Abba, tell me a word
Abba Anthony was living his customary day of prayer and labor in the desert hermitage he called home when a band of seekers paid a visit. We are sometime in the fourth century of our era and in Scetis, the…
Looking for Gold: The alchemy of Cinderella
Once upon a time, “The wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that she was nearing her end she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, ‘Dear child, continue devout and good. Then God…
The Art of Budo
In my lifelong spiritual quest, I have read hundreds of sutras; plowed through pages and pages of philosophical texts; grappled with koan collections; analyzed thousands of poems; searched through biographies; meditated for hours; and interacted with many teachers, good and…
Testimony
The day finally arrived when my faculty advisor asked me to choose a topic for the Master’s thesis in sociolinguistics. What to do? Maybe some coffee and a piece of pie down at the Koffe Klatch would lubricate my imagination.…
In the Hands of the Sea
I went out into the garden, to the crag, and I sat on the bench and watched the light change in the sea; looking over the fields, the holy well, the standing stone. The mountains beyond the bay were blue with…
Longing for the Beloved, by Mirabai Starr
Grieving Mary, by Fra Angelico, c.1437–1446, Museo San Marco, Florence THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION At night on my bed I longed for my only love. I…
You Would Run for Your Life, by Tracy Cochran
Viking ship. Photograph by Adrian Wallett A mother and daughter trace their roots to the Vikings—and to those they conquered “You would run for your life,”…
The Deepest Silence, by John Roger Barrie
Alphonse Osbert (1857-1939) Au coucher du soleil, 1894 The eloquence of the deepest silence echoes from the eternal. Originating there and reverberating through the ripples of…
The One Who Flies All Around the World, by Thomas Buckley
A Yurok woman. The Native Peoples of northwestern California (I will be writing mostly about the Yurok Indians) had “money” long before non-native invaders, lusting for…
Painting Enlightenment, Paula Arai / Artwork by Iwasaki Tsuneo
Healing visions of the Heart Sutra Mandala of Evolution. Iwasaki Tsuneo The extraordinary paintings on the next several pages were begun at age seventy by Iwasaki Tsuneo (1917-2002), a retired…
Going Home, by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush
Frances Sinclair, from Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands, 1885 Two spiritual pioneers on the end of life’s journey The following passages, narrated by Mirabai Bush,…
Spinning Straw, by Tracy Cochran
The Miller’s Daughter. Anne Anderson. Late nineteenth or early twentieth century A miller, a beautiful daughter, and a creature named…. Once a poor miller was summoned…
On Unknowing, by Pamela Travers
Travers in the role of Titania in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, c. 1924 (Wikipedia) It is not ignorance. Rather, one could say, a particular…
Everything is Burning
Months after he attained enlightenment, the Buddha delivered what came to be called his Fire Sermon on a hilltop in India. He spoke to a thousand ascetics who, he knew,…
Looking for Gold: The alchemy of Cinderella
Once upon a time, “The wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that she was nearing her end she called her only daughter to her bedside…
The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence, by Jeff Zaleski
Mike Licht, Cydippe with Acontius’s Apple iPhone, after Paulus Bor The toy company Mattel has announced the release in Fall 2015 of “Hello Barbie,” the first…
Altar Girl
Altar Service Mass, St John’s Cathedral, Norwich, 2019. Photograph by Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia Jacinia breezes along the aisles, gathering kisses from the ladies seated in pews. Bendición,…
Who Decides History’s Future?, by Alexandra Zaleski
Knights and martyrs. Painting (detail) on canvas from church of Abbas Antonios, Ethiopia. Late seventeenth century. Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris In the Era of Princes, Abyssinia had no…
Paths are Made by Walking, by Nipun Mehta
Nipun Mehta Walking, in our high-speed world, has fallen out of favor. The word “pedestrian” itself is used to describe something ordinary and commonplace. Yet, walking…