Back from wonderful Vancouver, British Columbia, my favorite
city.  I got there as the last
tourists visiting for the Olympics were departing,  parking was becoming available again, and life began returning to
normal.  I was there for non-Pagan
reasons – I am co-authoring a paper using emergent order theory  to explain why Vancouver is the kind of liveable city it is.  Two of the first serious thinkers about
emergent order were instrumental in the late-1960s reforms that set in motion the
changes that led to what Vancouver is today.  While one has passed on, the other asked me to co-author the paper project.  A rare honor.

The open thread that developed here on divination issues, once I shut my yap blog-wise, is wonderful.  So long
as folks keep posting to it, I’ll move the chance to keep the conversation
going up the queue from time to time, under a more specific heading.

Just before leaving for Vancouver I was asked to contribute
to a blog debate on Community, Exit, and Coercion  – a discussion mostly by libertarians and communitarians.  (I am neither, but have connections to and sympathies with both.)
The result has been interesting, and I give this link for anyone who wonders
where I am coming from as a political theorist. 

Since my mind was on completely secular issues while in
Vancouver, I was able to keep my end of that discussion going.  But I could not shift my mental gears
enough to say much of interest here, given the little time I had available to
me.  (It is hard to switch back and
forth from spiritual to secular issues, especially when totally immersed in discussing
and writing on the latter).