I recently stumbled upon “Calamities of Nature”, the website of a comic with the same name that “focuses on topics of social commentary, religion, science, politics, and just plain silliness”, and now I’m hooked.

Here’s a sample of one of his best comics.

As you can, though cast in a homrous light, simple but deep issues are tackled leaving you to do your own thinking. Whoever thought comic strips are just for plain stupid laughs is the stupid one.

As the synopsis to the book “Comics as Philosophy” states, “Through the combination of text and images, comic books offer a unique opportunity to explore deep questions about aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology in nontraditional ways.” The book is a collection of essays on comic books of varied genres but the quotation above holds just as true for “mere” comic strips.

Just like in the making of novels and short stories the shorter work is actually considered by many writers to be a more difficult task since one has to be concise yet still be able to drive ones point and do is in a manner that will capture the readers imagination. I believe the same might be true for comic strips. To be entertaining, thought provoking, and relevant all at the same time requires exceptional talent, brains, and skills – and I have to say that Tony (Calamities of Nature creator) sure has all of those.

I have tried yoga but like most people these days that do yoga I don’t really practice the philosophy of yoga. Nowadays, yoga has become an exercise fad. What many don’t realize though is that the breathing and postures practiced in gyms worldwide are but two of the eights limbs (aspects) of the Yoga philosophy. What this means is that because you know some poses doesn’t mean that you can claim to really know yoga. If you want to really do yoga you have to first understand all the eight limbs of yoga, which are the:

1. Yama: Self-control or restraint from violence, lying, excessiveness, stealing, and coveting
2. Niyama: Stresses things one should do—purity, contentment, austerity, study of the sacred texts, living with awareness of the divine
3. Asana: Physical exercises, postures
4. Pranayama: Breathing exercises
5. Pratyahara: Drawing inward
6. Dharana: Concentration
7. Dhyana: Meditation
8. Samadhi: Realization

Obviously the part of yoga that most people know about is the Asana and the Pranayama but if you wish to stay true to yoga’s philosophy, which is to seek universal truth and achieve equanimity in the process, one has to practice the other aspects of yoga as well. In the end, practicing yoga should result not just in a healthy body but a healthy mind as well.