To Struggle, by Lee van Laer
Detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, Prado, Madrid Struggle To exert one’s physical strength in persistent striving against an opposing force. To contend resolutely, especially with an adversary of superior power; to…
The Wizard of Oz as a Parable, by Lillian Firestone
The Wizard of Oz (MGM Studios, 1939) 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…
Soft, by Tracy Cochran
Odilon Redon, Flower Clouds, 1903 The root meaning of heal is whole. Illness and mishap and even great tragedy can lead us eventually from the pain of isolation to a greater wholeness. There is such a…
The Golden Ticket, by Tracy Cochran
Chainfoto24, Wat Maha That, Sukhothai (Wikimedia Commons) One day recently, a Buddhist monk stopped me on the street in Manhattan, offering me peace for the rest of my life. But I was late so I…
Let It Be, by Tracy Cochran
Oda Krohg, By the Oslofjord, 1886 When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right…
To Struggle, by Lee van Laer
Detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, Prado, Madrid Struggle To exert one’s physical strength in persistent striving against an opposing force. To…
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…
On Being Nobody…and No One, by Tracy Cochran
Ivan Aivazovsky, Between the Waves, 1898 How deeply we fear being nobody. One way to think of the ego is as a defense against pain, particularly…
The Wizard of Oz as a Parable, by Lillian Firestone
The Wizard of Oz (MGM Studios, 1939) What makes the Wizard of Oz an iconic American tale that has entered into the language? Some expressions are…