have a moment of silence, just to let that magnificent song, the images, the words, settle into a deep place. Let's just pause for a moment….Mary Ann, please speak to us of spiritual literacy.Mary Ann: Okay. Spiritual literacy is, we define that as the ability to recognize the presence of the sacred all around us. And we did a book called Spiritual Literacy, in which we collected about 600 examples of spiritual takes, spiritual visions of everyday life from experiences with animals and nature and creativity and service.And in doing that, we decided that we needed some markers of the spiritual life that would be signals or evidence of spiritual literacy. And that's how this alphabet ... posted on May 5 2024 (2,914 reads)

graduated with his class in 1993. Two years later, the university and shuttle operator, New Jersey Transit, agreed to pay him a multimillion-dollar settlement, which included safety upgrades to the train station where previous incidents had occurred. Over time, Miller has undergone many operations and often experiences nagging discomfort, as well as significant pain on occasion. "BJ's doctor said, 'When people have these life-altering injuries, it doesn't change their nature,' " said Miller's mother, Susan Miller. "BJ was a sweet, affectionate, loving child. It didn't change who he was at all." It might not have changed Miller'... posted on Oct 17 2011 (44,261 reads)

culture and people, as showcased during the tsunami. I pontificated that Japanese have a higher propensity to be in contact with their spiritual selves because the culture immerses a Japanese person in empathy, sensitivity, gratitude. Great spring board into finding our inner voice, and getting in touch with our spirit. She agreed. I asked her about her 50 years of teaching Ikebana. She talked about how the process of creating the arrangement is co-creation between herself and a nature force of sorts. She explains how sometimes when she is done with creating the arrangement, that she herself is amazed to find beauty she they did not consciously create herself. We talked about... posted on Nov 14 2011 (34,084 reads)

it resides in a host of personal values that are closer to our hearts, as illustrated by the Himalayan nation of Bhutan (population: about 700,000). For many years, Bhutan has measured its general well-being—as the people themselves subjectively report it—using a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. Its government bases policy decisions on how they might effect the kind of happiness associated with contentment, family, community, spirituality, education, compatibility with nature and good physical health. After years of primary research, the Bhutanese have identified nine domains for assessing happiness:  psychological well-being, physical health, time use (work-li... posted on Nov 20 2011 (23,600 reads)

already gotten a head start. There is no better way to start off your day than to wake early, in my experience. 3. Quietude. No kids yelling, no babies crying, no soccer balls, no cars, no television noise. The early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet. It’s my favorite time of day. I truly enjoy that time of peace, that time to myself, when I can think, when I can read, when I can breathe. 4. Sunrise. People who wake late miss one of the greatest feats of nature, repeated in full stereovision each and every day — the rise of the sun. I love how the day slowly gets brighter, when the midnight blue turns to lighter blue, when the brilliant colors s... posted on Jan 8 2012 (168,591 reads)

since then? “If that book was a warning, the warning was not heeded. We’re much worse off now, obviously. Everything can collapse at any minute. And the illusions of money are becoming painfully clear. At the same time, there’s the paradox that it is a reality. You have to take money into account in the real world. So this is still the same question: How do we realize money is a brilliant piece of social technology without defining ourselves by it? Humans are two-natured beings. One is the spirit; the other is life in the real world. We need to live in both in order to correspond to both sides of our nature. Money penetrates every aspect of our worldly life. I... posted on Feb 7 2012 (27,800 reads)

species and future generations as well as, for example, between those with great differences of wealth and opportunity.  A compassionate simplicity is a path of cooperation and fairness that seeks a future of mutually assured development for all. 3. Ecological Simplicity: Simplicity means to choose ways of living that touch the Earth more lightly and that reduce our ecological impact. This life-path remembers our deep roots in the natural world.  It encourages us to connect with nature, the seasons, and the cosmos.  A natural simplicity feels a deep reverence for the community of life on Earth and accepts that the non-human realms of plants and animals have their dignity... posted on May 1 2012 (34,744 reads)

patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms or books that are written in a foreign tongue. The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live your way some distant day into the answers.”  Rainer Maria Rilke “In Heaven – one truth. On Earth – many truths.” “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature. But beautiful old people are works of art.”  E. Roosevelt “Intelligence and competence are not enough. We must be doing something beautiful.”   Dr. &ld... posted on May 6 2012 (9,417 reads)

being a mere math primer or trivia aid, In Pursuit of the Unknown is an essential piece of modern literacy, wrapped in an articulate argument for why this kind of knowledge should be precisely that. Stewart concludes by turning his gaze towards the future, offering a kind of counter-vision to algo-utopians like Stephen Wolfram and making, instead, a case for the reliable humanity of the equation: It is still entirely credible that we might soon find new laws of nature based on discrete, digital structures and systems. The future may consist of algorithms, not equations. But until that day dawns, if ever, our greatest insights into nature’s laws take th... posted on May 8 2012 (15,456 reads)

form or another throughout human history, but modern models began popping up about 150 years ago. Today’s co-ops are collaboratively owned by their members, who also control the enterprise collaboratively by democratic vote. This means that decisions made in cooperatives are balanced between the pursuit of profit, and the needs of members and their communities. Most co-ops also follow the Seven Cooperative Principles, a unique set of guidelines that help maintain their member-driven nature. From their beginnings in England, cooperatives have spread throughout the world. In Ethiopia, cooperation helps women and men rise above poverty. In Germany, half of renewab... posted on May 30 2012 (9,621 reads)

been frightened, caught in this ray. The warmth of sunset orange covered her body like glue and the heat singed the ends of her wings black. Finally, a release. She opened up again, trusting me. Every scale on her body shone brightly against the fading straw mat every time she stretched open her wings. Where have you been old lady? I asked. Why are you so unafraid of me the giant moving beast? I just couldn't believe this moment. How lucky was I to have a direct interaction with nature? With one of its inhabitants, who knew I only wanted to learn and listen to the many stories it carried about faraway lands and sweet pollen? My eyes magnified like a telescope and I studied he... posted on Jun 2 2012 (15,861 reads)

really matters. It doesn’t matter only in our moment-to-moment well-being—how it feels to be me—but it really matters in the lasting residues that it leaves behind, woven into our very being. Which takes us to the third fact, which is the one with the most practical import. Fact three: You can use the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the better. This is known as “self-directed neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity refers to the malleable nature of the brain, and it’s constant, ongoing. Self-directed neuroplasticity means doing it with clarity and skillfulness and intention. The key to it is a controlled use of attention. Att... posted on Sep 15 2012 (148,400 reads)

now we are all extremely familiar with the litany of challenges we face as a global species, the threats of scarcity which pit state against state and community against community, problems manmade and visible in nature: growing population, increasing urbanization, deforestation, damaged watersheds, over-consumption of resources, energy shortages, waste, pollution....All of us could easily add to this list. We know there will be no easy fixes, no panaceas, but nevertheless as we try to set priorities and search for the most promising ways to approach these problems, many of us find ourselves looking to different cultures and to earlier eras for inspiration. In this regard, the Edo ... posted on Sep 19 2012 (25,756 reads)

vegetable garden, a 150-square-foot garlic plot, a small apple orchard, numerous beds of salad greens in a couple of hoop houses, a small apiary, and a plot of medicinal herbs such as purslane, burdock, and white thistle. “One of our goals is to present healthy eating to people,” says Malik Yakini, Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), which runs D-Town. “We think that healthy eating optimizes a good life generally. A diet close to nature allows the human body to function the way it is supposed to function.” D-Town is set in one of the city’s greenest areas, a former tree nursery in the 1,184-acre River Roug... posted on Oct 25 2012 (10,628 reads)

have consciousness, emotions, intelligence? I can't tell. How to translate the grass? The grass looks inert but it is always moving. It grows, changes, exudes pheromones, and sends out root tendrils that find cracks in the strongest concrete. If I lie on the grass, does the grass say hello back from within its grass aliveness? I may never truly know but it doesn't matter. The realization of the aliveness of the non-human is the crack in the paradigm, a shift from understanding nature as passive, unfeeling, and mechanical, to seeing the non-human all around us as aware, a huge something in which we, as humans, participate but can never control, that we can study, become awar... posted on May 9 2013 (17,129 reads)

you could have a robot that gives away money all around, and it’s definitely not going to be generous. Generosity is a state of nongrasping that is combined with a genuine concern for others, a reduced feeling of self-centeredness and self-cherishing, in the sense of an egoistic way, and then naturally the outcome of that is spontaneously, joyfully, naturally—you’ll be so concerned that it is a joy to give to others! Of course, if it becomes something that is against your nature, against your feeling, that makes you feel miserable, then simply you are not generous! You’re just forcing yourself with some kind of weird idea of duty, or I don’t know what. I... posted on May 14 2013 (55,821 reads)

modeling those possibilities. Ms. Turkle: Absolutely. I mean, I think the greatest gift you can give your child is to walk out of the house without your phone. I mean, to pick up the newspaper, to pick up the bagel, to go out for coffee. Don't take your phone. Show your child what that looks like, that you're willing to step out of the house not open for communication. In the place on the Cape I live in Provincetown, there're these beautiful mudflats that, again, are one of nature's wonders. And people now walk them with their kids and their phones, and that's a very powerful message to a child that we're walking them with our phones. You know, I'm not... posted on Jul 1 2013 (29,010 reads)

A blank page is a place of revelation. I have learned to trust that something will happen there over time that has never been seen before. A diagnosis is like that too. A place of discovery. An encounter with the Unknown. The wisdom may lie in labeling only the disease process; and then accompanying people as they write their story and its possibility. As change agents our stories empower or diminish us too. Our change agentry is only as good as our personal cosmology, our story about the nature of the world. The closer our personal cosmology comes to the nature of reality, the more effective we are in making a difference. I come from a medical family, so when I was young it seemed obv... posted on Jun 30 2013 (66,900 reads)

highest hope. I don't really want to have to sacrifice that much. I don't think I really know what "disciplined love" is. I don't understand that. Why do we imprison ourselves? Why are we so afraid? The American poet, Robert Bly, wrote: "If we don't lift our voices, we allow others (who are ourselves) to rob the house. Every day we steal from ourselves knowledge gained over a thousand years." Why do we imprison ourselves? And what's the nature of the bars? What's the nature of the prison? I think some of the prison bars that we have constructed for ourselves are our fear of losing our jobs. Our fear of not being liked. Our nee... posted on Jul 8 2013 (43,253 reads)

you aren't already. If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time. Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining. Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to nature. Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture, the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it will make the small treats y... posted on Jul 28 2013 (298,243 reads)