A Welcome Oasis: The 27th All & Everything International Humanities Conference
I would first and foremost like to follow an age-old injunction that every writer, before giving out any advice or critique to anyone else, should obligingly give an honest account of their journey. So before doing an appraisal of the…
My Ancestor
In my mid-thirties I found myself in Dante’s dark wood, where my way was entirely lost. My marriage was falling apart. My primary mentor, Reynolds Price, seemed to be dying of a weird spinal cancer that was slowly paralyzing him. …
Parabola Podcast Episode 50: FIRE
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from the Fall 2021 issue of Parabola Magazine, Fire, including the lead essay by Sufi master Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, “Fire Season.” Read the full issue by subscribing to Parabola. Parabola Magazine · Parabola Podcast Episode…
Parabola Podcast Episode 49: Young & Old
Our younger selves seed what we become and, as we age, we carry our earlier years with us. A sage elderly woman once told me, “some things you can only understand when you’re old”; yet equally true is that the…
“What Dreams May Come”: Ancient holistic healing at the Asklepion
The word “holistic” is rooted in the ancient Greek word ὅλος (holos), meaning “all, whole, entire.” It is cognate with the English adjective “whole,” a concept which, before modernity, had always been bound up with health and wellness. Tragically, humanity…
The Poet and the Shepherd, by Joshua Boettiger
King David, Leonard Cohen and the Search for Meaning Leonard Cohen at the Arena in Geneva, 27 October 2008 (Wikipedia) Since Leonard Cohen died, I’ve been…
Part of an Ancient Story: A Conversation with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (Full Version)
Llewellyn-Vaughan-Lee photographed by Richard Whittaker One August day recently in Northern California, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee sat down with Parabola in to speak about free will and destiny.…
My Ancestor
In my mid-thirties I found myself in Dante’s dark wood, where my way was entirely lost. My marriage was falling apart. My primary mentor, Reynolds Price, seemed to be dying…
In and Out of Sight, by Padma Hejmadi
By age twelve I’ve learned umpteen natural methods to combat my nearsightedness. These include the dictates of the Bates method via Aldous Huxley: eye exercises, palming, imagining a darkness against…
Wild Imagination, by Geneen Marie Haugen
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Midsummer Night, or Iris, 1876 “Go forth onto the land”—and reanimate the world Descended from the indigenous hunter-gathers of the European arctic, I am an uprooted –…
Agencies, by Anthony Blake
Heracles freeing Prometheus from his torment by the eagle (Attic black-figure cup, c. 500 BC) I must, before I die, find some way to say the…
Polychromatic Mysticism: A Visit to Little Gidding, by J. M. White
T.S. Eliot We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place…
Round and Round but Never There, by Eliezer Shore
Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi If I had to map out the geometry of my life, if I had to plot its trajectory, it would most…
The Very Rev. James Parks Morton (1930-2020)
The Very Rev. James Parks Morton (1930-2020). Photo: stjohndivine.org Parabola regrets the passing of James Parks Morton. He served for many years on the Board of the…
A Free Gift for You in These Challenging Times
These are challenging times for all of us. We at Parabola are offering a free PDF of our “Alone and Together” issue to anyone who would like one, and we…
Sheela Na Gig
She lives on the lintels and doorways of churches all over Europe, especially in Ireland. She looks out in defiance from the stone in which she’s carved: teeth bared, eyes…
“What Dreams May Come”: Ancient holistic healing at the Asklepion
The word “holistic” is rooted in the ancient Greek word ὅλος (holos), meaning “all, whole, entire.” It is cognate with the English adjective “whole,” a concept which, before modernity, had…
A Welcome Oasis: The 27th All & Everything International Humanities Conference
I would first and foremost like to follow an age-old injunction that every writer, before giving out any advice or critique to anyone else, should obligingly give an honest account…
Spiritual Intelligence, by Gerald Epstein
Intelligence is a quality available to choose, as a function of mind that can live itself through us. In this article, I will focus on spiritual intelligence as understood within…