Essays

Longing for the Beloved, by Mirabai Starr

July 18, 2017By Mirabai Starr

Teresa of Avila—and grief—teach a mighty lesson

Days with Michel Conge, Part One, by Rami Kalfon

May 16, 2017By Rami Kalfon

Close encounters with a student of Gurdjieff

My Journey to Qigong Master, by Robert Peng

May 7, 2017By Robert Peng

Training the body, training the mind

Paths are Made by Walking, by Nipun Mehta

May 7, 2017By Nipun Mehta

Four steps to take on the road of life

Finding Joy: The Science of Happiness, by Patty de Llosa

May 6, 2017By Patty de Llosa

Sound, scientific advice on attaining happiness

The Art of Cleaning, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Hilary Hart

April 29, 2017By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Housework as spiritual practice, from a Sufi master

The Golden Ticket, by Tracy Cochran

April 29, 2017By Tracy Cochran

Reaching an understanding that no storm can shake

A Matter of Life and Death, by Rosalind Bradley

April 29, 2017By Rosalind Bradley

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

Driving Lessons, by Snigdha Manickavel

April 29, 2017By Snigdha Manickavel

A young woman navigates the roads outside—and within

The Way of the Heart, by Cynthia Bourgeault

January 31, 2017By Cynthia Bourgeault

From the Christian esoteric tradition, a path beyond the mind

What is the miraculous? Our first thought may be that it concerns a supernatural and sensational event. And yet this Summer 2018 issue of Parabola reveals that the most ordinary action—digging a garden or cooking a meal or making art—becomes sensational when it is performed with mindful awareness of what we are doing. Any action may be automatic or creative, repetitious or truly alive, participating in the life that is happening in the instant: “The situation is completely different when my action is not a repetition but something new, an action that can only take place in the present moment to respond to a need that I recognize right now,” writes Jeanne de Salzmann in this issue. Read more>

Stephen Weiss, MD, portrait of Brother David Steindl-Rast, Mt. Saviour Monastery, Elmira, NY

Learning to Die, by Brother David Steindl-Rast

The only point where one can start to talk about anything, including death, is where one finds oneself. And for me this is as a Benedictine monk. In the rule of St. Benedict, the momenta […]

The Art of Cleaning, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Hilary Hart

Housework as spiritual practice, from a Sufi master

Marion Woodman and the Search for the Conscious Feminine, by Patty de Llosa

“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 […]

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. […]

To Go Beyond Thought, an Interview with Karen Armstrong

One bright spring day, Parabola met with Karen Armstrong in her suite at the Parker Meridian hotel in Manhattan. The petite, friendly 62-year-old British ex-nun, arguably the most influential commentator on religion in the English-speaking […]

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