What if you tell the truth of your own experience? And what if in so doing, the wound you sustained is not denied, but liberated? In their 1999-2000 report, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) categorized and/or redefined “truth." Their purpose was to heal trauma and horrifying violence that victims [...]
This great, much needed poem is a potent antidote to despair. I'm also using it to celebrate 12 years for Poem of the Month. According to Kaveh Akbar: "...bewilderment is at the core of every great poem, and in order to be bewildered, you have to be able to wonder." Is this, then, why [...]
Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (399 - 295 B.C.) illuminates the hazards of fixation on outcome. His words are as relevant now as they were centuries ago. Notice how you relate to this. When an archer is shooting for nothing, he has all his skill. If he shoots for a brass [...]
These words in a letter by John Muir entranced me. Immediately, I saw in them as a poem. I share this because it's a beautiful teaching in the art of contemplation. His exquisite attention to detail and the joy he describes in the encounter offer guidance. On the [...]
May this poem wrap you in a cloak of compassionate warmth. May it help you recollect the loveliness of all life. Especially in these times. Amen. The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it [...]
Dedicated James Baldwin on the 94th anniversary of his birth, with gratitude for the way he challenged and changed the perspective of so many of us. Someone asked me recently, “Who’s one person, living or dead, you’d love to share a meal with?” I immediately replied, "James Baldwin." Baldwin opened my mind to dimensions of experience [...]
A stunning tribute to Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2014), who understood the universe itself is poetry. Howe's heart-felt poem is full of ache and wonder and celebration of our shared reality. Do you sometimes want to wake up to the singularity we once were? so compact nobody needed a bed, or food or money — [...]
A mind untethered from the incessant "gotta-do" list and "need ta have" mentality perceives with clarity and aliveness. Actor Jeremy Irons speaks to this perennial wisdom in a very short video, a mere 2:18 minutes (link below). If we want to free ourselves from the ravages of uber-manic modern living, daily quietude [...]
Sanctuaries of Silence, 7:19: Gotps://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005811102/sanctuaries-of-silence.html Sanctuaries of Silence, an award-winning documentary, is an "immersive listening journey into one of the quietest places in North America," the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. Acoustic geologist Gordon Hempton refers to silence as the absence of noise from modern life. This silence, he says, "...isn’t the absence of something [...]
The wee Luckster has actually always known his true nature, while I, on the other hand, have needed help. Read on. I could not lie anymore so I started to call my dog “God.” First he looked confused, then he started smiling, then he even danced. I kept at it: now he doesn’t even bite. [...]