Contemplating the Boundless: More Essays on God, Nature and Being Human
by Walt McLaughlin
Wood Thrush Books, 2026
142 pages, paperback
ISBN 979-8-9960739-0-0
This collection of philosophical essays delves deeper into metaphysical matters than its companion volume Confronting the Unknowable. What we humans are in relation to the world we inhabit, along with the universe at large, is the overall theme that binds together these ruminations. Natural order, cosmic evolution, consciousness, infinity, reality versus our delusions, and life itself all loom large here. These short, taut pieces lean heavily upon the natural sciences and the insights of various thinkers through the centuries who have pondered nature’s great mysteries. Both reason and mysticism come into play. McLaughlin recognizes the divine manifest in nature, but his thoughts regarding it are as spare as his prose. The reader is left with more questions than answers.