Pico Iyer Chooses Stillness
Pico Iyer has spent much of his life traveling. He's described himself as "something of a global creature"having been born in England to Indian parents and then raised in California, later moving to New York and now living in Japan and sought out places as a travel writer and explorer that piece together, much like his own inner world, disparate cultures and identities "to make a stained-glass who... posted on May 11 2018, 12,450 reads

Ann Medlock: Sticking Her Neck Out for Our Common Humanity
"There is a fundamentalist mindset that is manifesting all over the world, and the fundamental mind says, "There are no questions. There are only answers, and they are in the book" (whatever book they believe in and are referring to). So, anybody who has questions is a mystery to them... I've never been one of those people...I got called to my son's junior high school, and his teacher said, "You h... posted on May 10 2018, 11,988 reads

The Efficiency of Inefficiency
While studying the history of medicine and practicing for over twenty years, Dr. Victoria Sweet discovered approaches to healing that today would be considered inefficient--but put into practice, are just the opposite. One such lesson was from 12th century abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who felt that "the body is more like a plant than a machine . . . the difference being that someone has to fix a br... posted on May 09 2018, 4,644 reads

Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
"As a respected educational writer, teacher and activist, Parker J. Palmer shares some powerful thoughts on the current landscape of higher education with regard to pedagogy and practice. Through his personal and professional experiences with teaching and learning...Palmer argues that, at the present time, we no longer can ignore the 'inner drivers' that connect to the very core of humanity and th... posted on May 08 2018, 12,386 reads

Elucidating Human Consciousness Through Art
The brain is a work of art beyond our understanding and, in many way, is a miracle of organization out of chaos. Greg Dunn has made it his life's work to share that miracle with us in the art he creates from micro etchings of the brain. With a PhD in neuroscience that might have led to a career in research or a professorship, Greg has turned his talents in science to the world of art. His art is e... posted on May 07 2018, 11,840 reads

Feeding the Good Wolf: A Gratitude Conversation with Ferial Pear
In an inventive and transformative program for teens, kids not only learn how to nourish and nurture their inherent goodness, they act as secret agents of kindness. Using undercover names like Whip, Neigh Neigh, and G Baby Believe, teens perform anonymous acts of kindness and support others doing the same. Founder Ferial Pearson believes that by doing so, the secret agents "become more ... aware o... posted on May 06 2018, 9,215 reads

Muhammad Yunus: A World of Three Zeroes
According to Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, a world without poverty or environmental devastation does not have to be just a utopian dream. Yunus believes that building a kindler, gentler planet "starts with recognizing what he describes as the inherent cruelty of capitalism, the need to value the abilities of every human being, and understanding that saving the environment must be a coll... posted on May 05 2018, 10,149 reads

Human Scale Revisited
There was a time when buildings were scaled to the human figure, democracies were scaled to the societies they served, and enterprises were scaled to communities. Against that backdrop, author Kirkpatrick Sale revisits his classic book Human Scale against recent global developments and offers compelling new insights on how to turn toward a scale that allows humanity to not only survive, but thrive... posted on May 04 2018, 8,050 reads

Last Lecture
Mick Cochrane was invited to give a lecture as part of a series based on Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture. Not someone who enjoys the act of lecturing, he chose to tell four stories from his life. From them, you are invited to come to your own conclusions and draw from them your own lessons. They are extraordinarily simple and deep with themes that resonate through time and hearts: trust in t... posted on May 03 2018, 31,924 reads

To Light Up the Sky Together
The Indian spiritual leader Vinoba Bhave began the Bhoodan (Land-Gift) Movement, walking for 20 years through the length and breadth of India persuading land owners and landlords to give land to their poor, totaling four million acres of land. He tells us: "Our real strength lies in the fact that we are servants. The divinity in each and every person can be witnessed and reached, only when you app... posted on May 02 2018, 5,761 reads