Web Exclusives

Death, the Dark Brain and Transformations in Light, by Edward Bruce Bynum

Death, the Dark Brain and Transformations in Light, by Edward Bruce Bynum

Edward Bruce BynumFeb 1, 202317 min read

Many people may be surprised to learn that the surface of our brain is actually dark and that this darkness has consequences for our experience of consciousness and transformation itself, including our ultimate transformation at death. It also has consequences…

A Welcome Oasis: The 27th All & Everything International Humanities Conference, by Keith Badger

A Welcome Oasis: The 27th All & Everything International Humanities Conference, by Keith Badger

Keith BadgerAug 5, 20228 min read

I would first and foremost like to follow an age-old injunction that every writer, before giving out any advice or critique to anyone else, should obligingly give an honest account of their journey. So before doing an appraisal of the…

My Ancestor, by David Guy

My Ancestor, by David Guy

David GuyMay 26, 20228 min read

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. …

Parabola Podcast Episode 50: FIRE

Parabola Podcast Episode 50: FIRE

Parabola EditorsSep 2, 20211 min read

Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from the Fall 2021 issue of Parabola Magazine, Fire, including the lead essay by Sufi master Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, “Fire Season.” Read the full issue by subscribing to Parabola. Parabola Magazine · Parabola Podcast Episode…

Parabola Podcast Episode 49: Young & Old

Parabola Podcast Episode 49: Young & Old

Parabola EditorsMay 14, 20211 min read

Our younger selves seed what we become and, as we age, we carry our earlier years with us. A sage elderly woman once told me, “some things you can only understand when you’re old”; yet equally true is that the…

Agencies, by Anthony Blake

Agencies, by Anthony Blake

Parabola EditorsApr 29, 201518 min read

Heracles freeing Prometheus from his torment by the eagle (Attic black-figure cup, c. 500 BC) I must, before I die, find some way to say the…

The Poet and the Shepherd, by Joshua Boettiger

The Poet and the Shepherd, by Joshua Boettiger

Joshua BoettigerJan 31, 201712 min read

King David, Leonard Cohen and the Search for Meaning Leonard Cohen at the Arena in Geneva, 27 October 2008 (Wikipedia) Since Leonard Cohen died, I’ve been…

Encountering the Teachings of Gurdjieff: A Young Man’s Search, by David Ulrich

Encountering the Teachings of Gurdjieff: A Young Man’s Search, by David Ulrich

David UlrichJan 31, 201711 min read

David Ulrich, Untitled, 1970 “Above all, you must feel the need to know yourself. You are something and you don’t know it. You have to acknowledge…

McKay Savage, Close-up of the Buddha head in the banyan tree at Wat Mahathat, Wikimedia

THE NEW SCIENCE: Changing Ourselves by Changing the Brain, by Patty de Llosa

Patty de LlosaNov 16, 201517 min read

McKay Savage, Close-up of the Buddha head in the banyan tree at Wat Mahathat, Wikimedia “Does mind exist?” asks neuroscientist Daniel Siegel, as he opens a…