Zen Mind is described as a state of egolessness, devoid of self consciousness.   One can utilize this state of mind, Zen shows us, in archery, martial arts, and calligraphy.  Zen and the Art of Archery, by Eugene Herrigel, is the short classic story of a westerner’s attempt to achieve Zen Mind and become a skilled [...]

“The most incomprehensible aspect of the Universe is that it is comprehensible.” Albert Einstein.
“The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” Steven Weinberg.
Science seems to have the unspoken goal of finding explanations that have no arbitrary element.   Nothing can be a certain way, when it could as well be another [...]

People seem unusually polite in coffee shops. Coffee shop patrons are often regulars,  and social interaction research, launched by the seminal book, The Evolution of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod, 1984, has found that an ‘expectation of future repetitive interaction’ drives cooperative behavior.  When people have a stake in getting along, because they expect to see each other [...]