Same as the old blog, but updated for WordPress. It’s a work in progress, updated weekly (usually) with 10 years of archives to follow.
For new readers, here we will be hosting discussions about our shared search for meaning in the Age of Information. We are inundated, perhaps even swamped, by information that is increasingly heavy on interpretation and light on fact. We will try to remain aware of the difference at all times.
We believe that the truth is usually, but not always, found somewhere between extremes of belief. Therefore our Middle Path is not a straight line. It meanders, climbs and descends like a walk in the mountains. We are not, by the way, a Buddhist of the venerable “Middle Path” associated with that religion, though we do find much that is agreeable there. We find much that is agreeable (and disagreeable) in all the religions.
Truth is neither conservative nor liberal. We refer to our journey to find it as a “middle path” to remind ourselves that moving forward requires both a left and a right foot. Each year we grow less amused and more weary of those who attempt to hop forward on just one.
Our opinions have evolved over time, and hopefully they will continue to do so. New information should lead to new opinions, just as new science leads to new theories. To cease learning and growing is to begin dying. This is how Faith becomes religion and religion becomes dogma.
We welcome comment and discussion. We invite disagreement. That’s how we learn. Be blunt if you must, but be kind. If you can’t be kind, at least be civil. If you can’t be civil, your comments will be deleted with no further discussion.
A word about your humble scribe. My personal path has meandered, sometimes ascending, sometimes not. The ground has been rocky at times. I began my search as a nuclear physics major, but the prospect of harnessing the fundamental forces of the Universe for profit and destruction was not appealing, so a long walkabout of travel and adventure ensued. After a few years of adventures I neither regret nor recommend, I found myself lost without a map or a compass. A hitch in the Marine Corps first saved and then improved my life.
I returned to college with the love of science intact and finished as an IT major, but I was not ready for the cubicle. I spent ten years as a wilderness guide and counselor of adjudicated youth. That is an adventure that I highly recommend. But when sleeping on the ground and living paycheck to paycheck got old, I returned to IT, studied personal investing and became somewhat successful at both. Somewhere in between I managed to write a newspaper column for the last 12 years.
Outside The Box 