territory that decapitates trees, that displaces other human bodies, and I see this from a very deep sense of racialized or deep understanding of racialization, that there were people around the world that were not allowed access into that wanted category of the human. They were deemed not quite human. Black bodies, brown bodies around the world were deemed, “You not quite there yet.” I don’t want to go into cardiology or eugenics, or even the advent of confirmatory science and empiricism. It’s the idea that there are some that are really human, that have reached the rational heights, the transcendent heights of being human, and there are some who are not q... posted on Jun 16 2022 (2,472 reads)

actions, such as judging distances when driving — and slow thinking — deliberation to thoroughly examine a matter, to understand all possibilities, before coming to any conclusion. It may be as simple as parking a car in a tight space or making a decision about a business strategy. Thinking fast means the mind will turn to prior solutions. Thinking slow allows new ideas to emerge. There is a general perception that slowing down is wasting time or indicates laziness, while science suggests it is an important way to replenish the mind and generate new ideas. It is possibly more productive than communicating at the rate of 1,000,000,000 bits a second on one’s digita... posted on Aug 4 2022 (3,803 reads)

modern world is surprisingly different. Somehow we have accepted the idea that survival is no longer dependent on how we relate to our natural environment. Instead we have been made to believe that a few clever or powerful people can and should make those decisions for us. And over the past very few centuries these powerful people have created enormously complicated systems based on supposedly scientific theories of government. And this took place at the same time that science and technology made it possible to make and use ever more energy to drive a civilization that allows a few of us to live lives of luxury and ease unknown in the entire history of humankind. Th... posted on Aug 17 2022 (3,660 reads)

matters—not only for our own personal calmness and clarity—but also for the shared work of healing our world: building a better social, economic, political, and ecological future. In Part Two—The Science of Silence—we’ll look at the importance of transcending auditory, informational, and internal noise for our physical health and cognition. We’ll investigate the meaning of ‘silence in the mind,’ looking to the frontiers of contemporary neuroscience. In Part Three—The Spirit of Silence—we’ll explore the promise of silence as a pathway to awareness, empathy, creativity, and ethics. We’ll then look at why virtually a... posted on Oct 4 2022 (3,209 reads)

“regulated hypothermia.” They gradually lower their body temperature by 12 to 15 degrees, which in turn slows their metabolism and the rate they burn up body fat. At the same time, the chickadees repeatedly flex their chest muscles to generate heat, which is then trapped within their puffed-up feathers. Essentially they shiver through the night. In doing so, they use up most or all of the fat reserves they gained through their prodigious eating the previous day. As Alaska science writer Ned Rozell has pointed out, the human equivalent of what black-caps do would be a 150-pound person gaining an additional 15 pounds during a single day’s time—and then losing... posted on Oct 18 2022 (7,287 reads)

such practices into the rhythm of daily life. For example, adherents of some religions offer prayers of thanksgiving every morning before rising and every night before lying down to sleep. Others offer thanks throughout the day, such as before meals. Other less frequent special events, such as births, deaths and marriages, may also be heralded by such prayers. When Defoe depicted Robinson Crusoe making thanksgiving a daily part of his island life, he was anticipating findings in social science and medicine that would not appear for hundreds of years. Yet he was also reflecting the wisdom of religious and philosophical traditions that extend back thousands of years. Gratitude is one ... posted on Nov 13 2022 (4,995 reads)

a hummingbird be able to be a plaintiff in court? According to philosopher Martha Nussbaum, the answer is yes. In her new book, Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility, the distinguished professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago offers a new theory of animal justice that is meant to inform our law and policy. Her theory is based on the “capabilities approach,” which looks not only at the harm done to animals, but whether we’re infringing on their freedom to live full lives. Granting animals the rights, under the law, that they deserve has never been so urgent, Nussbaum contends. Animals are being threatened as a direct ... posted on Jan 18 2023 (2,546 reads)

with awareness of perspective; the importance of credible evidence; making connections; “what if” conjectures; and finally the questions, “So what?” and “Does it matter?” We taught by covering less and uncovering more. We wanted students to be able to distinguish between astrology and astronomy, and we thought they weren’t going to do that just by learning more facts about the moon’s phases but rather by developing a deeper appreciation for science that can help overcome our natural superstitions, our susceptibility to the latest fads, the latest guaranteed scientific solution or your money back. It was less important to us whether they ... posted on Feb 13 2023 (2,467 reads)

Shamasundar (left) with June Jordan (right). Photo courtesy Sriram Shamasunder. I remember being a kid with shaky confidence. I entered the University of California, Berkeley, as a freshman, a child of Indian immigrants, keeping my head down and taking primarily science classes. To fill a humanities requirement, I meandered into a class called Poetry for the People, a course taught and conceived by June Jordan, the great poet and activist.  Even though I fulfilled the requirement in just one semester, I stayed in the class for two years, not so much because I thought I was a poet, but because June—as I later came to call her—made me feel that even a youn... posted on Feb 14 2023 (2,892 reads)

was pointless. The world is burning so fast— what can music do? My passion? My music? How is this going to have any impact on what I’ve just heard? In the face of climate crisis and looming world disaster, what do I do? Give up? These were really scary feelings. But when I talked to Ron about it he said, “No, Duncan. Don’t give up. You are doing the good work.” Now hold on a second. I did not expect him to say that. Here I was taking climate science seriously. And here he was was taking music just as seriously. Maybe he was seeing something in music that perhaps I wasn’t taking as seriously as I should. What was clear fro... posted on Feb 27 2023 (2,123 reads)

his deep-souled wisdom on how to see more clearly, the myth of productivity, the greatest gift of growing old, the sacredness of public libraries, the creative benefits of keeping a diary, and the only worthwhile definition of success — with Seneca on true and false friendship, Kahlil Gibran on the building blocks of meaningful connection, Henry Miller on the relationship between creativity and community, Lewis Thomas on the poetic science of why we are wired for connection, and this lovely vintage illustrated ode to friendship. ... posted on Mar 27 2023 (5,500 reads)

9, 2020 As we grapple with the first global pandemic lockdown of our lifetime, our daily routines have been upended, and it’s difficult to keep up with new changes. Many of us are overwhelmed by the precarious nature of our health, our loved ones’ well-being, and our financial security. But in the midst of uncertainty and fear, inspiring videos are emerging from the countries most affected by coronavirus—Iranian doctors and nurses dancing in hospitals and Italian residents singing from their balconies. This footage not only uplifts the spirit of those in close proximity, it also brightens the mood of people watching from around the world.  ... posted on Apr 18 2023 (25,872 reads)

Foundation for Embodied Medicine to bring this wisdom to patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. She also teaches embodiment to the Bay Area Young Survivors Group of the Cancer Help Program at Commonweal, co-founded by Michael Lerner, who is a longtime friend and elder to the ServiceSpace community. On a personal note, Deb is a dear friend and a member of Mysteria [laughs], an intimate group of four of us docs who explore intuition and other more expansive realms beyond which science can currently measure. Dr. Deborah Cohan, thank you for being with us today. Deborah: It is such an honor. Thank you, Cynthia. Thank you, Kristin. Thank you, Preeta. Thank you to all t... posted on Apr 21 2023 (3,729 reads)

swimming, sloping, elusive something about the dark-bluish tint of the iris which seemed still to retain the shadows it had absorbed of ancient, fabulous forests where there were more birds than tigers and more fruit than thorns, and where, in some dappled depth, man’s mind had been born.–Vladimir Nabakov In grocery stores iris buds are bundled together, like perfectly sharpened purple-pointed pencils, like slender indigo-edged spears, like a quiver of Spring arrows poised to unbend unhappy bents of mind. Take a sheaf home, place it in a glass vase and by morning, from poised purple-tipped silence, spill sepals and petals frothy with filaments and ruffles, loquaciou... posted on Apr 24 2023 (3,091 reads)

a good cut to the earth voice. But if I bring that ridiculous kind of version of that voice into how I talk every day, this is how my earth voice sounds. And it has a kind of gravitas. Right? It's good for projecting authority. It's good for getting grounded. This is the Om. [Barbara chants "Om"]. It can just calm your whole system. And it's also good for connecting you to your gut instinct, that animal part of us that gets pushed away. And now science knows what grandma always knew, which is we have another brain in our guts. And if we're spinning out in our neocortex all the time, we may miss the message from our animal intelligence. S... posted on Apr 28 2023 (2,540 reads)

from The Counter 11.08.2018 A conversation with Leah Penniman, author of the new book Farming While Black. Near the end of a five-hour delivery run, Lytisha Wyatt rings an apartment in Albany, New York’s South End. A little girl answers the door, furtively accepting the box of organic produce. It’s one of 97 being delivered throughout the area, and the last of the season, courtesy of Soul Fire Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. As Wyatt walks away, the girl’s mother leans out the second floor window. “Thank you so much! Thank you for everything! Is this the last week? Thank you!” Every week during harvest... posted on May 13 2023 (1,763 reads)

Brown, bestselling author, researcher, and University of Houston professor, was surrounded by creativity as a child. “I grew up in a pink stucco house in New Orleans where my mom was always a maker. All the curtains in our house were homemade, all the art in our house was from us kids. I had dresses that matched my mom’s that matched my dolls’.”  “I never thought about creativity as an act separate from self,” says Brown, who has spent the last two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. “To be human is to be creative.” Brown’s environment changed abruptly, however, when her family move... posted on May 29 2023 (3,129 reads)

heating up. We can end up being burned alive, without realizing it. That has certainly been my experience working in the big, complex institutions of our modern era. Fresh on the heels of America’s successful Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, the educational institutions for my Generation X – beginning in elementary school, at least in the conventional system – encouraged us to think big and shoot for the stars – we were taught to believe in the power of reason, science, and the analytical mind to break down, debate, and solve massive problems. It was an overwhelming belief in the power of the mind – an abiding faith that we can think our way through an... posted on May 30 2023 (8,551 reads)

Tippett, host:It has ever and always been true, as David Whyte reminds us, that so much of human experience is a conversation between loss and celebration. This “conversational nature of reality” — indeed, this drama of vitality  — is something we have all been shown, willing or unwilling, in these years. Many have turned to David Whyte for his gorgeous, life-giving poetry and his wisdom at the interplay of theology, psychology, and leadership, his insistence on the power of a “beautiful question” and of everyday words amidst the drama of work, as well as the drama of life. The notion of “frontier” — inner frontiers, oute... posted on Jun 18 2023 (4,193 reads)

is much more interested in is much more disruptive. "A lot of the things that I'm celebrating, like babies. music and donkeys, are really beautiful confusers of certainty." A graduate of the University of Iowa's MFA program, Amy currently resides in Bozeman, Montana, where she is a creative writing and nonfiction instructor at Montana State University. Rumor has it (and if it doesn't it should) that in this role she primarily instructs her lucky students on the art and science of liberating their pens from instruction. "I grew up in a church that taught you all the rules. How to go to heaven, here's what to follow -- and it's all dogmatic," says Am... posted on Jun 21 2023 (1,952 reads)