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 (31,755 reads)

often the opposite is equally true: It requires an enormous amount of energy to remain separate from the rest of our human family. Our separateness is a painful fiction. Each of us is necessary. When we isolate and withdraw from humanity through our technologies, our imagined differences, our fear of being hurt or rejected, we actually deny ourselves the very love, comfort and nurture so readily available from those who love and care for us. Even worse, we deny others our gifts, our wisdom, the fruits of our life that we have to offer, what we bring to the common table, for the common wealth of all. Our global family aches for our companionship. As we seek political, social, e... posted on Sep 4 2014 (19,607 reads)

drinks? Did they eat fish and chips? Did they have indoor or outdoor plumbing? What time of life had they started school? 1:54      And when her carbon copied questionnaire started to come back, one thing and one thing only jumped out with the statistical clarity of a kind that most scientists can only dream of. By a rate of two to one, the children who had died had had mothers who had been X-rayed when pregnant. Now that finding flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom held that everything was safe up to a point, a threshold. It flew in the face of conventional wisdom, which was huge enthusiasm for the cool new technology of that age, whi... posted on Jun 10 2015 (27,615 reads)

couldn't help wondering as I'm reading you and reading about the life you've crafted, you really have chosen a simplicity that — I think you even use the word “luxurious.” And you talk about being with Leonard Cohen and he uses the word “luxurious,” so — you know, and in such a contrast to the you at 29, living the American dream. But also, I couldn't help wondering how much of what you've been able to choose and create also is about the wisdom that comes just with growing older, with age, that stillness becomes more natural and more enjoyable somehow, I think, inherently. I'm not sure everyone leans into that. In fact, I know the... posted on Jul 10 2015 (20,036 reads)

teenager’s feet. His would-be attacker’s fist was raised in the air poised to strike, but he froze. Completely froze. Others around him fell silent. Imagine if you’re about to pummel someone and he bows to you with great compassion. The monks continued bowing right past the dumbstruck gang. Humility is seen as a sign of weakness, in today’s culture, when, in reality, it is the gateway for an unparalleled and profound strength. We see examples of this across all wisdom traditions. In Sikhism, Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth of their ten gurus, offered this credo to all the warriors: “Humility is my mace; becoming the dust of everybody’s feet is my sword... posted on Jul 7 2015 (116,470 reads)

understanding: A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you. […] The one you love, your anam cara, your soul friend, is the truest mirror to reflect your soul. The honesty and clarity of true friendship also brings out the real contour of your spirit. Anam Cara is a soul-stretching read in its entirety, exploring such immutable human concerns as love, work, aging, and death through the timeless lens of ancient Celtic wisdom. Complement it with poet and philosopher David Whyte on the true meaning of friendship, love, and heartbreak, then treat yourself to O’Donohue’s magnificentOn Being conversation wit... posted on Oct 21 2015 (20,848 reads)

well as my light,’ the shadow’s power is put in service of the good.” In 1974, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Oxford alumnus Chögyam Trungpa founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado — a most unusual and emboldening not-for-profit educational institution named after the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa and intended as a 100-year experiment of combining the best methodologies of Western scholarship with the most timeless tenets of Eastern wisdom, fusing academic and experiential learning with contemplative practice. Under the auspices of its Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, founded by Allen Ginsberg, the university host... posted on Nov 3 2015 (59,602 reads)

Tippett is an award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author whose works focus on faith, ethics, and moral wisdom. She is the host of the radio program and podcast On Being. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Krista discuss how journalism can be an art that drives healing, as well as the difference between being driven by a mission and being driven by an agenda. They speak on the virtue of hope and how it contrasts with optimism. Finally, Krista and Tami talk about the impetus for societal change, how that change happens in the margins, and the responsibility we have to see it shepherded to its fruition.  Tami Simon: Yo... posted on Dec 31 2016 (13,074 reads)

that they are not there anymore, or I feel that they should be there for you… this is this clinging, this is attachment. You can tell a person is not emotionally or spiritually evolved when they cling to things like this and the expense of living in and appreciating the moment. When you are down it’s always only temporary. And yet suffering or being down are incredible opportunities. Cause you learn about yourself. You learn about other people. Its an incredible gift to garner wisdom from. And so even though I have experiences where I am down, where things have not worked out well, I also sit down as ask, 'What has happened here? What can I learn from this? Can it be do... posted on Feb 1 2017 (11,934 reads)

by introducing an ominous threat that seems way beyond what the main characters are capable of dealing with. If you ever feel the odds are stacked against you and doubt whether you're up to the challenge, then you join a time-honored tradition of protagonists in this genre. Heroes almost always start out seeming distinctly underpowered. What makes the story is the way the central characters are not put off. Instead, their tale sets them on a quest in search of the allies, tools, and wisdom needed to improve their chances. We can think of ourselves as on a similar journey; part of the adventure of the Great Turning involves seeking the company, sources of support, tools, and insig... posted on Mar 19 2017 (17,871 reads)

it can be said that we are always practicing something. Most often, we are practicing what is habitual, familiar, and mostly unconscious… All the great wisdom traditions teach us that life is precious; that what is happening right now IS life, not some future destination, time, or state of mind. “Carpe Diem,” they say, implying that we must take none of this moment, and its opportunities, for granted. But as we all know, this is easier said than done, especially when our lives deliver us genuine challenges to living out this simple and profound philosophy. Fortunately, wisdom traditions, including gratefulness, offer a wide range ... posted on May 18 2017 (21,261 reads)

to you — may be entirely different from what it means to me. The kids are often disappointed, even shocked. I think they see me as irresponsible. I know their teachers do. They may be right. Maybe all writing, even literature, is not an end in itself but a means to an end other than itself. But I couldn’t write stories or poetry if I thought the true and central value of my work was in a message it carried, or in providing information or reassurance, offering wisdom, giving hope. Vast and noble as these goals are, they would decisively limit the scope of the work; they would interfere with its natural growth and cut it off from the mystery which is the dee... posted on Jun 27 2017 (8,111 reads)

she finally found herself standing in Jeong Kwan’s kitchen. “In her kitchen for the first time, I was swept immediately into the warmth and bustle of a morning at Chunjinam…  I was in Jeong Kwan’s kitchen. I tried not to pass out. ”  Kwan is full of warmth and laughter in her kitchen, yet has a focus on her food preparation that is akin to meditation.  People come not only for her good food, but because she is a force of love in her simple wisdom.  The Garden is the Kitchen Writer Jeff Gordinier is a New York Times writer who was lucky enough to make a trip to meet Kwan. In an article about his expedition in 2015, he illumina... posted on Jul 26 2017 (17,116 reads)

I think what people are calling "compassion fatigue" is a kind of “empathetic overload” where they get so entangled in the suffering of another that they can't separate themselves out. Compassion is something a little bit different than that. Empathy is "I feel with,” and compassion is "I feel for." So, I can sit here and have an empathetic relationship with you and the suffering that you've experienced, but I can also have access to my own wisdom and skillfulness so I can be some real support in actually eliminating or at least reducing the suffering in your life. The other is to realize is that I come from a Buddhist tradition, and ... posted on Jan 26 2018 (31,103 reads)

deeds, beautifully explained, can have on you. He said, “Does it not elevate his sentiments, does it not dilate the breast and elevate the sentiment” — a sort of a feeling of opening — “as much as any example in real history can furnish?” And he talked about how it makes us more open, and then new things are possible. Ms. Tippett: It seems like he almost had an intuition of what’s being learned in social psychology now, or that he had a wisdom. Mr. Haidt: Jefferson was a fantastic — Jefferson and Ben Franklin. We had a few founders who were great psychologists. Ms. Tippett: Yeah. So let’s just talk about y... posted on Sep 21 2018 (17,254 reads)

reputation as much for its pioneering approach to student life as for its innovative courses. Students experience what is described by some as ‘deep immersion’ as they explore themes around ecology, economics and spirituality, while sharing the responsibilities and the struggles of living together as a community. One of the college’s founders, Satish Kumar, believes that this approach has lifelong benefits: “We are not just in a pursuit of knowledge but also of wisdom,” says the former Jain monk and now peace activist: “Community learning is learning in a collective way with a collective consciousness and collective ideas, but it’s als... posted on Dec 11 2017 (8,959 reads)

large-scale perturbations in ecosystems. When we finally understand the difficulty of predicting the outcome of any large scale perturbation, we’ll approach them much more cautiously—as the Iroquois Confederacy advised, with an eye to the seventh generation. It’s exceedingly difficult to anticipate how an action taken today will affect people seven generations out; not many actions will pass that test. We may still make mistakes—all of us do on the way to wisdom—but they generally won’t have the same degree of severity as they do when we assume we know what we are doing. An example is our response to invasive plant species. I often say t... posted on Mar 9 2018 (24,491 reads)

Watts began introducing Eastern teachings into the West with his clarion call for presence as the antidote to anxiety, Chödrön points to the present moment — however uncertain, however difficult — as the sole seedbed of wakefulness to all of life: This very moment is the perfect teacher, and it’s always with us. […] We can be with what’s happening and not dissociate. Awakeness is found in our pleasure and our pain, our confusion and our wisdom, available in each moment of our weird, unfathomable, ordinary everyday lives. Illustration by Lisbeth Zwerger from a special edition of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales Remainin... posted on Mar 13 2018 (17,341 reads)

it’s extremely intense in Jerusalem, and in many places in the world where you work, Lucas, but it’s here now too, that there’s all this fear all around. And it’s like our different fears are pitted against each other. And these different kinds of fear from living in different parts of the country — what’s happening with the economy; what’s happening with — we can talk about all these layers — immigration policy — I wonder what wisdom you have about the spiritual discipline of being a citizen in this moment. And I think part of it is that those of us who do have the privilege to be standing on the solid ground, to not be imm... posted on Aug 19 2018 (5,342 reads)

like Reloveution. José Juan is a permanent source of inspiration for those who meet him. - Joserra G. José Juan Martinez (JJ) is no stranger to success. An industrial engineer by training he built an impressive career at Bekaert, a multinational automobile company. But despite a string of professional accomplishments, when he hit 40, the predominant feeling he experienced was that of emptiness. Seeking to address this void he began an exploration of the world’s wisdom traditions that continues to this day -- and alongside his personal evolution he’s also built valuable bridges across geographies, cultures and fields of endeavor. In this edited inter... posted on Sep 2 2018 (15,019 reads)