Archive

Was she “first among the apostles” of Jesus Christ?

The hidden teachings of a beloved fairy tale

On Adin Steinsaltz and the power of hope

The Sufi master on meeting the inner and outer challenges of our time

How the First People learned to cry.

The word [struggle] is of unknown origin; and although it is presumed to have come from Scandinavian and Germanic roots (there are no clear parallels or roots in Latin) the connections are uncertain […]

Life lessons from William Segal

In his book All and Everything, G.I. Gurdjieff presented what he called the “Obligolnian Strivings,” directives intended to instill in the consciousness of those who practice them—said to be engaged in the “Work”—the “divine function of genuine Conscience.”

A spiritual master on what it takes

Finding the true king in his cage

A conversation with Mirabai Starr

Amma, 2009 The Hindu spiritual teacher known as Amma (“Mother”), or Mata Amritanandamayi, was born to a family of fishermen in southern India in 1953. Today she is popularly known as the “hugging saint” for her practice of embracing all who approach her as she gives darshan, or an “auspicious sight”…

Meeting death with dignity

Chatting with America’s favorite saint

A conversation with wildlife photographer, author, and conservationist Staffan Widstrand

The seasons and the Cosmos

When most of us think of determination, we think first of imposing our will on the world, insisting on a particular outcome, our vision. Yet real determination appears when we keep going, surrendering what the ego wants, which is always to look good, to sound good, to win. Real perseverance is willingness, not will. […]

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…

cultivation of the integrity and soundness of body, mind, soul, and spirit in the ancient Mediterranean world

Four role models for all who seek the sacred

Gitanjali Babbar wanted to walk to the Freedom Tower. This cold day in New York City marked the end of her first trip to the United States. …

Story editor Betsy Cornwell explores our current issue, Generosity and Service, in Parabola‘s monthly twenty-minute podcast.

The miracle is that the practice of presence not only enlivens ourselves, but allows us to share that new life with others and also to receive the presence of the Divine. It is the foundation for truth, and it is the genesis of hope. With practice, presence can, in the words of John G. Bennett,…

“Does mind exist?” asks neuroscientist Daniel Siegel, as he opens a two-day conference on his favorite subject […]

Transforming repetition into renewal

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. […]

Xharije’s wedding, 1970 “Who you marry and when you die was written on your forehead the day you were born,” my mother told me when I was young. I was relieved. It was lucky that God, the Infinite, the All Powerful had things under control. They were much  too important to…

Inside an Ayahuasca ceremony

Backpacking into deeper Reality

Anonymous, “Krishna and Radha,” retold with commentary by Laura Simms

The Unknown — our beautiful An­glo-Saxon word, intimate, reverberant, profound, not so much to be understood but stood under while it rains upon us — that is something I could well live with and, indeed, have revered, cherished, and tried to serve for many a year and day.P.L. Travers, “The Interviewer,” from Vol. 13 No….

Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from the current issue of Parabola, “Hope,” in this episode of the magazine’s free monthly podcast.

How can we find joy in this suffering world?

A remarkable man of old Afghanistan

Anonymous / Haida
Retold by Leslie Hebert

One August day recently in northern California, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee sat down with Parabola to speak about free will and destiny.

A fresh look at “the mad monk”

Photograph courtesy of Monastero di Bose “There must be monasticism in the twenty-first century!” So said a friend not long ago. Both his implicit protest and his conviction make sense. The landscape of the spirit in the West would be torn and lacking if the monastic way vanished in our time….

Can my inner work towards stillness and consciousness be reflected in images? Perhaps the moments of presence I, at times, experience can be extended outward to you, the viewer.

In April 1976, Mother Teresa spoke before the United Nations. The following day, she was interviewed by spiritual teacher and radio host Lex Hixon. What follows are some of Hixon’s introductory remarks and a brief portion of his rare interview with Mother Teresa.

Welcoming the end of the journey

In contrast to our modern situation, traditional and indigenous peoples had extensive spiritually and communally based warrior medicine, practices and lineages. […]

Are we the generation that will lose the Earth?

Little Gidding has been described as a “thin place” where there is only a slim veil between time and eternity.

Discovering the divine in her own backyard

In the autumn of 1971, John G. Bennett inaugurated the International Academy for Continuous Education at Sherborne House, Gloucestershire, England. …

By being born, we all find ourselves on a journey of some kind.

I was determined not to let dialysis take over my life. But it already had. […]

Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, A Native American sends smoke signals in Montana, June 1909, National Geographic Creative. The sacred pipe of the Native Americans is a potent symbol of relationship. Through it the human breath sends to all the six directions the purifying smoke that connects the person to the divine and…

In Vesali, in ancient India, at the time of the Buddha, a baby girl was born spontaneously at the foot of a mango tree in the royal garden. She was given the name Ambapali.

In the early 1980s, jazz pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane devoted herself to the Hindu tradition, adopting the name Swamini Turiyasangitananda and established the 48-acre Sai Anantam Ashram outside Los Angeles.

The extraordinary inner life of a great public figure.

An older Navajo runs for his people

Looking back, I see my five years in India as the high-point of my diplomatic life, and my most memorable time in India as the four days in January of 1971 before Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s official visit to India. […]

Being “old” in Bali

Lucifer is the most compelling character in Milton’s Paradise Lost. He is the most dazzling angel. In Hebrew his name means “to shine” or “to bear light.” In Latin it means “morning star.” […]

“The greatest responsibility of all: the transmission of the mystery.” —Basarab Nicolescu

Tracy Cochran, “A Shared World”

Από τη στιγμή που ιδρύθηκε, πενήντα χρόνια πριν, η κοινότητα του Bose ήταν προορισμένη να λειτουργήσει ως οδοδείκτης […]

Waken, Wala!
Wala! Awake!
From thy long sleep,
Slumberer, wake at my call! […]

How can religious tradition be literally true when language is symbolic, intrinsically?

Giving and receiving in a Bolivian marketplace

The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali is the foundational and earliest text on yoga. Dating from about the fifth century BCE, it reflects an oral tradition in existence long before.

Four statements to transform your life

Reconnecting to the sacred, from a Sufi teacher

Reaching an understanding that no storm can shake

Yeshua said: Whoever lives the interpretation of these words shall no longer taste death.

As my prayer become more attentive and inward
I had less and less to say.
I finally became completely silent. […]

A human, an orangutan, a heart-to-heart communion

Brian first studied the history of photography and Black & White printing in 1985 with Teacher and Mentor William Abranowicz at Parsons New York City. …

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…

Naming Rumpelstiltskin, and the path to self-knowledge

What is the weight of wealth? Is it the weight of the money itself or is it the weight of responsibility of having that money?

How the Golden Rule can be the Golden Path

What happened at the Hopi Corn Dance

Reflections on the 2020 All and Everything International Humanities Conference and beyond

Reflections from a Death Row inmate; inspired thoughts from a Sikh guide

“The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation” by Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell. Reviewed by Patty de Llosa

A free PDF of our ALONE & TOGETHER issue from summer 2012 to read in these challenging times.

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 the Western Monotheistic traditions. Here we will explore five forms of intelligence:  1) moral, 2) analogical, 3) intuitive, 4) imaginal, 5) esoteric. Before proceeding, a…

The way in, the way out

King Salomon seeks paradise with the help of an eagle

When we least expect it, someone may walk up to us on the street and hand us a golden ticket.

A visit with the famed nun and art historian

The language of life asks for our ears and calls for our souls.

How do you get people to trust life? You have to trick them. They won’t jump into the water, so you have to throw them in.Alan Watts, “How to Reach Where You Already Are” Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from Parabola Magazine’s “The Search for Meaning” issue, which is available as a free PDF…

The trickster, the shape shifter, the god–the coyote

Story editor Betsy Cornwell explores our current issue, “Ways of Healing,” in PARABOLA Magazine’s podcast. Learn more about this issue or become a subscriber at parabola.org. This episode also includes Kenneth Lawrence’s retelling of the Japanese tale “Kiyotsune.” Please consider supporting this podcast and Parabola Magazine by purchasing a back issue or becoming a subscriber. This…

A celebrated composer hears celestial music

The secret prices of love

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.  My visits to him brought up visits I’d paid to my father in the hospital…

The Golden Rule Tetraflexagon is a magic device created by Steffan Soule in order to teach the Golden Rule.

Cinderella slaves for years for her heartless stepfamily; Beauty offers her life to the Beast at her father’s request. […]

Despite a growing awareness of the Divine Feminine, women remain ineligible to head many major religious groups and institutions […]

Protecting the places where the magic folk roam

Story editor Betsy Cornwell looks at our Summer 2014 Issue, EMBODIMENT, in Parabola Magazine’s monthly podcast.

An anonymous Buddhist tale translated from the Pali and retold by Margo McLoughlin

A great teacher meets his ultimate challenge

Forgiveness in the work of Martin Scorsese