This is a representative sample of the kind of photographs
We go through many changes in our lives. These changes often begin with a sense that something is not right. We wander, we try new things, we find contradictions in ourselves, in others. And eventually we look into the abyss.
So we keep going. We evolve. We simplify. We begin to see the world in a more integral way. We feel compassion for others, for ourselves, for the planet. We see we are one. We become wonderfully alive.
rethink ...
The Dreamprocess - a powerful tool to rethink and achieve life goals - The dreamprocess evolved over 20 years as a way for me to envision, articulate and prioritize all sorts of life goals and dreams. Though I've stopped giving workshops for now (click here to read the letter I sent to workshop participants), I continue to use the dreamprocess for my own personal development. The video you see to the left provides a brief overview and was made during the period I gave workshops.
Copyright 2007-2011 Michael R. Balin. All rights reserved.
Favorite bookstores - I typically will read a book or two per week on most any topic, generally nonfiction. So I always look for used books and take advantage of the interlibrary networks here in the Boston area. I do of course enjoy thrillers (especially those by Lee Child, James Rollins, Harlan Coben, Michael Crichton) and think Philip K. Dick is the greatest Sci-Fi author/philospher of all time. To me a great bookstore has what I call "thoughtful density" where you feel every square inch of the place projects a great deal of reflection on someone's part. So my top picks are: 1) Powells Books (Portland, OR), 2) Harvard Bookstore (Cambridge, MA), 3) Brattleboro Books (Brattleboro, VT), 4) Third Place Books (Metro-Seattle, WA), 5) Most any local library or church booksale. Hope someday to visit the legendary Tattered Cover (Denver, CO). Honorable mentions: 1) Tatnuck's (was my #1 before they moved flagship store from Worcester to Westboro, MA), 2) Strand Books (NYC), 3) New England Mobile Book Fair (Newton Highlands, MA).
Some very unconventional world views - I've been exposed to many perspectives claiming the world we live in is an illusion, or that alternative, parallel realities exist in lockstep with our own. Some of these views go back thousands of years (Maya, Gnosticism), while others are more contemporary (The Matrix, Neal Stephenson's Metaverse, P.K. Dick's "Man in the High Castle"). In fact, I didn't know till now that William James had coined the term "Multiverse" way back in 1895! With all that, my favorite book on the topic remains "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot. It provides an informative, nontechnical introduction that describes the pioneering work of physicist David Bohm (who studied under Einstein at Princeton) and Karl Pribham, a noted psychology professor/brain researcher. It turns out with a hologram (using intersecting waves of coherent light to store visual information) you can shatter the glass plate it was produced on, and still project a 3D-like rendering of the original -- as every part of the image contains the information needed to reproduce this original. In addition to making my head spin, I find all this gets me thinking that most every facet of life seems to work this way ....
