modern culture, pointing to the deeper cycles of life and death, growth and decay, that underpin our individual existences and to which we all ultimately belong, whether or not we recognise it. Nowadays, Stephen has left behind his work with the dying. His book and the documentary film Griefwalker made about him have brought him international renown, and since 2010 he has been running the Orphan Wisdom School in his native Canada. The school is dedicated to the “making of wisdom” for anyone with a “longing to live deeply”, and focuses on self-understanding within the context of culture, history and nature. While he spends much of his time touring and ... posted on Oct 19 2018 (12,214 reads)

This book looks at specific strategies that leaders can use to distribute power, to make the center smaller, and to make leadership something that everybody does. Jyoti: Thank you. I like the concept that leadership is something that everybody does. I remember hearing you once discuss this style of leadership as something essential to Pine Ridge. I also remember you saying that they have rituals associated with a young person coming of age; or rituals for the elderly that embody communal wisdom. Can you say some more about these topics? Kevin: Sure. After I traveled to Pine Ridge a number of times, I began looking at how their community was structured before and after the reservati... posted on Nov 6 2018 (5,751 reads)

and a half millennia ago, the Chinese sage Lao Tzu wrote a poetic and profound short text known as the Tao Te Ching. With uncommon elegance, it crystallized the teachings of Taoist philosophy on such perennial matters as power, happiness, and the source of meaning in human life. As its wisdom radiated West over the centuries, it went on to influence minds as varied as John Cage (who wove it into his pioneering musical aesthetic), Franz Kafka (who considered it the clearest view of reality), Bruce Lee (who anchored his famous metaphor for resilience in it), Alan Watts (who placed it at the center of his philosophy), and Leo Tolstoy (who leaned on it in his pr... posted on Mar 10 2019 (6,887 reads)

quite recognized that until now, maybe. People are beginning to see, well, where are these trees, because we do get a lot of landslides now, by the way. Ms. Tippett:So there’s a really pragmatic component to that religious teaching. Ms. Maathai:Yes. And sometimes in religion, whether it is Christian, Buddhism, or Judaism, we have these teachings we read in the Bible. The Bible tells you to do this. It doesn’t tell you why, but sometimes it’s because there is some coded wisdom … Ms. Tippett:Human wisdom, right. Ms. Maathai:Human wisdom that people have accumulated in the course of generations. Sometimes it becomes a ritual; sometimes it becomes a cultura... posted on May 28 2019 (4,786 reads)

which I just sort of powered. As a younger man I just got on with things. And then—you rattled off a list of the awards and things at the beginning—those all just seemed to come in quick succession. It was easy to feel as though I belonged in a life that was blessed—most things came without too much difficulty. And now they weren’t coming in that way. There were many barriers. And I had to teach myself—or be taught by the pain—that actually there’s wisdom and beauty in every aspect of one’s life, including the things that the perfectionist in me would just previously have wanted to call failures and flaws—to be corrected. Sometime... posted on Dec 2 2019 (5,449 reads)

and has, for my work from very early on, has helped me attune with where people are and help them kind of feel what's emergent in terms of a deeper sense of authenticity and truth. This is kind of the main theme of my earlier book, In Touch, which is the body has a sense of what's authentic and what's true. So the heart area, is one of those portals, one of those areas that has unusual sensitivity in terms of feeling and understanding and what we refer to as "heart wisdom." We access the same awareness through different doors. Through the mind, it brings a sense of clarity, spaciousness, freedom. Through the heart, a sense of deep love and gratitude and app... posted on Dec 23 2019 (8,640 reads)

gold is found—and you could say, just to be poetic about it, in a wound that’s weeping, right? So, this idea from alchemy, that there is this golden aspect of our being, that we’re only going to be able to find, by sort of going into those unpleasant … We call them “symptoms” in the psychological world, but this unwanted experience. So this idea of going with the symptom, meaning that there is some kernel, there’s some essence, there’s some wisdom that’s found inside of difficult experience that we’re not going to be able to find in moments of clarity and moments of peace.  Look, this is very—it’s difficul... posted on Dec 12 2020 (5,769 reads)

found very helpful through my study of Focusing and one of the things I most appreciate about Dr. Gendlin in particular is that he and his cronies were real anarchists. They were basically saying, “If you’re not creating on your own model, then you’re not doing this correctly.” Through my own practice of practicing through the lens of yoga and through the lens of Buddhism, I really began to see this connection between these two wings of awareness—one wing being wisdom, the capacity to see clearly, and the second, this wing of compassion, the capacity to be with. Just as when you begin to slow down and pay attention to what it means to be present, what I f... posted on Aug 1 2022 (4,248 reads)

Mayuka Yamazaki, a high-level business executive, ikebana — the ancient Japanese art of floral creations — is not just about arranging flowers. It is about attuning to the wisdom and beauty of nature and enriching our experience of being human. As a master of the art, she explains that ikebana is a word derived from the verb ikeru (to bring alive) and hana (flowers), or combined, “letting flowers live.” For over 20 years, Mayuka has been letting flowers live, and most recently, she has brought this practice to help restore wholeness to schools, international organizations, communities, and most notably, corporations. As a young child in ... posted on Jan 10 2023 (2,057 reads)

of an ever-flowing spring? If you preserve your self-reliance at every hour, and your kindness, simplicity, and morality. LEO TOLSTOY In the middle of his fifty-fifth year, reflecting on his imperfect life and his own moral failings, Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828–November 20, 1910) set out to construct a manual for morality by compiling “a wise thought for every day of the year, from the greatest philosophers of all times and all people,” whose wisdom “gives one great inner force, calmness, and happiness” — thinkers and spiritual leaders who have shed light on what is most important in living a rewarding and meaningful life... posted on Mar 18 2023 (4,357 reads)

sort of ourselves and also all of ourselves dating all the way back to the very beginning of our own consciousness. We sort of jangle around inside carrying all of these people, and one of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about as I age is it’s not enough to just carry all of that knowledge, and all of that perception, and all of that complexity. It’s, I have to listen to those earlier parts of me, too. I mean, I have to really dial into my intuition and my sort of deep wisdom and my inner voice in a way.  Sometimes it’s painful because the thing about the inner voice, the thing about multitudes is sometimes you’re tuning into things you don&rsquo... posted on Aug 10 2023 (2,880 reads)

and innovative approaches to corporate management and strategic marketing. In 1990 she and Ausubel co-founded the non-profit Bioneers (“Revolution from the Heart of Nature”), producing an annual conference that attracts thousands to San Rafael, California in October. The event’s presentations, panels, keynote addresses and exhibits bring together internationally known  social activists, environmentalists, technological innovators, journalists and indigenous wisdom keepers with an engaged audience to seed and propagate collective change with solutions usually inspired by nature. Bioneers also produces an award-winning radio series, anthology book series, ... posted on Oct 2 2011 (11,908 reads)

wisdom of simplicity is a theme with deep roots. The great value and benefits of living simply are found in all the world's major wisdom traditions. Christian Views Jesus embodied a life of compassionate simplicity. He taught by word and example that we should not make the acquisition of material possessions our primary aim; instead, we should develop our capacity for loving participation in life. The Bible speaks frequently about the need to find a balance between the material and the spiritual side of life: "Give me neither poverty nor wealth." (Proverbs 30:8) "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth ... Store up treasure in heaven ... For wherev... posted on Oct 7 2011 (24,011 reads)

know anything more about life now than I did at the beginning. I am no wiser. It slipped through my fingers." We were stunned into silence. I remember thinking that perhaps he was senile. In retrospect, it was a very remarkable thing he did. He took an opportunity to warn us about the cage of ideas and roles and self-expectations that was closing around us, even as he spoke to us - the cage that would keep us from achieving our good purpose, which is healing. Healing is a matter of wisdom, not of scientific knowledge. So, what is the task of the medical system? Our modern view of disease is that disease is centered in the body. The older view of disease is that it is soul lo... posted on Mar 23 2012 (50,872 reads)

on my head! My desk was a submerged mess. Muck was everywhere along the path of destruction. Fortunately, my computer and keyboard were spared and no one else had yet arrived in the office to bear witness to what I had to say in the wake of this mini-disaster. As I began to mop up the mess, I noticed that the area worst hit on my desk was a valued collection of some of my favorite notes and quotes that I had accumulated over the years. Of course, my attention was drawn to these wisdom sayings and I realized that I hadn’t looked at most of the sayings for some time. Was there something to be learned from this personal microcosmic incident? Was my incident in some small ... posted on May 6 2012 (9,369 reads)

the love of honey has to do with ancient wisdom, our capacity for hope, and the future of technology. Every once in a while, we all get burned out. Sometimes, charred. And while a healthy dose of cynicism and skepticism may help us get by, it’s in those times that we need nothing more than to embrace life’s promise of positivity with open arms. Here are seven wonderful books that help do just that with an arsenal ranging from the light visceral stimulation of optimistic design to the serious neuroscience findings about our proclivity for the positive. THE LITTLE PRINCE Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, one of our must-read&nb... posted on Jun 5 2012 (39,987 reads)

January this year, I flew out to attend my first full session of the Orphan Wisdom school, founded by Stephen Jenkinson and his wife Nathalie. The term “orphan” is a odd one to combine with wisdom, a juxtaposition that Stephen is fond of replicating according to the 9 months I’ve known him. An orphan after all, is not someone who has no parents. An orphan is one who does not know their parents. On the surface, it’s hard to remember exactly what transpired during those seven days. I gathered in the Ger (a traditional Mongolian yurt) each day on Stephen’s ice-covered land, hugging the Bonnechere River, joined by other scholars. We discussed the ancient ... posted on Aug 7 2013 (33,431 reads)

for A Wild Love For the World with Joanna Macy November 1, 2012 Krista Tippet, host: I first discovered the philosopher of ecology Joanna Macy as a translator, of the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. We'll take that exquisite poetry as a lens on Joanna Macy's wisdom on the great dramas of our time: ecological, political, personal. Rilke sought the shape of meaning in a now-vanished central Europe at the turn of the last century. Joanna Macy's vision took shape in crucibles of the 20th century. I spoke with her in 2010 in a moment not wholly unlike this — after a man-made national ecological disaster: the Gulf Oil Spill. Now in her 80s, Joanna Macy s... posted on Nov 3 2013 (34,606 reads)

hoping to find reasons for my baby’s stillbirth. Staggering through a minefield of hard questions and partial answers, I began to make my way toward healing. Dreams of my baby gradually faded, but for a time it seemed as if the grief itself would never lift. My mother had once given me a quotation from Aeschylus that spoke directly to these hours: “And even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” At some point, I accepted the pain falling drop by drop and prayed for the wisdom to come. I had known pain before. Relationships had broken, illnesse... posted on Jun 7 2014 (21,327 reads)

Do we also see that there are hazards? The permanent adolescence of the human being means we may be subject to irrational, impulsive behavior. Maybe our laws and our institutions should help reflect that a bit more. If we don't play, what are the consequences? We're more reptilian. We're more savage. We're more — we lack some of those features that I've mentioned earlier in the program. Ms. Tippett: I think that in making a connection between play and maturity and wisdom, because you know that's something I hear, you're affirming — I think one of the most surprising experiences I've had of enjoying growing older, you know, sort of heading into... posted on Jul 18 2014 (31,674 reads)