Before Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment at age 35 he was a confused twenty and thirty-something looking to learn how to live a spiritual life. He had an overbearing dad, expectations for what he was supposed to do with his life, drinks were flowing, lutes were playing, and the ladiezzz were all about him. Some called…

A couple of months ago I was tripping about blithely with my gentleman friend in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn when the stream of conversation turned, as it invariably does, to the mental causality of the cruel mistress called Internet.  “You know,” I said, “the greatest and most popular mental health issue in the next ten years will…

There is no shortage of evidence that the earth is burning, flooding, asphyxiating and dying.  9 out of 10 dentists agree that something has to be done or our children (or their children) will inherit a planet that cannot support the population. The jury is no longer out, a consensus has been reached, and almost…

When I studied urban planning in grad school, one of my strongest interests was in the ways buildings affect how people feel, as a result of both their individual appearances and of the way they’re massed around open space or on a street. Of course, to measure such things one must find ways to work…

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