I have been thinking that we may have reached the chronic, as opposed to acute, stage of our forest fire saga. For many of us, evacuation orders and alerts are rescinded, at least for now. For others, there’s at least a system to check on livestock and land. People are making plans to sustain a …
One predictable result of a good retreat is the scramble at the end when people start asking, “How can we keep this great community going?” Then follows a frenzied exchange of emails and phone numbers. Equally predictable is that any community formed simply for its own continuance inevitably falls apart. I find this depressing. I …
There’s a new mental disorder stalking the western world: Nature Deficit Disorder. Our widespread disconnection from the natural world—most of us can’t distinguish one tree from another, don’t walk in the woods, don’t look at the stars, rarely stand in an unaltered landscape—is making us sick. The list of effects I found in the official …
Street Walkers Ten years ago, in our lake, at the mouth of the bay where we locals swim, four young people drowned. I have not felt like I could tell this story. It is, for some families, a private and forever grief upon which I have no right to intrude. But parts of that story …
Our daughter-in-law, Jane, interpreted the saying “It takes a village to raise a child” liberally. Of course, in these days, municipal boundaries are a bit wider than they used to be. A day’s plane journey appears to mark the village limits for our family. Which is why you would have found me in Washington, D.C. a …
Wide Spot: Cellular Life In 1837, the botanist Matthias Schleiden and the zoologist Theodor Schwann had dinner together. Comparing their research while they ate, they realized that there was a deep uniformity between Schleiden’s plant structures and Schwann’s animal structures. Both plant and animal tissues were built of cells: autonomous, independent cells, living their own …
Songyuan asked, Why can’t clear-eyed Bodhisattvas sever the red thread? When I was in my early thirties, a ragtag group of friends and family assembled weekly in my living room to meditate. Our teacher was a recovering alcoholic and self-identified Sufi who taught us glorious chants. We’d sing and sing and sink into a silence …
When my little brother died, I found myself utterly alone. I felt like I was trapped in a transparent box, invisible to everyone but me. No matter what I said or did, I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t touch anyone. And no matter what anyone else said or did, it didn’t touch me. The senseless …
Contemplative House Church meets (most) every other Sunday at 10 a.m., online. We gather with a check-in time, followed by silent prayer, scripture reading and discussion, and a final prayer, with music interspersed. If you are interested in joining us, please email us here for the link.
Contemplative House Church meets (most) every other Sunday at 10 a.m., online. We gather with a check-in time, followed by silent prayer, scripture reading and discussion, and a final prayer, with music interspersed. If you are interested in joining us, please email us here for the link.
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