I haven't posted here much lately, and I think that has to do with my decision to make this blog less personal.  When I released the Sungod Abscondo album "anonymously", I wanted to erase information from this blog which would give me away (pictures, details about my life, etc.).  I wanted to generalize my thoughts, ideas, and feelings for you.  But I found out that it isn't possible to remove that which is purely human from the circumstances of that human.

As an American expat living in Slovakia for almost three years now, I'm starting to lose track of what is or isn't interesting to the average English-speaker who might stumble across this dark, still, intimate place.  I don't know anymore whether the context of my life makes any sense within the context of yours. 

On one hand, I think this perspective will allow me to write purely...without any preconceived notions of audience.  On the other, my thinking may not resonate.  But I realized recently that, while I talk about the value of living in accordance with the authentic self, I have been unwilling to reveal much about my own authentic self.

This will change in the coming weeks and months.

Nature both creates and perceives.  Sensation is nature's way of encouraging life to do so...to take input and create output.  Technology is only useful to the extent that it extends nature's processes while minimizing the extent to which it gets in the way of them.

To allow technology to "suck us in" is to forget this...to forget that even the most advanced computer, stereo, camera, car, or airplane is only useful to the extent that it serves life.  When I am able to capture my ideas and inspirations in a song, and your MP3 player reproduces these inspirations for you on your way to school, technology is serving life.  When you fly to the other side of the world in a day to spend time with the ones you love, technology is serving life. 

But the most direct way to celebrate life, to live fully in the moment, is to put ourselves in situations where we eliminate the technology link altogether.  Seeing a beautiful ocean on your flat-screen TV is great, but swimming in that ocean is divine.

So, while it is true that good technology provides us with sensations as it connects life's creativity with perception, it should never be used in lieu of the real thing...nature-on-nature in time and space.

Just minutes ago, I watched the cold rain turn to the season's first snow.  I thought I saw a single snowflake emerge from the rain to dance up toward my window, but couldn't be sure.  Only moments later, she was joined by thousands and maybe millions of fellow snowflakes to reassure me.