Missing the Solstice ~ and ~ Discovering the World

These essays are excerpts from my unpublished book, Missing the Solstice ~and~ Discovering the World. They chronicle my transitions as I left the social world I knew and entered into the larger world without the protection of a firm identity.  I was fortunate to have chosen a degree in the social sciences and sociology, because my position as a person without a country (as it were) actually helped me become an ethnographer and researcher/observer in the numerous cultures I encountered.

Buddhist philosophy spends a great deal of time helping people become unattached to the idea of self, of possessions, and of a concretized idea of reality.  I've decided that Buddha was actually an early sociologist, because at its best, sociology helps us stand outside of ourselves and our enculturation and take the long view of social movements and social change. I approached the writing of Missing the Solstice not just as a memoir (snore) but as if it were an ethnographic study or a participant observation of the work I did in the New Age.

Introduction

What does Missing the Solstice mean?

Falling off the Rainbow

Chapter One: Notes from a life in the New Age – and out of it.

Science vs. Religion and Other False Dichotomies

Chapter Two: Mindsets, philosophies, religions, and groupthink ... they can't act on their own, and they have no power in and of themselves. How – and why – do we keep forgetting this?

Welcome to a Psychic Reading (coming soon)

Chapter Four: What is a psychic reading like?  What does an empath pick up?  In this excerpt, Karla McLaren walks you though an empathic reading and healing from the inside.

Critical Thinking without Criticism (coming soon)

Chapter Six: Critical thinking can be humorous, fascinating, and delightful. Join in on the mind-expanding fun of thinking about thinking as you learn more about your brain, how humans learn, and the numerous (and often wacky) quirks of human perception.