To Heal the Human Heart
The science of empathy is now one of the most celebrated subjects of psychological and neuro-psychological enquiry and it has the potential to transform human society in spectacular ways. For instance, if a human being's central nervous system carries blueprints for empathy, and if the health and vitality of one's empathy circuits depend on one's environment from conception through adulthood, what... posted on May 15 2021, 43,108 reads

Please Touch the Art
This compelling video tells the story of an artist, Andrew Myers, who is so moved by a blind man's joy at "feeling" three dimensional art that he is inspired to create three dimensional portraits to be experienced by people who are blind or visually impaired. Why is touching artwork so taboo? According to the producers of the film, "Prior to the mid-1800s, tactile interaction was commonplace for v... posted on May 14 2021, 1,469 reads

The Spell of the Sensuous
David Abram's book, "The Spell of the Sensuous" draws on diverse sources, ranging from Balinese shamanism, and Apache storytelling, to his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand of magician to surface the subtle and far-reaching influence of the natural environment on human cognition. Here is a selection of powerful excerpts from the book.... posted on May 13 2021, 3,630 reads

Tapping into the Wisdom of the Gut
"Even though Ive long held a holistic view of life, my scientific career has ultimately taken me full circle, from a reductionistic focus on the biology of brain-gut interactions required for succeeding in my career as a neuroscientist, back to the concept of the interconnectedness of the health of humans and of the environment, and the microbiome, with diet and the mind playing the key role in th... posted on May 12 2021, 5,190 reads

Learning from Navajo Nation's Generosity in a Pandemic
"Last year, the Irish people raised nearly $2 million dollars for the Navajo and Hopi Nations so they could protect themselves from the pandemic. At the time, the infection rate in the Navajo community -- 2,304 cases per 100,000 was the highest in the country. It was a show of thanks to Native Americans for a $170 gift sent by the Choctaw to the Irish people at the height of the potato famine in ... posted on May 11 2021, 3,725 reads

The Book of Untranslatable Words
When you start with a heartfelt offering, you never know where life may take you next. Read on for the tale of Ella Sanders, whose creative illustrations about untranslatable words grew from a blog post into a published book now out from Random House. You'll also get a sampling of some marvelous, untranslatable words from around the world. Like Mangata -- Swedish for "the road-like reflection of t... posted on May 10 2021, 47,819 reads

Alphabet Heart Sutra: A Mother's Day Offering
"The Alphabet Heart Sutra came to me whole, arriving with the light of morning. I followed an inner prompting and immediately wrote it down. Never having composed poetry or prayer in acrostic form before, I was quite surprised by the structure it took. Upon reflection, I wondered if perhaps impressions from childhood, reciting acrostic Hebrew prayers and passages, filtered into the Alphabet Heart ... posted on May 09 2021, 8,130 reads

The Shambhala Warrior's Weapon
"There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. Great barbarian powers have arisen.
Although these powers spend their wealth in preparations to annihilate one another, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world. In this era, when the future of sentient life hangs by the frailest of threads, the Shambhala warriors a... posted on May 08 2021, 3,117 reads

A Seed of Freedom
Actor Jeremy Irons narrates this landmark film by The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network, in collaboration with MELCA Ethiopia, Navdanya International and GRAIN. In it, we learn how our world has gone from a vast bedrock of diversity, created over thousands of years," to genetically modified seeds engineered to withstand pesticides refined with a few changes from explosives and n... posted on May 07 2021, 2,166 reads

Mercy Needs to Be Where the Need is Greatest
For decades, Sister Marilyn Lacey has aligned her energies and aspirations with refugee communities in the United States, as well as in some of the most ravaged pockets of our world. She describes her leap into the refugee universe in her breathtaking book, 'This Flowing Towards Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers.' The heart of the Scripture come glowingly to life in the words, works, and t... posted on May 06 2021, 3,515 reads