The Transforming Power of Great Sorrow
A vibrant meditation on Pietà, grief, and growth
Longing for Being
At home with past, present, future
The Unanswered Question
From absence to presence
Lament and Praise for the Earth
A passionate prayer for what is lost and what is found
Searching for Private Driscoll
Paying respects
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The Buddha Calling the Buddha, by Kinrei Bassis
Odilon Redon, Buddha Walking Among the Flowers, 1905. “Most of us are like a fish caught in a hook. The Buddha is trying to reel us in; the hook holding us is our deep spiritual longing. We spend most of the time struggling, not wanting to be reeled in, not wanting…
A Parabola Bestiary: The Cow, by Pamela Travers
Remembering the sacred mother animal
Meeting Krishnamurti, by Ravi Ravindra
Memorable encounters with an extraordinary being
Portfolio: Richard Whittaker
One Autumn day in 1976 a question appeared: if I took a photo of something I’d seen that touched my feelings, would the feeling return later when I looked at the print?
Golden Temple, by Neil Patel
Julian Nyca, Golden Temple, Amritsar, India, Wikimedia Commons The night Nimo, Jay, and I arrived in Amritsar, India, we made a cursory survey of the Sikh Golden Temple, wandering around the outer area and meditating at its river banks. The next morning, we woke up at 3:00 A.M. to get there…
Parabola Podcast Episode 35: Change & the Changeless
Story Editor Betsy Cornwell shares Jim White’s moving essay “The Esoteric Shakespeare” and Scottish and Chinese fairy tales, as well as wise advice from Rainer Maria Rilke, in this episode of Parabola magazine’s free monthly podcast.
To Worship the Life Force, by Edward Bruce Bynum
The essence of African religion
Meeting Remarkable Trees, by Keith Badger
What our arboreal friends can teach us
The Miracle of Consciousness, by Christian Wertenbaker
The science and spirit of awareness
Healing the Wounds of War
In contrast to our modern situation, traditional and indigenous peoples had extensive spiritually and communally based warrior medicine, practices and lineages. […]
Participators of Sacred Things, by Roger Lipsey
The structure of traditional art
The Wizard of Oz as a Parable, by Lillian Firestone
What makes the Wizard of Oz an iconic American tale that has entered into the language? Some expressions are so well known they need no further explanation, as for example “You’re not in Kansas anymore”.
Speechless, by Tracy Cochran
A meditation teacher loses her voice—and finds her way
The LSD Experience, by Laurence Rosenthal
A celebrated composer hears celestial music
Who Am I?, by James George
The Tamils of Sri Lanka called him the Sage of Jaffna.
Portfolio: Amanda Means
In the Hands of the Sea, by Surnaí Molloy
A rapturous elegy to love
Walking the Maze, by Pamela Travers
The way in, the way out
Isaac Newton: Magician, by Soraya Field Fiorio
Newton’s inward search for hidden truth
Who Decides History’s Future?, by Alexandra Zaleski
Of might and right, and the future of the world’s art
La Llorona, by Edward W. Wood, Jr.
A visitation in the night
Befriending the Body, by Patty de Llosa
A faithful companion
The Night of the Hessian Soldier, by Tracy Cochran
A haunted inn inspires deeper questions
The Rusalki, by Jane L. Mickelson
Beautiful, mysterious, deadly: mermaids of Russian folklore
The Shattering of Dependency, by Patty de Llosa
Invaluable advice on cutting the apron strings
The Call of the Earth, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Reconnecting to the sacred, from a Sufi teacher
To Try To Have Some Healing, A Conversation with Silas Hagerty
Silas Hagerty was a young filmmaker in his twenties when I met him at a Servicespace retreat. […]
Exploring the Frontiers of Science: A Conversation with Leo Piilonen
A conversation with physicist Leo Piilonen
The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition
The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition by William C. Chittick. Foreword by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Reviewed by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos.
The Rose, by Malcolm Guite
A white rose opens in a quiet arbour
Where I sit reading Dante, Paradise
unfolding in me, opens hour by hour […]
The Transforming Power of Great Sorrow
A vibrant meditation on Pietà, grief, and growth
The Esoteric Shakespeare, by Michael White
“All the world’s a stage.”
Parabola Podcast, Episode 5: “Embodiment”
Story editor Betsy Cornwell looks at our Summer 2014 Issue, EMBODIMENT, in Parabola Magazine’s monthly podcast.
“I Will Teach You” by Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim
To meet her destiny, she needed a miracle
I Have A Suitcase, by Lee van Laer
I have a suitcase
Packed with many things. …
Whence Cometh Our Help: An Exploration with Roger Lipsey (Video)
Are we the generation that will lose the Earth?
Love and Compassion in Meditation and Action, by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Love and compassion are qualities essential to our stature as true human beings, and jointly might be considered the capacities that most distinguish us from the animals, except that animals sometimes display more kindness towards one another—and towards people—than we do.
Rated “Condemned”, by Jean Iversen
Tasting the forbidden fruit
Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulness and the roots of war
The Privilege of Living: A Conversation with Viral Mehta, by Pavithra Mehta
In mid-August 2015, Viral Mehta, a co-founder of ServiceSpace.org, was diagnosed with an acute form of bone marrow suppression. In the passages below, his wife, Pavithra. “Pavi” Mehta, offers an update on Viral’s condition and speaks with him about his challenges and recovery.
Out of the Dark Depths, by Lane Igoudin
Within a Mayan burial cave, understanding comes
Parabola: The Search for Meaning : Free Complete Digital Index, 1976-2019
The Gurdjieff Foundation of Illinois has generously assembled a free searchable index for Parabola magazine readers.
The Natural Order of Things, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
A Sufi master on finding balance in an unstable world
You Would Run for Your Life, by Tracy Cochran
A mother and daughter trace their roots to the Vikings—and to those they conquered
Parabola Commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the arrival of Paramahansa Yogananda in America
With a gaze of majestic power, the master electrified me with a glimpse of his cosmic consciousness.
Spinning Straw, by Tracy Cochran
Naming Rumpelstiltskin, and the path to self-knowledge
“Find Noor Sher. Noor Sher Knows.”, by James Opie
A remarkable man of old Afghanistan
Believing in Nothing, by Peter Coyote
Sage advice from a welcome voice
Voice and Freedom, by Danielle Woerner
Expressing our essential self
Gastronomy in Ancient China, by Donald Harper
Cooking for the sage king
Our April Gift to You: A Free PDF of “The Search for Meaning”
These are challenging times for all of us. We at Parabola are offering a free PDF of our “The Search for Meaning” issue from Spring 2017 to anyone who would like one, and we hope you will find comfort in its pages. Click here to access your free PDF. You can also purchase a print…
Friendship, by Judith Valente and Br. Paul Quenon
A journalist and a monk exchange revelatory letters
Kuzunoha
Kuzunoha is a popular figure in Japanese folklore
Wordly Happiness / Buddhist Happiness, by Mu Soeng
Happiness is everywhere. Not that anyone is claiming to be really, truly happy but everyone is talking about wanting to be happy. Wanting to be happy is not news. […]
The Great Unknown Is Me, Myself: A Conversation with Jacob Needleman
Jacob Needleman’s voice has been prominent in the conversation about man’s inner possibilities for some forty years.
Pure Gold, by Margaret Wolff
A conversation with Brother Satyananda of Self-Realization Fellowship
Where Do We Go From Here?, by Trevor Stewart
Reflections on the 2020 All and Everything International Humanities Conference and beyond
The Endless Vows, by Mark Nepo
Four statements to transform your life
The Compassionate Warrior, by Elsa Marston
This was the time in his life that Abd el-Kader had intended to devote to peaceful pursuits such as prayer, teaching, and charitable deeds. He might have turned his back on the growing tensions in Damascus: It would not have been unreasonable. Yet he could not escape the world around him, or the role that…
Death, The Dark Brain and Transformations in Light, by Edward Bruce Bynum
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…
The Zen Master, by Gregory Shepherd
After a three-month stint in the Bay Area, during which time I smoked a lot of weed, drank a lot of beer, and sat a total of twice at San Francisco Zen Center, I returned to Koko An in early October 1971 in order to participate in a seven-day sesshi […]
Free, by Paul Reps
Paul Reps (1895–1990) was an American artist, poet, and author best known for his pioneering book that helped introduce Zen to the West, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Parabola is honored to have the opportunity to […]
The Mystic Vision of Hildegard von Bingen, by Mary A. Osborne
The great saint follows her heart to the Divine
Like Snow, by Wendell Berry
Suppose we did our work
like the snow, quietly, quietly.
leaving nothing out.
—Wendell Berry
Parabola Podcast Episode 32: Animals
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Parabola Bestiary: Bear” and Eleanor O’Hanlon’s “Remarkable Beings” in this episode of Parabola magazine’s free monthly podcast
The Desk, by Kenneth Krushel
A miracle made of wood
Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan, by Margo McLoughlin
Long, long ago the Bodhisatta was born as a swan…
Mercy, by Lee van Laer
Understanding mercy as a force from on High
Light and Danger through the Crack in the Door, by Trebbe Johnson
A lively report from the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions
A Formal Feeling Comes
Bonfire, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons “After great pain, a formal feeling comes,” writes Emily Dickinson. “The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs.” After a great shock or loss or change, a stillness comes. We sit still and receive life without leaning forward to grasp at it or commenting on it—think of the…
Driving Lessons, by Snigdha Manickavel
A young woman navigates the roads outside—and within
The Anonymous Ones, by Margaret Dulaney
Come join the circle of we who pray
The Night I Died, by Tracy Cochran
New York City At Night, ca. 1935 from Wikimedia Head down, hugging a grocery bag, I hurried past gutted buildings and empty lots, back to my ex-boyfriend’s apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. It seemed like a good idea at some point, having dinner together as friends. But the little Spanish market on…
Parabola Podcast Episode 36: Renewal
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares essays from Parabola’s extensive archives on the theme of “Renewal” in this episode of Parabola magazine’s free podcast.
Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers
Like a phoenix among sparrows, Chinese civilization is resplendent in its longevity, myth and tradition. For much of its long history, Chinese emperors incorporated myth, folklore, and ideological concepts to legitimate their dynasties, to sanction their rule.
Parabola Podcast Episode 39: The Wild
Story Editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from the current issue of PARABOLA: The Wild.
What Happens in Mindfulness, by Cynthia Bourgeault
A review of John Teasdale’s “What Happens in Mindfulness” by Cynthia Bourgeault
Penetrating Magic, by David Ulrich
Diving into the well of creativity
Holy Women, by Robert Ellsberg
Four role models for all who seek the sacred
How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race, by Anonymous (West African)
There once lived, in Fanti-land, a man named Father Anansi. He possessed all the wisdom in the world. People came to him daily for advice and help.
Snow Day Reflection, by Tracy Cochran
There are different kinds of realizations. They are not always lightening bolts but sometimes soft and slow, as if snow were quietly falling and settling.
Hearing the Cries of the World, by Mark Nepo
This story is so old we don’t know who told it or who it’s about, except that it speaks to all of us. We no longer know if it was a “he” or “she” at the center of the story. […]
Marion Woodman and the Search for the Conscious Feminine, by Patty de Llosa
Marion Woodman “The true feminine is the receptacle of love. The true masculine is the spirit that goes into the eternal unknown in search of meaning. The great container, the Self, is paradoxically both male and female and contains both. If these are projected onto the outside world, transcendence ceases to…
Passing Through the Storm, by Tracy Cochran
How can we find joy in this suffering world?
Becoming Part of It, by Joseph Epes Brown
Roland W. Reed, Alone With the Past, The Life and Photographic Art of Roland W. Reed, Afton, MN: Afton Press. In terms of interconnections, a dominant theme in all Native American cultures is that of relationship, or a series of relationships that are always reaching further and further out; relationships within…
The Nothingness of Time, by Alexandra Haven
Encountering eternity in the treasures of Egypt
Days with Michel Conge, Part One, by Rami Kalfon
Close encounters with a student of Gurdjieff
Remembering, by Pamela Travers
Tobias and the Angel, detail of painting by Raphael. National Gallery, London. From Peter Lamborn Wilson, Angels (London: Thames and Hudson, 1980). A Hebrew Myth, a potent element in the annals of the bees, tells us that when a child is born an angel takes it under his wing and recites…
How Do We Reclaim The Heart Of Humanity?, by Trebbe Johnson
A Report on the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions.
The Poet and the Shepherd, by Joshua Boettiger
King David, Leonard Cohen and the Search for Meaning
Parabola Podcast, Episode 30: Together
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares editorial director Tracy Cochran’s “Fusterlandia” and Elizabeth Napp’s “An Education in Peace,” as well as some wise words on leadership from Octavia Butler, in this episode of Parabola Magazine’s free monthly podcast.
An Amazing Childhood Experience, by James Opie
A childhood memory leads to forgiveness and love
Sarabha-miga Jataka, The Noble Stag, Retold by Margo McLoughlin
An anonymous Buddhist tale translated from the Pali and retold by Margo McLoughlin
Parabola Podcast Episode 34: Hope
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from the current issue of Parabola, “Hope,” in this episode of the magazine’s free monthly podcast.
My Life in the Chair, by Lillian Firestone
I was determined not to let dialysis take over my life. But it already had. […]
To Honor the Sacred, by David Ulrich
A photographer envisions the sacred and the profane on a Hawaiian island
The Monkey and the River, by Mark Nepo
The simplest and hardest thing to do each day is to be here–fully, completely, without turning away.
Rising Above, by Mary A. Osborne
From slavery to the priesthood
The Way of the Householder, Retold by Rama Devagupta
An anonymous Hindu tale retold by Rama Devagupta.