Since the last class book, my wife died of pancreatic cancer. It was a long struggle, as cancer often is — chemotherapy, attempts at natural treatments, etc. I was fortunate to be with her when she died. I think she died peacefully, and perhaps with a measure of contentment.

At first, being a single parent of a teenage girl was difficult, but now I’ve learned to give my daughter more autonomy, and she’s doing quite well.

I’m now flailing about in the singles world. I thought it would be an embarrassment of riches, but it has turned out to be just an embarrassment. Relationships seem to become more difficult as we get older.

I continue to divide my time between writing (philosophy of a literary kind) and programming (database programming with Microsoft Access). I do enough writing to ensure that I never get anywhere with my computer work, and I do enough computer work to ensure that I never get anywhere with my writing.

I have a strong interest in what might be called The Occult Worldview. I’ve distilled this worldview into two principles: everything is alive, and everything is connected. It’s a very old worldview; primitive people on every continent viewed the world in this way. This worldview seems to be growing in popularity, and I think it will have considerable influence in the future — in the area of religion as well as philosophy.

I still get much benefit from yoga and meditation, usually on my own, sometimes in a class. I still enjoy good books (I recently read Pride and Prejudice). I’m a slow reader, but a steady one. I still think that my writings will eventually find an audience; I put them on my website, LJHammond.com.

© L. James Hammond 2014