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Orientation 2

Naikan In Four Movements

This four-part Naikan series grew out of a course I offered at Baltimore Dharma Group in Spring 2025. While Naikan is often framed as a tool for self-reflection, I came to see it as something more relational: not a system of correction, but a practice of returning—again and again—to what holds us, what flows through us, what we leave behind, and what we remain with.
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Orientation 3

Threadwork

Here, in language, is the closest I have come to tracing the patterns I live inside — and the patterns I see others living inside, too. ...That, to me, is the heart of this offering: not to win empathy through performance, but to make coherence inhabitable — even when the pattern isn't matched. These pieces are not arguments. They do not aim to persuade. They exist to demonstrate — without explanation. To resonate — without claiming universality. To name the cost of asymmetry — without blaming the other. To hold clarity — without self-erasure.
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Orientation 4

Holding Vow Sutra: An Introduction

Introduction and Intention:  This is a sutra, but not a sutra in the traditional sense. It is not part of the Buddhist canon, nor is it offered from a seat of transmission or formal authority. It is, rather, a thread — woven from lived practice, shaped by fidelity, and rooted in a vow that did not begin with me and does not end with me.
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The Autistic Mode: A Way Of Thinking

We all have moments of deep concentration—those times when we are so absorbed in something that the world recedes. A musician practicing alone, refining a passage with exquisite focus. A philosopher turning an argument over in their mind, testing its weight from every angle. A scientist working through the layers of an equation, adjusting variables, refining the logic until it holds. In these moments, the noise of the world fades, and what remains is a kind of clarity, a steady presence of thought moving toward resolution.

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Threshold to Threadwork

Introduction: There are two doors into this work. The one below meets the moment. It is written in accessible language—for those seeking clarity about autistic experience, and especially about how it differs in rhythm, in structure, and in the invisible labor it asks of those who must translate themselves to be understood. But this isn’t the only way in. There is another door—quieter, less translated, more interior. If you're looking not just for insight, but for shape—if you’ve ever sensed that what goes unspoken is sometimes the most coherent thing there is—you may find yourself at home there.
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Musings from the Meta-Verse: Tip of the Iceberg Cosmologies

Before you begin: please take a moment, settle in, enjoy the image above—of me holding my baby daughter as a first-time dad, tune into the frequency of restful wonder. Now allow your mind to wander outward from the edges of that image: to the room, to the street outside, to the vast sky beyond the vast sky. Further—past the solar system, past the galaxy’s edge, past everything known—to the edge of the cosmos. And then…

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Woven

I never stopped making art. I just didn’t always call it that. What I made with you, my loves — in those days we shared — was the most embodied form of relational creation. Art was us — there was no interruption. Something Luu Li and and I talked about yesterday landed deeply. She said, “Wow Papa, 54 years! I'm so glad you’re starting to do art again.” And I told her — honestly — it’s never left me. But after that, I found myself thinking: when I was homeschooling Luu Li and CT, I wasn’t just not doing art — I was expressing my creativity through my life with them.
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Introduction

        Why is Baltimore an interesting subject of study? As was the case for other rust belt cities[1], the last 50 years saw gigantic losses of its manufacturing economy, and with it, a stable, middle-class, urban population. Like a person drained of blood, the city limped along and did its best to survive.
        Like other rust belt cities, Baltimore's downtown has seen a renaissance in the last few decades. It is arguably the seminal example of this national movement towards the rehabilitation of the urban core of America's oldest cities. And, characteristically, there is a palpable sense of the precariousness of these gains.
        What is different about Baltimore? For one, it exists in the middle of one of America's wealthiest states. Where, once, this city was the center of gravity in Maryland, it seems to exist now as a novelty in the minds of Maryland's mostly suburban residents.
        I happen to be a believer in Baltimore. I see its old grandeur still in place in the reliable orderliness of its brick rowhouses, in its rich history of philanthropy and dedication to community, and in the untapped strength of its African American population. Positive change has been happening in fits and starts, and, at times, in imperceptable ways. My goal with this blog is to be a documentarian. I see a great future for this city in the next half century, and I want to recognize the seeds that are being planted that will blossom into that vision.
        There are other forums that focus on the development of new buildings and new real estate projects. Along with watching the Orioles and the Ravens, real estate spectatorship could be considered a third favorite pastime, with its fans' scorecard mentality. I'll try to avoid these discussions. With respect to Baltimore's future, the newest and biggest building project isn't what's going to really matter. It's the social capital and the human capital investments that are going to mean something.
        I'm also not interested in being a "dead-endist" when looking at the city's problems. I admire David Simon, author of "The Corner", for bringing to life the struggles of Baltimore's poor and drug-addicted. He helps us to feel compassion where, sometimes, we would prefer to feel repulsion. But besides that, I want to see what can give us hope. I think that Baltimore has survived through the worst of its traumas (the loss of 30% of its population in the course of 50 years). That says something about its fundamental strengths that it still has a beating heart. It's time to notice what's working as well as what needs to be worked on.
        Finally, I will do my best to ensure that it's always clear when I have data to back up my assertions. Otherwise, when there aren't facts available, or when it's simply due to my laziness or lack of resources, what you'll be reading will be purely personal intuition and perspective.


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[1] Detroit, Flint, Cleveland, Gary, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Erie, Niagara Falls, Chicago, Buffalo, Rochester, St. Louis, and others.


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