, go to: Chapter 47 of Renewal: It is not the Shedding of Blood that Brings Us Together or Preserves Our Freedom, It is Forgiveness and Humility.) Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Well, I had my run at […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 29, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Legality and Stewardship
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ Before leaving this line of thinking that has occupied the last few postings, I’m going to take another stab at it. Next time I’ll have to find something a little funnier to write about—too much seriousness seems to make […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : More About Fundamentals
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications™. Perhaps the concept that protecting another’s space is to protect our own (remembering that consideration for both starts with consideration of others) is one fundamental rule of civility. Yet a look at so many daily doings between people reveals […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 20, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Philosophical Umbrella
Part of the series It’s All Been Said Before™ (© 2006), a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ In these perilous times, or in any time, is there one overall perspective that should be guiding humanity? Would such a perspective be the umbrella under which many a behavior and mental process would occur—the ideal-to-construct process? Sometimes it […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Celebrate Eating the Apple?
Speaking of reporting, yet owning that it could be a spin (which is why we make and compare our reports to begin with), it seems to me that instead of crying out about what Eve did, we need to celebrate it. That deed in the Garden of Eden is at least as worthy of celebrating […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 22, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Fundamentals Before Complexity
Instead of standing around acting like our view of reality is the view, maybe we could consider it a view. All right, I know we all know this, but it seems like we spend a lot less time reporting what we see and a lot more time trying to impose it. Ethical and moral reporting […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 28, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Dogs, Egos, Personality, and Salavation
Continuing with the theme of an essential Home and the inherent promise in being alive, I’ve been wondering about dogs again, emotional wounds, and egos. It seems to me there are some good parallels. As I’ve written before, dogs want to know who is the alpha leader. If they know, they’re good, if they don’t, […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Journeying in Purgatorio
Recently I saw a television program about a dog kennel licensed by the government to buy and sell dogs—which they did, buying mostly from suspect sources and selling mostly to researchers. This particular kennel was being targeted by an animal rights group for abuses to the dogs. Indeed, the video footage presented reminded me of […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 20, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Emphasize the Promise and Achievement Will Come
It’s a cute title isn’t it? But, I guess I can’t just let it go at that, though I once thought a book of titles might just work (during those days I could come up with snappy titles but was too lazy to actually write anything having to do with the title). I digress. But […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 15, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Some Promise, Little Substance
Somehow it seems like most of us get sidetracked into achieving or accomplishing something. We are supposed to be good at something. Such accomplishments are noteworthy merit badges—elevating our status in the tribe. After all, if you want a something done, who better to go to than the best in that something? That’s a contribution […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 12, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : 2006 New Year’s Thoughts: Part Deux
And Yet More New Year’s Thoughts? Yeah, and why not? This site is about musing. And it is the New Year. Okay, perhaps it’s an excuse, but maybe we could call it a reason. Let’s remember that forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. If we forgive we give up burdens. If we forget, we’re […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2006
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : New Year’s Thoughts for 2006
Here it is the dawn of another new year. What ever happened to Y2K? As you might imagine, I have some thoughts about the upcoming year. And as you might have guessed, I’m not keeping them to myself. Well, not all of them anyway. These thoughts are themes I’ve previously written about, but hey, it’s […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 26, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Looking for a Good Used Space Ship
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003 or 2004 Holiday Thoughts and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued or 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued or Holiday Thoughts: 2006 and We Are and the Age of Clarity .) It’s the Christmas season and time for gifts. This year I’ve decided to go with a top-of-the-line spaceship. […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 10, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Holiday Thoughts for December 2005
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003, 2004 Holiday Thoughts and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued), or Holiday Thoughts: 2006, and We Are and the Age of Clarity .) Yet another year has gone by and it is time for some Holiday reflections. So here are mine. There […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Withdrawal
Sometimes vacations are not enough. Sometimes cultivating rocky ground is an exercise in futility. Sometimes staying the course means running off a cliff. Sometimes persistence is just plain lame. Sometimes we need to do more than take a break from what we do—we need to break what we do. I’m considering withdrawal. Yes, some consider […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 26, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Politics
It’s time for another election in California, and a time of being pushed and pulled at. Yes, I’m glad I live in a society where having a voice can count. But I also wonder about how that voice is formed. Do we know what the issues really are or do we know what someone or […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Been Gone a Long Time
There is a place I go in the mountains to camp. Perhaps it’s that I’ve been going there for a long time, perhaps it’s that the place holds some other representation to me, perhaps it’s a bit of both. But in that place I breathe differently—I breathe like I’m safe, like I’m home, like there […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 29, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Finding Guarantees
It seems like humans spend a great deal of time trying to find guarantees. Supposedly guarantees will make for a less stressful life—no worries, we’ve got a guarantee. I don’t know what humans would do without worries other than what we’ve been doing, which is ensuring that we’ve always got them. So finding guarantees at […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Obeying and Resistance
Let’s play devil’s advocate and upset the apple cart for a minute. In this particular case, it is merely a thought experiment—we’ll be able to stand the cart back up and put the apples back where they were. No long-term damage will ensue. What is with the old language in a marriage vow calling for […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 21, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Forget About It
Forgetting may be saving our lives. For instance, think about all of this research that purports to support prayer at a distance. Yes, there appears to be some significant findings in the research—even if it is not so consistent (there are those that have answers for that inconsistency). But the idea is not so uplifting […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Leaving
Sometimes we have to leave. Sometimes we’ll find ourselves being left. If an alcoholic decides to give up drinking, they’re likely to need a new set of friends. If one decides to move, some will be left behind. If one gets promoted at work, one is among a different group of people. If one gets […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 19, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Drama
The apparent necessity to manufacture drama in our daily lives amazes me—not that I’m sitting in the catbird seat about it all. Certainly there is plenty of naturally occurring tragedy and drama without adding to it. But many humans seem to be rather impatient about naturally occurring issues and race headlong into creating drama while […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Judgment, Discrimination, and Dehumanization
Part of the problem with judgment seems to involve our inability to distinguish between judgment and dehumanization. Dehumanization is an important word, one that I think we should use rather than discrimination. It would help with keeping our filing straight. Discrimination, like judgment, is a necessary and intricate part of living. Use of the word […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 20, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Making Judgments
Judgments are, of course, not only inevitable, but necessary. Even if one tries to avoid judgment, that itself is a judgment. Given this fate, it appears our best bet is to learn to make judgments—appropriately. Seems like we’re not doing so well. We’ve got this problem—what’s our benchmark for making all of these judgments? Feelings? […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Intelligent Design, Volitional Evolution, Language and Reality
(For a more detailed look at the principles of volitional evolution go to: Chapter 24: Resetting The Compass. For a look at thoughts about assessing the energy in our lives and the Big Rip instead of the Big Bang, go to: Chapter 55: The Best Answers Arise In The Space Between Thought And Deed. For […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 18, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Importance of a Cause?
It seems having a cause is about as necessary as having breath. I wonder why? I’ve noticed that much of our history and our psychology and our culture and our philosophy and our religion seems to emphasize and anchor us to the “noble” journey of the quest to triumph over one cause or the other […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Just Wondering
Why are we so often so rude to each other? Are we afraid that without rudeness others won’t learn? Are we convinced that without shutting others out, we will surely be imposed upon? Is being courteous a sign that we are marks, standing ready to be taken advantage of? Maybe we just don’t have the […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 15, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Art of Emptiness and Form
Introducing space or emptiness into our lives is utterly important I think—as I once read (Lao Tzu?), it is not the house where we live, but the space in the house (I can’t quote it since I may not be rendering the statement in its original form). Too often we gravitate towards form and ignore […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Reigning Fiascos.
Fiascos can be interesting—such events upset the expectations and the shoulds in our lives. That upset is not such a bad thing, having our maps attacked can elicit a lizard-brain response, or drive us in deeper, forcing us to create new landscapes. I was recently involved in a fiasco. It was a doozie too. There […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 18, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Packrat Syndrome and an “Ownership Society.”
So, do we really want to be able to invest our future in the financial markets because they’ll do a better job of it than the government with our financial security? I wonder what we mean by a better job? What is the principle of the markets anyway—to allow individuals to invest and therefore propel […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : More About an “Ownership Society.”
I’m driven to take another look at this “Society of Ownership” and the implications and impact on Social Security, especially after the recent fines levied against Merrill Lynch for irregularities in dealing with people’s investments in mutual funds. Anyone who doesn’t consider the impact of corporate conglomerations on public policy, and hence on the democratic […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 20, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : “Ownership Society:” Refining Our Ideas
About the same time as President Bush was stumping for an “ownership society,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Paris urging a “new chapter” in our relationship with France. The heart of her talk seemed to be that “we have an historic opportunity to shape a global balance of power that favors freedom—and that […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 15, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : “Ownership Society:” Who is in Charge?
Sometime around the end of January or the beginning of February, President Bush began talking publicly about an “ownership society.” Apparently the jargon is directed at allowing Social Security funds to be invested in financial markets. I’ve been wondering what an “ownership society” really means. In the case of Social Security, does this mean Americans […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 05, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Meanings and Meaninglessness
Sometime back I heard from a friend who had been told “if we find something sad or depressing, we are giving it pseudo-meaning; if it is truly meaningless, it is not really sad.” All right, hold on now. This is the kind of statement that can make us spin off down a path of illusion. […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : A Sky Made of Shoes
Somewhere I saw an article about the role of optimism and being healthy. I can’t find it, which is a bit of a bummer, since I never got a chance to look at it. I’m sure it was an interesting article, though I’m not sure why I never got around to reading it. Maybe I […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 05, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Patterns IV
Jan 1, 2005, now 7:15 p.m. and my neighbors’ dogs, one neighbor’s dogs in particular, have been at it for well over an hour. I was in my house on my 2.5 acres (the size of many parcels in this area), sitting in my living room, close to the fireplace, a good 64 feet of […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 22, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Patterns III (January, 2005)
The New Year is a good time for recapitulation amidst the celebration, a time to re-visit how we see things, how we relate, and how our relationships are doing. Though it seems silly to me in many ways, relationships of long ago seemed to have found their way back. Hibernation is not just for some […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 19, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Patterns II (June, 2004)
I recently visited a couple I have not seen for over 5 years and we talked, among other things, about past relationships, love, loss, recapitulation, and renewal. As I heard it from them, my problem with thoughts like those in Renewal, is that I’m blocking the possibility of having a new intimate relationship because I’m […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 05, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Patterns I (Originally written in January of 1999)
An Ode To Us: Emotional Hummingbirds, Sun Spot Cycles, and Romantic Dinosaurs. She calls and says she wants to have dinner and she says I am her favorite past love and that she was wrong about trying to make me fit her mold and that I’m actually okay and she now understands why I’m unhappy […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2005
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Holiday Grace, 2004
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003 or More 2004 Holiday Thoughts, or Holiday Thoughts for 2005 and 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts: 2006, and We Are and the Age of Clarity .) Maybe the reason, if there is such a thing, that we’ve manufactured more control than we have […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 23, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Holiday Thoughts, 2004
(For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2003 and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts for 2005 and 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts: 2006, and We Are and the Age of Clarity .) Yet another Holiday season approaches, and another opportunity to engage in good will. Good luck. Yep, I’m […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Dec, 13, 2004
- eThoughts
- Comments Off on eThoughts : Holiday Thoughts, 2004
eThoughts : About Curtains, Levers, and Wizards
Amusement parks can be vastly entertaining–we get to watch all the freaks (uh, that would be us as well), assault our bodies with all kinds of suspect rides, take our chances to win a bobble or two (or some bigger-than-truck-sized stuffed animal), and indulge in the gastronomic cuisine (fried Twinkies, fried Snickers Bars?). And we […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 09, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Voting, Freedom, and Choice
It’s voting season again–a time to exercise our freedom of choice and contribute the decisions that guide our fate. Hmmm. Don’t get me wrong, I’m generally in favor of democracy. And I’m generally in favor of freedom of choice. I’m just not sure there’s a standard application or definition for democracy or freedom of choice. […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Nov, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Starting With Ourselves and Our Neighborhoods
One of the first places we can start is in our communities, among neighbors. What if in each and every neighborhood we gathered together to raise our concerns for and about living around each other? What if we emphasized genuineness as an agenda? What if we set aside first impressions or old impressions and we […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 21, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The 1960s: Illusion and Promise
The 60s, in some way lasting until the end of the 70s, were an interesting and important time as I see it. Yes, it was a bipolar era, full of promise and ruined, I think, by illusion. The inherent idea was about awareness, about higher consciousness, about learning and community–about evolving into a humanity of […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Oct, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Gestalt, Figure/Grounds, and Forgiveness
Sometime around the age of 14, when I was camping in the Sierra Nevada Range, I left our camp about an hour before sunset to make a nature run. I did not walk far, but apparently I was not paying attention. This went against the training I received, but a walk to relieve myself was […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 18, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Chakras, Chi, and Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang
I have been away recently, to Georgia in fact, and to a little resort that is supposed to be peaceful. Actually it was, with one little exception–barking dogs. Now this noise intrusion is not on the same scale as it is where I live, but it is still a noise intrusion, and it is quite […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Sep, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Awareness, Experience, Grace, and Creation
I went to a wedding today and afterwards I came home and watched the movie Tuesdays with Morrie, based on a book written by Mitch Albom. My oldest daughter gave me the book to read about a month ago, but I’ve not done it yet–having forgotten about it in the midst of a lot of […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 24, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Baba Ram Dass and Fierce Grace
Obviously, relationships, of whatever kind, don’t always work out the way we envision them. Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions and envisioning realities more in the realm of imaginary fiction than dealing in realities congruent with our actual being. I recently watched a DVD about Richard Alpert, a.k.a. Baba Ram Dass. Along with Timothy […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Aug, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Divergence: Stream of Consciousness as Short Stories, Part II
A Shorter Than Short Story, Part II (© 2004, all rights reserved). Brought to you by, A Short Series Presentation,™ a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ He was a congenial boss, passionate only about moderation. He didn’t like tension, and that seemed to be what drove him. However, this position of his presented some serious considerations […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 13, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Divergence: Stream of Consciousness as Short Stories, Part I
A Shorter Than Short Story, Part I (© 2004, all rights reserved). Brought to you by, A Short Series Presentation,™ a division of Book-In-A-Drawer Publications.™ As I approached the entrance to the store, a lady beckoned to me from her perch atop a stool. She was a big lady, a budding Jabbarina the Hut. And […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jul, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Divergence: Stream of Consciousness as Poetry
God’s Aplomb Like fireflies, My thoughts dart Across the dark spaces of awareness, Illuminating mere fragments of wholeness, And deceiving me with partial realities. Like moth to a flame, My consciousness explores only what is lit And notices in the contrast, Dark forbidding holes. Is awareness so insensitive That it cannot feel God’s touch with […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 15, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : More About The Now: The Use of The Tool of Time
Did the past happen, did it exist? If so, how could that be if there is nothing but the present moment? But the past did happen, right? We can see it in old shorelines, ancient bones, and the wrinkled facescape of the elderly. We can remember being 3-years old or 12 or last week (well, […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jun, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Freedom, Choice, and Enlightenment
(For more about choice, go to: Chapter 6: Choice Eventually Limits Choice of Renewal) I once heard someone say that before enlightenment, they had all the choices in the world (not quite true as we’re unlikely to morph into an elephant) and after enlightenment, they had no choice at all (see the Jerry Stocking reference […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 21, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Conflicts and Cahoots
And furthermore… What is our real master behind the stories in our religions? I’m guessing these stories are supposed to represent trail markers for humans to follow in the otherwise confusing landscape of existence in a physical body on a physical plane. I’ve been wondering about the dichotomy between a god and a devil. The […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 09, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Arrow of Direction
“It was more like an affair, ego is your master.” There are lots of ways to configure this–chaos is the master, slovenliness, craving, and so on. At the heart of the issue are two things: what is really guiding us, and do we know it? From the awareness of these two questions arises yet another: […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On May, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Mind and the Evolution of Evaluation
(For another look at the structure of the mind, go to: Chapter 26: It’s Not So Easy Feeling Good of Renewal.) What’s the mind for? Let’s start with the brain. Generally speaking (we’ll leave viruses and bacteria out of this rendition), it appears that entities that do not have to move, do not have a […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 19, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : On Being Incompetent: What’s our Definition?
Did you ever wonder about those days (or weeks, months, years, decades…) in which we cannot seem to assimilate information correctly and/or we cannot seem to contribute a darn thing (I’m using polite language) that has any merit to anything or anybody? When it happens to me, it seems like I’m an incompetent acrobat dancing […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Apr, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Ordinary and Non-Ordinary: The Pursuit of Specialness
Written just after the start of the New Year, 2004. More than thirty years ago I read a book entitled Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Warrior, by Peter Nabokov (original copyright in 1967; Apollo Edition, 1970). As I recall, it was a story about being more or less ordinary. Two Leggings never quite […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 23, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Holiday Thoughts: Some Considerations
Written during the 2003 December/January holiday season. (For more Holiday thoughts, go to: Holiday Thoughts for 2004 and 2004 Holiday Thoughts Continued or Holiday Thoughts for 2005 and 2005 Holiday Thoughts Continued, or Holiday Thoughts: 2006 and We Are and the Age of Clarity .) As we approach another holiday season, I have been thinking […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Mar, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : What is the Truth Again?
So what about the truth? What is it? I was recently engaged in a conversation that seemed to turn into a miscommunication. This kind of thing is not particular to me, it happens to us all. My take was the problem had to do with interpretation (one of us, both of us—I’m not sure). So […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 16, 2004
- eThoughts
- Comments Off on eThoughts : What is the Truth Again?
eThoughts : Dementia and Attention
(For more about being in the present moment, go to: More About the Now.) Just how does this work? And I’m not just talking about the full-fledged variety, the kind of dementia that lands a person in a full-care facility, I’m talking about the typical, garden-variety style that most of us encounter in ourselves or […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 05, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Dogs and their People
Since I’m on a roll here, let’s take a look at having pets–especially dogs. More than 21 years ago I purchased some land in a rural area because it represented peace and quiet. Mostly it was. Property values took over 20 years to go up, but I did not buy for an investment, I bought […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 03, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The World and The Road
Recently I had occasion to take a road trip. I like this kind of adventure–it’s generally not difficult, mostly the problems are easily handleable, and it feels like I’m getting somewhere. But there is the issue of other drivers (of course I’m not included in that “other” driver category). I’m continually amazed with the “rules” […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Feb, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Free to not Think?
I recently received some information about an organization called the Freethinkers. The email I received was about the criteria for what to believe. The author wrote about the importance of falsifiability. No thought or concept is acceptable if it can’t be falsified. Hence, rigorous science is about the only thing that will generate knowledge. All […]
- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 18, 2004
- eThoughts
- Comments Off on eThoughts : Free to not Think?
eThoughts : Imposing versus Implementing Reality
Though much commentary could be made about this subject relative to the global stage, let’s keep it within the ranks of individual relationships. The parallels will be easy enough to draw if we so choose. I have been wondering (again) about how much humans use imposing tactics to get what they want. Such creations (or […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 09, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : The Blessedness/no blessedness; Grace/no grace paradigm
I was idly playing poker on the computer, attempting to distract myself from myself and I had a god-awful run of “bad luck” and managed to lose $3 million (fake money of course). This kind of thing has happened before (the most has been $4 million). It usually takes awhile to amass that much, yet […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 07, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
eThoughts : Love as a Construct: Just because it may be basic to the universe, doesn’t mean it doesn’t manifest in many forms.
Is love some absolute, a fact of the universe that can be discovered and copied onto and into human lives? Or is love an abstract, by definition, ambiguous? If it is an abstract, is that movement from ambiguity into form a construct and, like any construct, a representation? Or, perhaps love is an absolute that […]
Read More- By Travis Gibbs
- On Jan, 01, 2004
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
Recent Thoughts
- April 2, 2024: A Very Partial Story of an Old Man in the Woods in the Midst of Life’s Transient Things
- March, 1, 2024: Wisdom is Not a Singular Category
- February 1, 2024: Today’s Hunter-Gatherer Hunts for Information
- January 1, 2024: Hijacked: Time for a New Year
- December 1, 2023: Learning, Biology, Communication, Technology, Energy, and Alchemy
- November 1, 2023: Pre- and Post-Traumatic Stress
- October 1, 2023: When Language Becomes an Altar Instead of an Exchange
- September 1, 2023: No Wretch We Be (The Rant Continues)
- August 1, 2023: Magnifique! The In-Between Scene
- July 1, 2023: Intimacy Disorder: Humanities’ Adoption of Unrealistic Fear (so far)
- June 1, 2023: Integrative-Self Disorder and Integrative-Civil Disorder
- May 1, 2023: The Big Pretend
- April 2, 2023: Inflammation
- March 1, 2023: The Premise-Check Light is On: The Simple Life Myth
- February 1, 2023: Divine Mischief, Love, and Happiness
Stream of Consciousness
What people are saying
- Travis Gibbs on April 2, 2020: A Very Partial Story of Janis May
- Queenofchaos06 on April 2, 2020: A Very Partial Story of Janis May
- Travis Gibbs on November 1, 2019: The Trouble with Civility, Part II
- Edgar on November 1, 2019: The Trouble with Civility, Part II
- Travis Gibbs on July 1, 2019: Stoical in a Time of General Sorrow?
- Edgar on July 1, 2019: Stoical in a Time of General Sorrow?
- Edgar on January 31, 2019: Mind Hack: Part Deux (see the blog dated December 10, 2016)
- Travis Gibbs on January 31, 2019: Mind Hack: Part Deux (see the blog dated December 10, 2016)
- Edgar on January 31, 2019: Mind Hack: Part Deux (see the blog dated December 10, 2016)
- Travis Gibbs on April 29, 2018: A World of Full of Intersections
- Edgar on April 29, 2018: A World of Full of Intersections
- Travis Gibbs on March 26, 2018: Part IV: Courage
- Edgar on March 26, 2018: Part IV: Courage
- Travis Gibbs on Contact
- arianamromero on Contact
- Travis Gibbs on July 17, 2016: Making American Great Again? Telling it like it is?
- deborahdearest on July 17, 2016: Making American Great Again? Telling it like it is?
- Travis Gibbs on June 10, 2016: The Ratings Phenomenon
- adamgc91 on June 10, 2016: The Ratings Phenomenon
- Travis Gibbs on June 7, 2016: Who Can Use the Toilet?
- Immune2Tasers on June 7, 2016: Who Can Use the Toilet?
- Travis Gibbs on Contact
- ndelao on Contact
- Travis Gibbs on June 3, 2014: God and Machine
- actions on June 3, 2014: God and Machine
- Travis Gibbs on September 9, 2013: The Not Even Ready for Bumper-Sticker Philosophy
- Travis Gibbs on More Same Ol’, Same Ol’: November 25, 2013
- Lyla on More Same Ol’, Same Ol’: November 25, 2013
- Lyla on September 9, 2013: The Not Even Ready for Bumper-Sticker Philosophy
- Travis Gibbs on Contact
- Megan TLe on Contact
- Megan TLe on Contact
- Travis Gibbs on Contact
- Megan TLe on Contact
- Travis Gibbs on Contact
- Travis Gibbs on Renewal: One : Chasing Our Tails
- Travis Gibbs on More Caring and Less Carrying?: Political Diversions, Part II
- v1felipe on More Caring and Less Carrying?: Political Diversions, Part II
- v1felipe on Contact
- eThoughts: Freedom, Choice, and Enlightenment on Renewal The Non-Ordinary Reference Pages
- eThoughts: Holidays, Good Will, Genuineness, Control, Awareness, Love, Grace, and Experience | Travisgibbs.com on eThoughts : We Are and the Age of Clarity
- eThoughts: Freedom, Choice, and Enlightenment | Travisgibbs.com on Renewal Six : Choice Eventually Limits Choice
- Nice on Renewal: One : Chasing Our Tails