conscious,” the nurse says. I trust this Vietnam vet with his acne scarred face and tender resigned heart. His sad eyes help me face what’s coming. The two of us stand next to a bed in the oncology unit of Strong Hospital and look over my husband Vic’s limp body. “He can hear you,” the nurse says, “but he’s too exhausted to respond. You can ask him to squeeze your hand.” Yes, I could ask Vic to squeeze my hand if he loves me. But I don’t doubt his love. I can ask him to squeeze if he hears me, but he doesn’t need to hear me. He needs to die, so I don’t call him back to life and to me, but let him stay w... posted on Apr 25 2018 (21,815 reads)

said the statement completely applies to them.18 These surveys show that experiences of profound communion with the aliveness of the Universe are not a fringe phenomenon but, instead, are familiar encounters for a large portion of the public. Humanity is measurably waking up to a bio-cosmic view of ourselves within the Universe. Awakening to an intimate connection with the unity and intelligent aliveness of the Universe is often accompanied by feelings of great joy, boundless love, and the presence of a subtle, radiant light. To illustrate, below is a classic account of a spontaneous awakening experience. While an undergraduate student, F.C. Happold had this experience of ... posted on Apr 30 2018 (15,037 reads)

Verlag edition, clothbound, with Gothic script on soft rag paper, and on the cover the print of the three-jetted fountain the poet had chosen. This pocket-sized volume has traveled with me across the spiritual landscapes of my life—from the rubble of a once-sturdy faith in church and God, into the streets of political activism, and into the Buddha-fields of South and Central Asia. The first poem I recall reading was as exhilarating to me as the fresh cold alpine wind off the slopes I loved to ski: I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not ever complete the last one, but I give myself to it.   I circle around God, that primordi... posted on Jun 25 2018 (10,497 reads)

the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own intelligence, and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity: that alone is living the artist’s life: in understanding as in creating. He echoes Goethe’s largehearted, increasingly needed wisdom on the only appropriate response to the creative labors of others and writes: Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing so little to be reached as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and be just toward them. Letters to a Young Poet — which also gave us Rilke on what it really means to love, the life-expanding value of uncertainty, ... posted on Jul 8 2018 (11,413 reads)

forth as the dawn and your healing will quickly appear.’ (Isaiah 58:8, New International version). In other words, our healing depends on the healing of the world. In this exciting new vision, every progress I make for myself, I make for the whole world. Every polio or cancer patient who overcomes his or her disease through active participation in the healing process helps all others afflicted with the same disease on the whole planet. Every time you replace hatred with love, overcome your nagging desire for the umpteenth ‘last’ drink, replace your usual biting retort to your companion with silence or – why not – kindness, you are helping... posted on Sep 10 2018 (10,719 reads)

traveler running faster. Warrior is born. Battle to be won. Past trauma, future hurt. I’m a child of the dirt and I'm ready to give birth. Planting a dream. Panting, I breathe. Running towards the future with a handful of seeds. Stronger than greed. I am stronger than hate. I stand under the shade of trees planted so long ago. A product of ancestral love, I’m here because my elders danced in the sun. They would give it all up for us and from day one it was practiced like religion to prepare for the ones to come. We are here to give all our love to the ones unborn. ... posted on Sep 23 2018 (15,218 reads)

she had collected from businesses and individuals. “Everything was being done out of my home when I started,” Ramirez says. Recognizing her efforts, the property manager of an abandoned local storefront gave her use of the facility. That’s when her charitable acts became a community shop—Detroiters Helping Each Other (DHEO)—where kindness and generosity, not money, is the currency of exchange. Their motto: Teamwork makes the dream work. “I would love to see us not need this anymore,” she says. “In the meantime it’s showing people the community still cares.” Decades of economic and population decline, a depleted t... posted on Aug 21 2018 (5,860 reads)

day for you. The first question I have would be, what gets you up every day to do what you do? Giang: Every day I wake up because of the sun that comes into the window -- I live on the riverbank. I look forward to getting out of bed and seeing the world. Then, I ask if I am at the place where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to do, being with the people who I want to be with. So it's just a sense of celebration, a sense of, "Yeah! A new day begins." Xiao: I love the image you painted for us. The river, the sunlight... Every day is a new day. I'm curious to know how you became who you are today. Were you just born happy or were there any turning point... posted on Sep 5 2018 (3,658 reads)

was Buddha able to organize in those days a religion that millions follow. This question dramatically changes the plane of inquiry. Other searching questions swiftly follow: Who were the leaders. How were they shaped. How did the disciples of Christ spread their mission around the world. And then a final question that he would ask in a thousand different ways: How do I become a perfect instrument. Live In the Soul and Be Guided By It Dr. V firmly believes that action motivated by love exerts a force and organizing power of its own. He makes the cultivation of unconditional compassion for all beings a daily goal—a Dalai Lama-esque endeavor not always easy to pull off. In ... posted on Oct 1 2018 (9,532 reads)

behavior. The memorial shows with heart-breaking clarity what we humans are capable of if we don’t do the essential work of transforming the ego. The third powerful site for me was the concrete wall that seals off the West Bank from Israel, in effect isolating the Palestinian town of Bethlehem from all the surrounding communities. What a difference from the Wailing Wall, which exudes piety and devotion! This political wall screams of pain and injustice. Ted: I have a deep love for Israel. I grew up with the Middle East prominent in my life. I have long been a supporter of a Jewish state and a Palestinian state. I can be extremely critical of Israeli positions, but some... posted on Oct 13 2018 (5,736 reads)

without water. The land that holds a community well also holds remnants of ancient pottery: plain potsherds buried in sand between pinyon and juniper. Some of the broken pots once held water, the priceless treasure of the desert. This land is dry and crisp with cheatgrass. The monsoon has not arrived. A grass fire has already been sparked, and feverishly extinguished, in my neighborhood. I’ve recently arrived home after eight days on Idaho’s Salmon River, and am still in a mad love trance with water, still dripping, still sensing the body of that muscular river: clear, deep, sinuous, insisting on a mutual embrace. A wild adoration of water accompanied me home to a land of d... posted on Oct 11 2018 (8,158 reads)

to help me. Then I go back to the dragon's place and he says, “I suggest you do more research and find out what you need to say about XYZ.”  So I say, “Okay, what do you think is the essential piece that I need to say?” And the dragon knows exactly what it is that I should be saying in my talk the next day. I always find that process helps me to resolve my inner conflicts, which often take up so much psychic energy. Aryae: That's a beautiful example. I love the dragon. Scilla:  Another example is an extraordinary young woman called Gulalai Ismail living in the Swat Valley in Northwest Pakistan, which is probably one of the most dangerous pla... posted on Feb 15 2019 (7,397 reads)

morning hours of New Year’s Day. In the decade since his tragic death, Grant’s family has helped to create a police citizen review board of BART, established a foundation, and launched a campaign to not only help bridge the gap between police and the community, but also to build a nationwide network of families affected by such violence. “That’s a club that nobody wants to be a part of,” says Grant’s aunt, Beatrice X Johnson. “We can offer them love, support, and steps to getting justice, because we are the only ones that truly know what they’re going through.” The impact of Grant’s death ripped through the country. Mill... posted on Mar 16 2019 (3,414 reads)

the previous few years my father, grandfather, grandmother, father-in-law, and sister-in-law had all died, and I’d also moved across the country and was missing the friends and community I’d left behind. I’d been living with a free-floating state of unease, but I’d largely sidestepped direct encounters with my losses. In his book Weller invites us to view grief as a visitor to be welcomed, not shunned. He reminds us that, in addition to feeling pain over the loss of loved ones, we harbor sorrows stemming from the state of the world, the cultural maladies we inherit, and the misunderstood parts of ourselves. He says grief comes in many forms, and when it is not ex... posted on Feb 26 2019 (61,045 reads)

because I can talk up a storm, I love, even crave, silence. I feel safe in it. I know I won't blurt out something foolish or harmful, something I'll be sorry for. That's probably why if you ask spiritual teachers for advice on how to practice wise speech, they're likely to answer with one word: silence. Like the rain necessary for flowers to bloom, silence is essential for speaking with clarity. A Hindu adage, echoed in other cultures, reflects this relationship: If what you have to say is truthful, kind, and useful, then say it; if not, silence is best. My earliest lesson in the value of silence and the painful consequences of unkind words occurred when I was... posted on Apr 14 2019 (11,625 reads)

approve of me using the present tense in this essay, I think, or what she termed “focused narrative tense”, but I would argue that in this case, the fixed bright beam is necessary. This is about the work. I know what I’m doing, Ursula. You taught me well. To make something well is to give yourself to it, to seek wholeness, to follow spirit. To learn to make something well can take your whole life. It’s worth it.– Steering the Craft Yes. * To nature lovers, pay attention. Matthew Keely over at Tor muses that if circumstances were different, she may have been known as one of the best nature writers. All my life I knew this, sen... posted on Apr 30 2019 (6,816 reads)

living is inherently connected to equitable living and social justice. For Solar Sister, we work with women to amplify their leadership, talent, and hard work. We work on clean energy because we recognise everyone should have clean power, no matter where you live or how much money you make. So for us, we see gratitude as a way to acknowledge the privileges that so many of us are born with and that we seek for all people. How does Solar Sister inspire gratefulness and related actions (love, kindness, compassion, etc.)? At Solar Sister we choose to work at a challenging intersection of women’s empowerment and clean energy in rural Africa. We choose to uplift the hard work a... posted on May 22 2019 (6,043 reads)

to be forgiving, they wanted to be accepting, they wanted to be filled with joy and embrace impermanence, but they couldn’t. So I realized that it’s not a switch that I’m going to turn on at 65 when I retire. You have to do it now. So for me, that ‘nowness’ was very present through that whole process. Q: You said you read spiritual literature when you were younger. Who inspired you the most? NM: Lots of people! I read J. Krishnamurti in my teens, and I love everything he says. He says, “Look, truth is a pathless land.” You can only draw a path between two static points, and truth is constantly changing – it’s emergent, not st... posted on Jul 5 2019 (7,870 reads)

past check out so we can catch the bus?” She noticed that we had used the kitchen and said something strange. “You used the kitchen! That was not allowed! You cannot stay one more minute longer!” And she stood there and watched us pack our stuff. It was about noon.  So, we left and sat on a bench. We were both feeling “What happened there?”      I said to Michael, “I don’t want to leave Finisterre, this place that I really love, like a dog with his tail between his legs. We can’t leave like this.” I saw a house across the bay where we knew the owner. We went over there and the owner said, “You can move... posted on Aug 3 2019 (5,781 reads)

she has learnt to ride the motorcycle and is the proud owner of a Royal Enfield Bullet. With the help of the government, Reinhard and her team has arranged 12 used skateboards, helmets and safety pads for the children. Now, they are looking for artists from around the world to turn skateboards into 'art-boards'. "The invitation has been taken up not just by 'hotshot' artists but also by the local kids," Reinhard said. She is gratified that the children love skateboarding and find it "cool". "To skate and hang out there and participate in our activities, they would do anything -- even going to school," she said. As a result... posted on Sep 10 2019 (3,932 reads)