The Promise & Paradox of Community
We human beings have a great need for one another, "an instinct of community." However, today this instinct to be together seems to be fragmenting as we experience increasing ethnic wars, militia groups, specialized interest clubs, and chat rooms. Are we using the instinct of community to separate and protect us from one another? It's ironic that we live surrounded by communities that succeed in c... posted on Jun 04 2017, 12,655 reads

The Axis & the Sycamore
Sitting in his newly built tree-house, Paul Kingsnorth muses about the situation the world is in. German philosopher Karl Jaspers coined a term, the Axial Age, referring to an historical period when five distinct civilizations, those of Greece, Palestine, Persia, India, and China, experienced profound transformations, led by spiritual pioneers such as the Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Zarathustra, Elij... posted on Jun 03 2017, 8,111 reads

Life is the Network Not the Self
What if the fundamental unit of biology is not the self, but the network? What if plants, and really, all species, are made of interacting relationships and networked connections that are intertwined? A simple backyard experiment looking at the biological make-up of a maple leaf revealed to Professor David Haskell that a maple leaf is not an individual made of plant cells, but "a community of cel... posted on Jun 02 2017, 7,988 reads

Addressing Social Justice with Compassion
Professor Rhonda Magee is a faculty member at the University of San Francisco law school, an expert in contemplative pedagogy, the President of the Board of the Center for Contemplative Minds in Society, and a teacher of mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions for lawyers and law students. She has spent her career exploring the interrelationship between law, philosophy, and notions of jus... posted on Jun 01 2017, 14,273 reads

Sleeping Enough to Be Truly Awake
"Human beings are the only species that deprives themselves of sleep. No other species that we see will do this... And what that means is that evolution has never faced the challenge of insufficient sleep since the dawn of time. As a consequence, Mother Nature has never had to solve this problem of insufficient sleep -- so there is no safety net [to bank on when it comes to sleep loss.]" In this ... posted on May 31 2017, 59,383 reads

Why Is It So Hard to Take Your Own Advice?
Melissa Dahl says she loves to give advice to friends on how to solve their problems but rarely takes her own advice. Sound familiar? It's a question of perspective, she points out. We are too close to our own stuff. Nevertheless maybe we should listen to the advice we give others as she also says, "There's a good chance you're saying something you need to hear, too." ... posted on May 30 2017, 7,926 reads

Red Onions: Transformed by Beauty
Alanda Greene peeled back the outer layer of a red onion. As the sun caught its redness, lit it up like a ruby, she gasped at the startling beauty of it. Her mind had been elsewhere, grumbling about something that had happened, but she was suddenly called to what the Navajos refer to as the Path of Beauty. Beauty is everywhere, she discovered, as "the red glow absorbed my being in gratitude and aw... posted on May 29 2017, 13,424 reads

The Bicycle Machines of Guatemala
Since 1997, Maya Pedal has been focused on sustainable development in Guatemala. Locals were handed control in 2001. Recycling bicycles from the USA and Canada to create Bicimaquinas or pedal-powered machines is one of the ways the organization benefits the developing nation. But it wasn't always easy. In this video, director Mario Juarez shares how the program kept getting rejected, while also de... posted on May 28 2017, 2,738 reads

Helping Young Adults Successfully Transition out of Foster Care
For children reaching the age at which their foster care ends, transitioning to adulthood can be extremely difficult. While other young adults can rely on their families for advice or financial support, these youth are entirely on their own. First Place for Youth is an organization that is offering 'a hand up' in the transition to adulthood with housing and support to help those who 'age out' of t... posted on May 27 2017, 8,910 reads

Spotlight on Kids Who Are Changing the World
We live in challenging and stressful times and may wonder how our children must be feeling when we are struggling ourselves.But, even as we try to shelter and protect them, we discover that children and young adults are remarkably resilient and that the things that help us to cope in difficult situations are often the very things that make challenges more bearable for them as well. Moving from a s... posted on May 26 2017, 10,035 reads