Fredrick Turner

Reflections


Commentary

  • Yoga of Conjuring – I

    I’m not sure when I made meditation and yoga daily practices. It’s been over 20 years. I started earlier with occasional practice using a set of VHS tapes. For those who missed out, VHS was a clunky format with less than optimal control. For a “date night,” we attended a three evening class of yoga… Continue reading

  • Book Notes: Searching for Awe

    Through a recent podcast recommendation, I became aware of the work of Dacher Keltner. According to his Wikipedia page, Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. He is also the founder and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, host of the… Continue reading

  • Some Things Change…

    About a decade ago, I decided that after reaching the status of Order of Merlin: Shield that it was time to stop paying dues and leave the International Brotherhood of Magicians. We had moved to a spot where attending any Ring meetings was a logistical challenge. Most importantly, I felt my involvement had run its… Continue reading

  • Reacting to Stuff

    “Conditions are always neutral. They seem either sad or happy depending on the sad or happy attitudes of the mind.” Paramhansa Yogananda “The cause of my irritation is not in this person but in me.” Anthony de Mello, The Way to Love Events, occurrences, interactions are all just stuff. Stuff is what most of our… Continue reading

  • Digital Loss

    Recently I found a forgotten disc that I received from Todd Karr’s Miracle Factory for my patience in waiting for one book or another to be delivered. It’s titled Annemann’s Enigma and I believe the contents that became a portion of the book of the same name. I don’t remember if I mentioned it before… Continue reading

  • Everyone’s an Individual and Independent

    In 2023, I read Paolo Bacigalupi‘s wonderful sci-fi novel, The Windup Girl. I would call it ecological dystopian fiction. It was his first adult audience book as he has written young adult books too. In The Windup Girl, Bacigalupi created a world that felt real – especially in light of higher temperatures, atmospheric rivers, and… Continue reading

  • Art and Magic

    The discussion – some may say argument – of whether magic is art is evergreen. It pops up in the online forums as regular as dandelions in the spring. I don’t believe it will ever be settled to the satisfaction of either side of the fence. If you can find it, magician and filmmaker, R.… Continue reading