It's not our darkness that haunts us; it's the barrier we set against it.

Adulthood is often marked by a zombie-like dance between meaningless work and just as meaningless entertainment. But youth is alive. That's why we must fight to stay young.

Nearly every artist dreams of being well-known. But holding onto this dream makes creative work a nightmare. To recoup the dividends of art, we must move beyond desires for fame and fortune.

A 20-year-old vagabond, misfit, poet and artist stamps his soul on letters sent home before disappearing forever.

If Plato were alive today, he might be a hipster. He’d have the beard, for sure; he’d challenge ideas coming from institutions and people in authority; and he’d likely embrace a life of minimalism.

The moments we want to catch are rare not only because the event is rare, but because the event in combination with the right lighting is. In fact, the thing we look for, the thing we're chasing, is light.

As a kid, I was a bit of a rebel. And I believed I was this way because there was something wrong with me. At least, that's what they told me. Well they were wrong. They were wrong about me, and they're wrong about you.

People often want to change the world because they want to be recognized for doing so. That's not to say they don't have good motives, too. But those who really make a difference in the world aren't motivated by the idea of being admired.

My grandfather, just before leaving life at the age of 94, left these parting words of advice: Be kind to everyone. These four words, reflecting the wisdom of a century of living, now hang as an epitaph on my mother's living room wall. Seems simple enough.

Last weekend I was shuttled to Las Vegas for a conference and I unexpectedly learned a lesson in compassion.

The “loss of reality” often deters would-be partakers from taking the psychedelic plunge. It is this phenomenon, however, that is most valuable about the psychedelic trip.