Diana Beresford-Kroeger: The Call of the Trees
Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a world-recognized botanist, medical biochemist and author (and now filmmaker). She is known for her extraordinary ability to translate scientific complexities of nature for the general public with both precision and poetry. "If you speak for the trees, you speak for all of nature", says Beresford-Kroeger, one of the world's leading expert on trees. She has studied the e... posted on May 09 2020, 7,441 reads

Going Into the Hospital: COVID 19 (Poem)
"When I walk out the door these days
For a shift in the hospital
Two small people cry at the door
My daughter and son.
4 and 1 1/2
Tears fall
big drops against their full brown cheeks"
So begins this moving poem by Sriram Shamasunder, a physician and father who is leading a HEAL Initiative medical team serving on the ground in Navajo Nation.... posted on May 08 2020, 8,318 reads

COVID Era Shows Gandhi's Ideal of Practical Idealism is Possible
A new society can be developed from the inspiring ways people around the world are responding to this unprecedented disaster, and this is what we should be planning right now in the spirit of Gandhi's 'practical idealism.' Read more from Gandhian scholar Michael Nagler.... posted on May 07 2020, 7,924 reads

Life Itself May Be A Koan
"Consider the Zen practice of the koan, the question or problem proposed by Zen masters to each other or by masters to students. The koan is a dilemma, a mystery which the rational mind cannot solve. The key to the resolution of a koan is a shift in the being of the student which allows for a new understanding of the question itself." Rachel Naomi Remen shares more.... posted on May 06 2020, 3,522 reads

The Little Priestess: Listen with the Ear of the Heart
Noirin Ni Riain is an Irish spiritual singer, theologian, teacher, author and Interfaith minister. Known as the High Priestess of Gregorian Chan, Noirin has released sixteen albums since 1978, including three with her sons Eoin and Micheal O' Suilleabhain. Her voice has rung out for peace on many continents, from United Nations conferences to gatherings with the Dalai Lama. In this short excerpt, ... posted on May 05 2020, 5,394 reads

Together Apart: Letters from Isolation
Together Apart is a new Orion web series of letters from isolation. Every week under lockdown, they eavesdrop on curious pairs of authors, scientists, and artists, listening in on their emails, texts, and phone calls as they redefine their relationships from afar. The exchange that follows is between Krista Tippett, author and CEO of the On Being Project, and the poet and theologian Padraig O' Tua... posted on May 04 2020, 4,681 reads

A Geometry of the Heart
At 16 she lay down in the middle of a busy two-way street. Then she heard an inner voice say, "Do you want to be a drunk, or do you want to be an artist?" She got up and never forgot the clarity of that decision. High school was a humiliation. She was deemed slow and unteachable. When she asked her dean about how to put together a portfolio for art school he asked her if she'd considered selling s... posted on May 03 2020, 3,736 reads

From Emergency to Emergence
"Discussions now underway in many community, national, and global forums suggest a significant widening of what is known as the Overton Window: the range of public policies that the mainstream population is prepared to consider at a given time.While there is an almost universal desire to move rapidly beyond the COVID emergency, the spectrum of what we want post-pandemic is broadening. Many are art... posted on May 02 2020, 7,855 reads

The Capacity for Successful Solitude
"The capacity to be alone is the capacity to know enough about yourself and who you are, and be comfortable enough with that. That way, when you are with another person, youre not trying to make that person into somebody you need them to be in order to buttress a fragile sense of your own self. You can actually turn to a person and see them as another person, and have a real relationship with them... posted on May 01 2020, 7,468 reads

Helping Parents When Parenting Gets Hard
"I love the act of listening to parents, one-on-one or in a group. Parents have so much love they want to give to their children and families, they work so hard at it, they summon unprecedented amounts of energy and persistence to love well. I love listening over time, and being privy to the creativity of parents, and to their successes in transforming difficult situations in their families into p... posted on Apr 30 2020, 4,604 reads