Most of the people at the end of World War II who were in the Merchant Marine were not very favorable people as far as their futures were concerned. Many of them had received dishonorable discharges from the military, and this was the only job that they could get. So I learned a lot, and mostly what I learned was what not to do. I was very fortunate, as a young person, that drugs weren’t as prevalent in society as they are today. But, I did learn how alcohol and anger, and things of that nature caused people’s lives to take U-turns. That was a real learning experience for me. The Army taught me a lot of good things about regimentation and setting goals.  Overall, it was rea... posted on Nov 1 2017 (8,260 reads)

will come, and then against all odds, you will get your sense of humor about yourself back. Laughter really is carbonated holiness, even if you are sick of me saying it. 11. God; Goodnesss, Love energy, the Divine, a loving animating intelligence, the Cosmic Muffin. You will worship and serve something, so like St. Bob said, you gotta choose. You can play on our side, or Bill Maher’s and Franklin Graham’s. Emerson said that the happiest person on earth is the one who learns from nature the lessons of worship. So go outside a lot, and look up. My pastor says you can trap bees on the floor of a Mason jar without a lid, because they don’t look up. If they did, they coul... posted on Nov 3 2017 (233,446 reads)

with winning the lottery and marriage proposals. Yet other forms of joy exist all around us. As you begin to look for joy, you will notice more and more of them. There is the joy of pleasures, simple or sublime, such as enjoying a delicious meal, listening to music, or savoring how it feels to hold a baby in your arms. There is the joy of purpose, and how it feels to contribute, work hard, learn, and grow. There is the joy of being connected to something bigger than yourself, be it nature, family, or faith. There is the joy of wonder—being curious, experiencing new things, and feeling awe or surprise. There is the joy of being acknowledged and appreciated by others&mdas... posted on Nov 21 2017 (24,912 reads)

and this body, and they also arise and pass away. I see how I crave pleasant sensations, and I see how the craving is misery. In the bright light of my calm observation, wanting dries up and blows away. I am not in control. I did not create myself. I am a calm observer with a front row seat at the greatest show imaginable: the universe itself. How can I not smile as I watch this show? How can I be afraid when I realize how I formed? How can I feel separate from any other being when I am nature, when I am the biosphere, when I am the universe? How can I intentionally harm any being, once I’ve experienced the truth that all is connected? How can I put myself before others, when t... posted on Aug 19 2017 (9,332 reads)

metrics are those that drive productive action toward value creation. The count of how many times we brush is a great metric to get us to brush so that we may bring dental health into our lives, as opposed to just talking about it. There are wearable devices that have changed the game for many people in getting out of the office and exercising, simply by counting the number of steps they have taken during the day. These insights are the result of deep inquiry on the nature of value. All metrics are systemic values — artificial constructs created in our minds to make our world more manageable. They cannot even come close to capturing the practical value that... posted on Oct 17 2017 (14,611 reads)

most acute manifestation of how memory modulates stress is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. For striking evidence of how memory encodes past experience into triggers, which then catalyze present experience, Sternberg points to research by psychologist Rachel Yehuda, who found both Holocaust survivors and their first-degree relatives — that is, children and siblings — exhibited a similar hormonal stress response. This, Sternberg points out, could be a combination of nature and nurture — the survivors, as young parents for whom the trauma was still fresh, may well have subconsciously taught their children a common style of stress-responsiveness; but it&rsquo... posted on Oct 8 2017 (30,146 reads)

spite of my efforts there are always weeds that escape my notice and grow too big, too much. Removing them now causes disturbance or harm to the other plants. The behavior of weeds is no different from that of humans and other creatures. The weeds want to survive and have evolved ways to maximize that chance. My own ways of being in the world are the same. Those tendencies, habits and attitudes I try to eradicate are no different. They have developed skills for endurance. It’s their nature, like the weeds. I recognize tendencies in me that want to survive, ideas about who I am and who I should be, and how I need to be in order to lead an effective life. Some of those ideas are... posted on Sep 20 2017 (20,756 reads)

myself to a delicious meal, but the joy will not at all be the same as if someone else treats me to a meal, even though it be a little less exquisite. I can prepare a treat for myself, but by no means of mental acrobatics can I be grateful to myself; there lies the decisive difference between the joy that gives rise to gratitude and any other joy. Gratitude refers to another, and to another as person. We cannot in the full sense be grateful to things or to impersonal powers like life or nature, unless we conceive of them in some confused way as implicitly personal, super-personal, if you wish. Gratitude springs from an insight, a recognition, that something good has come to me f... posted on Nov 23 2017 (17,344 reads)

Privilege of Living: A Conversation with Viral Mehta, by Pavithra Mehta August 1, 2016 Viral Mehta In mid-August 2015, Viral Mehta, a co-founder of ServiceSpace.org, was diagnosed with an acute form of bone marrow suppression. In the passages below, written half a year into the diagnosishis wife, Pavithra. “Pavi” Mehta, offers an update on Viral’s condition and speaks with him about his challenges and recovery.  -The Editors (Parabola magazine) Pavi’s Update Viral’s recovery is continuing slowly, at its own secret pace. Things are stable overall, though there have been fluctuations with his blood counts…. But the fact that h... posted on Dec 31 1969 (2,695 reads)

coined by him and variously translated as “truth force,” “soul force” or “clinging to truth,” generally used in reference to nonviolent resistance or a specific nonviolent campaign. I am committed to listen to Gandhi as a trusted guide with concrete instructions relating to my here-and-now, day-to-day life. Following February 16, 2003, this quest became particularly focused. I felt compelled to understand both the gaping hole I experienced that day, and the nature of its possible remedy. I hoped Gandhi’s life and work would offer guidance. And in due time, I found this guidance in the space of a single paragraph penned by Gandhi at a critical ... posted on May 25 2018 (14,492 reads)

and negative value. One of the challenges is to really know when that's happening—like, "Oh, you're better because you're more rational and I'm more emotional and therefore, I'm a little bit less stable or something." We have to kind of start to look at the differences and see if we can find both the strength and the weakness of both sides. What's the upside of being rational? What's the downside? What's the upside of your more emotional nature and what's the downside? Otherwise, the difference conversation can very quickly move into a good and bad conversation. TS: Now, Diane. I just have one final question for you because in ... posted on Oct 29 2017 (15,137 reads)

by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Hilary Hart April 29, 2017 Girl Sweeping. William McGregor Paxton, 1912. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts In the busyness of our contemporary life we are drawn into ceaseless activity that often separates us from the deeper dimension of our self. With our smart phones and computer screens we often remain caught on the surface of our lives, amidst the noise and chatter that continually distract us, that stop us from being rooted in our true nature. Unaware, we are drowned deeper and deeper in a culture of soulless materialism. At this time I find it more and more important to have outer activities that can connect us to what is more n... posted on Nov 25 2017 (25,515 reads)

the PA is home to two permanent members, Dan and Margaret, as well as two long-term visitors, Thomas and Maggie. Thousands of other visitors have come and gone over the years. A few have settled on adjacent homesteads, while others left to start far-flung urban permaculture centers. All are contributing to a more beautiful and just world, as they feel uniquely called to do. Ethan and Sarah have given away tens of thousands of trees and plants over the years—they are still in awe of nature’s abundance, the way life regenerates and propagates through time, a key difference between a tractor and a draft-horse—but perhaps more significantly, they’ve seeded the worl... posted on Oct 12 2017 (11,234 reads)

question is not what to do but how to see. Seeing is the most important thing—the act of seeing. I need to realize that it is truly an act, an action that brings something entirely new, a new possibility of vision, certainty and knowledge. This possibility appears during the act itself and disappears as soon as the seeing stops. It is only in this act of seeing that I will find a certain freedom. So long as I have not seen the nature and movement of the mind, there is little sense in believing that I could be free of it. I am a slave to my mechanical thoughts. This is a fact. It is not the thoughts ­themselves that enslave me but my ­attachment to them. In order to ... posted on Dec 24 2017 (10,353 reads)

to extend this to oneself as well (“May I be free from mental suffering” etc). Variations are encouraged (“May he/she be free to develop the beauty of his/her mind.”) This practice, when in play, cannot co-exist with fear. 5. Inhabit Larger Fields of Time We are relating to time today in a way that is surely unique in human history. The growth economy and nano-technologies require decisions made at lightning speed for short-term goals, cutting us off from nature’s rhythms and from the past and future as well. Both the legacy of our ancestors and the needs of our descendants become less and less real to us. This relation to time is not innate. ... posted on Jan 29 2018 (48,329 reads)

That’s why I was drawn to him. It's a major reason why so many people were turned on by Lax the contemplative, and this going back into his college years. Professors at Columbia like Mark Van Doren and Jacques Barzun had good things to say about Bob. Even when he was younger, his own sister had a dream of him being an important person at some point in life.      He spoke with a rare singularity that, as you said, pointed to the "cosmic fountain," to the nature of what life is about, and which the Hindus also point to. In the Upanishads, there’s a phrase, “in our consciousness, in between our thoughts”—it’s that living pr... posted on Nov 17 2017 (14,307 reads)

and ball games, and when picking your children up from school. Mindfulness does not mean accepting each moment as perfect or even desirable; yet our photos, posts, and status updates can paint an image of our lives untarnished. Before you go to engage online, see who you can engage with in your present surroundings. Before you update your status, think about the message you’re trying to convey, and the present pain or discomfort you might be trying to avoid. Before you try to capture nature’s beauty on a 5-inch screen, rely on your 5 senses. Pause to take it all in, and let that be enough. Sources Mindful Tech, by Wendy Joan Biddlecombe, Tricycle: The Buddhist Revie... posted on Oct 11 2017 (13,506 reads)

and recall the words of many guides: Be regular, meditate daily, even if it’s just for a short time. It bears much more fruit than long periods now and then. I don’t want you to think that my early adult tendencies are entirely transformed. They turn up in many places, although it is in the garden that clear success is evident. While writing, I have yet to master the ‘short bits at a time’ skill. On larger writing projects I look for large blocks of time, but the nature of my life is that large blocks of time are difficult to create. I’m beginning to question whether it is my concept about needing these large blocks of time that will have to be revised. ... posted on Dec 2 2017 (11,069 reads)

is glór, voice of the river, say, voice of the wind that shakes the barley in gort, a cornfield. And gort is the Irish name for the letter: field full of guh-grain, granary of G-ness. H by David Hockney “H is for Homosexual” for Martin Amis, who relays a heartbreaking childhood memory of awakening to his difference, then writes: I wish I understood homosexuality. I wish I could intuit more about it — the attraction to like, not to other. Is it nature or nurture, a predisposition, is it written in the DNA? When I think about it in relation to myself … its isolation and disquiet become something lifelong. In my mind I call homosexualit... posted on Dec 16 2017 (7,025 reads)

question is not what to do but how to see. Seeing is the most important thing—the act of seeing. I need to realize that it is truly an act, an action that brings something entirely new, a new possibility of vision, certainty and knowledge. This possibility appears during the act itself and disappears as soon as the seeing stops. It is only in this act of seeing that I will find a certain freedom. So long as I have not seen the nature and movement of the mind, there is little sense in believing that I could be free of it. I am a slave to my mechanical thoughts. This is a fact. It is not the thoughts ­themselves that enslave me but my ­attachment to them. In order to under... posted on Dec 20 2017 (7,889 reads)