Spring 2023: Transformation
“There are numerous paths to transformation, and teachings on it. Among the many explored in this issue are Zen origami, fairy tales, solitude and prayer, love, cooking and cleaning, Vedanta, and Jungian analysis. All arrive at the same startling conclusion: that the ultimate transformation is for us to become who we really are all along.”
Current Issue
- Abba, tell me a word
The Desert Fathers and Mothers— and their culture of search - Looking for Gold: The alchemy of Cinderella
The hidden teachings of a beloved fairy tale - The Art of Budo
The calligraphy and paintings of the martial arts masters - Testimony
A powerful remembrance of war and peace - In the Hands of the Sea
A rapturous elegy to love
Many people may be surprised to learn that the surface of our brain is actually dark and that this darkness has consequences for our experience of consciousness and transformation itself, including our ultimate transformation at death. It also has consequences for the most subtle form of light we know, the light we associate with religious and spiritual experience. Light and death stand as great rivers in human experience, unavoidable and woven inexplicably…
Online Exclusives
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…
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. …
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…
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…
Four times a year for nearly 50 years Parabola has gathered the wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions to illuminate the central questions of life.
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Upcoming Issues
Summer 2023:
THE COSMOS (submission deadline: March 01, 2023)
Fall 2023:
SAINTS & SINNERS (submission deadline: June 01, 2023)
Winter 2023/2024:
COMFORT & JOY (submission deadline: September 01, 2023)
Please note that these deadlines apply to editorial submissions; our schedule for advertisers may be found here.
The Golden Rule Pledge
All life strives to incorporate the principle of the Golden Rule. Directing our attention toward understanding this most basic principle gives us a reasonable, common sense, and compassionate direction in anything we do. Remembering to use the Golden Rule in our own lives transforms our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with planet Earth.
AN INVITATION TO ALL:
1st—Strive and Incorporate: I will strive to understand the meaning of the Golden Rule for myself and how I wish to incorporate it in my life, recognizing that this effort is sometimes hard and yet always helpful. This is my pledge.
2nd—Invite and Request: I will invite others to do the same: live by the Golden Rule. We can change the world for the better when we apply the Golden Rule in all organizations: environmental, civic, legal, economic, educational, political, or social entities, including religious and faith traditions. This is my petition.
3rd—Stand in Unity: I will join with those on this planet who wish to take real responsibility toward compassion and fairness; and to build an understanding with others about what is to be done based upon the principle of the Golden Rule. Simply stated,
Treat others and the Earth the way you want to be treated
Respect for All Life is the foundation.
The Great Law of Peace, Native American
The Golden Rule Project will continuously make the results of this pledge/petition/proclamation available for all to see and utilize. The more of us who agree and sign, the more power we share as we petition our representatives to live by and apply the Golden Rule in real life situations. This is our Proclamation.