This is your brain on hammers. We explore how our narrow conventional thinking (the hammer) leads us on a never-ending hunt for nails and non-nails. Zen meditation and practice in everyday life gives us a chance at freedom, a chance to put the hammer in the toolbox for when we need it again.

Who are your other ancestors, what will your descendants be like? We look at the idea of Buddha ancestors and find that our parents and children are a hair’s breadth away, yet will never meet us directly. Come share an offering of future noodles and enjoy the crackle of the finest wrapper you have ever known.

We review the first posts on Blanket Theory and reprise the wild ride including questionable practice, the Blanket Truth, the Dharma Police, deer paths, a mirror graced with dust, a guide to just sitting, and some guy talking to all the animals at a forest pool. Where will the existential detective’s case lead him next? Everywhere, and nowhere. Which is exactly where we need to be.

A forest pool where many strange and wonderful creatures come to drink. A Zen practitioner with a head in the clouds, full of noise. Where do we find rest? Come on an interfaith journey connecting Christian and Zen Buddhist imagery of our need for a respite from a chaotic and painful world. This journey takes us through scorching desert and bitter tundra. We find the outstretched hand of God rescuing us, or compassion waiting in our very being. Because of this compassionate outstretched hand, we can let go and be guided home, like one of the strange creatures drinking their fill at the pool. We acknowledge the suffering of many for many reasons, including depression. But, we see that, even if our practice falters, faith and no-faith can also be beautiful creatures guiding us home. Clinging to neither, treating them with a light hand the possibility is there to be the pool. Join me for a swim?

Coffee, cake, and Zen philosophy meet pop culture in an existential detective story inspired by I Heart Huckabees. What is the Self, and how can an only child have ten thousand siblings? Explore reality’s blanket of interconnectedness—serious questions wrapped in playful paradox, a rickety raft toward freedom.