Category: Essays

And So On, by Kent Jones

Photograph by Michael Dziedzic. From Unsplash.com

Within the chaos, a door to “the inexhaustible Now”

Abba, tell me a word, by Roger Lipsey

Scenes from the Lives of the Desert Fathers (Thebaid). Fra Angelico, 1420. Tempera on poplar wood. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. Wikimedia Commons. Source/Photographer: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/VAHKpwvs_fhZ-A

The Desert Fathers and Mothers— and their culture of search

Looking for Gold: The Alchemy of Cinderella, by Mary A. Osborne

Cinderella. Carl Offterdinger, nineteenth century. From My First Book of Fairy Tales. Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Harke

The hidden teachings of a beloved fairy tale

The Art of Budo, by John Stevens

Portion of a facsimile of calligraphy by Wang Xizhi. All images courtesy of John Stevens and Shambhala Publications

The calligraphy and paintings of the martial arts masters

Testimony, by Brenton MacKinnon

Truong Son National Cemetery, memorial to North Vietnamese soldiers, Vietnam. Photograph by Gonzo Gooner, 2010. Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Gonzo Gooner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

A powerful remembrance of war and peace

In the Hands of the Sea, by Surnaí Molloy

Landscape, seascape: Vågen VIII (Wave VIII). August Strindberg, 1901/1902. Nordic Museum, Stockholm. Wikimedia Commons. Source/Photographer: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/ygHgZV4EYwrCtQ

A rapturous elegy to love

Out of the Dark Depths, by Lane Igoudin

Photograph by Jared Rice. Tulum, Mexico

Within a Mayan burial cave, understanding comes

Everything is Burning, by Tracy Cochran

The Burning of the Houses of Parliament. Author unknown. C.1834, oil on panel. Yale Center for British Art. Wikimedia Commons. Source/Photographer: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/RgGPJOYOSROUkw

In a world on fire, finding the light that guides

With Outstretched Arms, Like Wings, by Sister Wendy Beckett and Robert Ellsberg

John the Baptist, Forerunner. Father William Hart McNichols, 1997. Wikimedia Commons. Author: Texas A&M University Libraries

A visit with the famed nun and art historian

Yin-Yang and Awakening Awareness, by Robert Peng

Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi holding the Yin-Yang symbol. Nineteenth century watercolor. Hsi (c. 4,000 B.C.) is widely considered the father of the Chinese Tai Chi philosophy of yin and yang and thus of the I Ching. Wikimedia Commons. Wellcome Images. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Advice and exercises from a Qigong master