A Case for Wonder
"Karl Barth once described theology as 'necessarily the logic of wonders,' and the same 'logic' should suffuse education. If we can cultivate the capacity for wonder in ourselves, and if we can foster it in others, then we might step into a more compelling and magical world. Inhabiting such a place would grant us a particular kind of grace, in which the familiar would never grow old, the unfamilia... posted on Dec 21 2020, 4,256 reads

The Land Has Memory
"The denial and fear of death makes possession, possessiveness, and overconsumption possible. If we would just pull back a bit, slow down, and ask the "why" of each of our actions, based on the utter assurance of death, we would all be better off environmentally." Playwright, poet, and essayist Cherrie Moraga sees the world as a place where the body knows and "the land has memory." "Her writings h... posted on Dec 20 2020, 3,251 reads

Lydia Fairhall Amplifies Love
"Lydia Fairhall has lived many lives in this one life. She is a Worimi woman, born on Bundjalung country, now living between the Kulin nations and Gubbi Gubbi country. From experiencing trauma in early life to an art-filled, soulful adult life as a mother, producer, executive, singer/songwriter and custodian of ancient wisdom, Lydia is the embodiment of compassionate resilience." More in this inte... posted on Dec 19 2020, 4,186 reads

Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure
The autonomy paradox: "We adopt mobile technologies to gain autonomy over when and how long we work, yet, ironically, we end up working all the time. Long blocks of free time we used to enjoy are now interrupted constantly by our smart watches, phones, tablets, and laptops. This situation taxes us cognitively, and fragments our leisure time in a way that makes it hard to use this time for somethin... posted on Dec 17 2020, 4,844 reads

Paul Farmer on 'Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds'
"In November 2014, Partners In Health Co-founder and Chief Strategist Dr. Paul Farmer was in Freetown, Sierra Leone, breaking bread with a group of Ebola survivors as the world's largest epidemic of the virus raged across the country. "It was the night I met Ibrahim," Farmer recalled, referring to one of the survivors. "We started talking and he told me he'd lost 23 members of his family to Ebola.... posted on Dec 16 2020, 3,643 reads

Wislawa Szymborska: Life-While-You-Wait
From Nobel Prize winner Wislawa Szymborska's poem, "Life-While-You-Wait" is "-- a bittersweet ode to life's string of unrepeatable moments, each the final point in a fractal decision tree of what-ifs that add up to our destiny, and a gentle invitation to soften the edges of the heart as we meet ourselves along the continuum of our becoming." BrainPickings offers Amanda Palmer's captivating reading... posted on Dec 15 2020, 16,005 reads

Gazing Into The Heart of Perfection
"Getting people to receive...to see the gifts they've been given...life itself! Life along the roadside, with the flowers and the weeds, and the pebbles and the trees, and the sounds of birds! And looking up and seeing the clouds, the light and the shadows. We're surrounded! Were in it! And did you know that the Persian word for paradise means "an enclosed garden?" We're in paradise, and we don't... posted on Dec 14 2020, 9,672 reads

The Alchemy of Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times
Matt Licata's new book is titled, 'A Healing Space: Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times.' Here he speaks with Tami Simon about what it means to "be a healing space, that is to hold space for ourselves and others, as well as how we can feel held by something greater than ourselves during challenging experiences. They also explore our inner wounds and self-abandonment, spiritual bypassing and t... posted on Dec 12 2020, 5,794 reads

Fools and Dreamers: Regenerating a Native Forest
This 30-minute documentary about Hinewai Reserve, on New Zealands Banks Peninsula, is an incredible story of how degraded, gorse-infested farmland, has been regenerated into beautiful native forest over the course of 30 years. Once considered a plan expected only of fools and dreamers, manager, botanist Hugh Wilson, is now considered a hero locally and across the country for bringing back 1,500 he... posted on Dec 11 2020, 2,055 reads

The Hero/Heroine's Journey: Responding to the Call of Our Times
"I believe we have entered a sacred and very difficult time, a time in which the Hero/Heroines Journey is for all of humanity, not just individuals. How will we engage the forces of destruction the whole world faces?"John Kinyon has dedicated his life to the work of conflict resolution and nonviolent mediation. Here he shares more about the call of our times.... posted on Dec 10 2020, 5,999 reads