that way, and it will start to tell me its structure. So from that, that’s also how I retrieve and write the nonfiction books. I will have an idea, but I know my idea is just kindling. Not one book I’ve written has ever turned out to be the book that happened. And I know that, and that’s a wonderful thing, that’s not a frustration. So I feel like I’m an inner explorer, and in my movement in the world and with others and with nature, I take fragments and images and pieces of things that ring true, and I gather them like shells along the shore. Then I will take one at a time and it’s, “Huh,” like the story of the fish on the shore,... posted on Jul 16 2023 (4,105 reads)

the land of my birth, is famous for its culture of grieving. Our word in English to keen or to lament comes from the Irish word caoineadh, meaning to cry. One of the significant rituals of this grieving culture is called a wake. James Joyce’s epoch-defining novel Finnegan’s Wake references this ritual. To this day, over half of the funerals in Ireland involve some form of a wake. At a wake, the body of a loved one is laid out in their home. For two or three days, the family stays with the body, and the community comes and pays their respects and shares their sympathies. • • • • • Every life is like a day. We be... posted on Jul 18 2023 (5,041 reads)

exultations: Before us are the fields, already green. Facing the immense, clear sky, of a blazing indigo, my eyes — so far from my ears! — open nobly, welcoming in its calm that indescribable placidity, that harmonious, divine serenity which dwells in the limitlessness of the horizon. Art by Ryōji Arai from Every Color of Light This longing for the infinite accompanies the young man and the old donkey as they cross the hills and valleys on their daily pilgrimages: The evening extends beyond its normal limits, and the hour, infected with eternity, is infinite, peaceful, unfathomable. Again and again, Platero’s presence magnifies the poet&... posted on Jul 25 2023 (4,353 reads)

Nhat Hanh’s courageous path of engaged action reveals how insight, community, and a deep aspiration to serve the world can offer hope, peace, and a way forward for millions. The film’s release on April 2, 2022 coincides with the release by his students of an Open Letter calling for peace and an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine: https://plumvillage.org/articles/an-o... Content Warning: This film includes a few brief scenes which some viewers may find upsetting (including sounds and images of war). These are intended to convey the true suffering caused by war, but they may also be triggering for some people, so please use your discretion when sharing this film with children."... posted on Jul 29 2023 (4,843 reads)

a sleety, bitter night” when Father Ed came to meet him, his memory altered the weather to fit his mood. For, according to Dowling’s desk calendar and his speaking schedule, Father Ed visited him late in the evening on Saturday, November 16, 1940. And, on that night, according to contemporary newspaper reports, Manhattan’s temperature was indeed chilly—just above freezing—with some wind gusts, but there was no precipitation. What Bill sought to convey with his images of Father Ed’s “coat…covered with sleet” and his “hat…covered with snow” was the courage with which Dowling selflessly sailed straight into the storm... posted on Aug 2 2023 (6,926 reads)

29, 2013 Today is my father's birthday. If  he were living today, he'd be 102. I cannot even imagine that. He was 67 when he died, and that's too young, but lately, as I stare at some hard realities of aging and mortality, I begin to appreciate the fact that  he didn't have to endure a long period of frailty, pain, and dependence. My father was himself to very the end, brilliant and good and a force of nature, the most important person in my world, and I miss him terribly even now.  Maybe especially now. I find solace in these words from a poem my friend Naomi Shihab Nye wrote after the death of her own beloved father:  There's a wa... posted on Aug 6 2023 (3,959 reads)

century has witnessed an incomprehensible savaging of flesh.  Its global and local wars, genocides, politically directed torture and famine, terrorist attacks, the selling of children and women into prostitution, and personal wanton violence to family members and street victims would be more than enough evidence for a non-terrestrial to condemn us for criminal disregard for the muscle fibers, fluids, and neural networks within which we live.  An alien visitor might not notice, however, that these painfully tangible wounds to the body politic are symptomatic manifestations of highly abstract ideas that rapidly gained a disproportionate amount of physical power.  While viol... posted on Sep 17 2023 (2,572 reads)

became a scientist because I wanted to save lives and I wrote poetry to save myself. My book of poems, The Whisper, is a lyrical conversation I had with the tiny voice that I had ignored for years while I climbed the corporate ladder. [From the book's blurb] Poems written by an executive who could no longer ignore the tiny voice inside herself that had an important message for her and the business world. The Whisper is a poetic engagement with the intimacy and audacity of being here human, alive. It reminds of what it is to hide from the world, and in doing so becoming hidden to our own selves. An invitation to integrate the many and multitudes that make us whole and avoid our se... posted on Oct 7 2023 (4,047 reads)

the external parts of your life are like a dream. The Talmud says if you really want to live, then die before you die. Let go of the shell you're in while you’re alive so you can get out of the cage that holds you. Then, share the message with everybody else. Not long before I made the decision to leave the rock band, I invited a friend of mine over for Friday night dinner. We called it for 7 p.m., but as I continued to glance at the clock, it quickly went from 7:15 to 7:45. I looked at the food on the counter and realized he wasn’t showing up. My table faced the door, and I had left it wide open so I could hear him if he was lost and looking for it, but what happened ... posted on Feb 13 2024 (4,695 reads)

it. I had a lot of time on my own and I had very loving parents, but I spent a great deal of time alone in my room. And I read a lot and I got interested in magic, performing magic very early on. I was probably nine years old. And when you’re nine, doing a card trick or an actual miracle occurring — there’s gray area between that. The idea that there are things that we don’t understand when we see them and don’t make sense, and as a practicing magician, creating images that gave people the feeling that they were seeing something that they weren’t seeing, it blurred the line for me where reality begins and ends. And it’s still blurred. Tippett:&nb... posted on Nov 30 -0001 (60 reads)

time, I was with a bunch of strangers in India. I was giving a presentation, and power went out. It was in a dark hall, and I was with two other colleagues. I was so embarrassed because we had invited all these people here. It was a public talk, and we couldn't do anything about it. Our mic was gone. There was no light. Everyone's sitting here in darkness, and I was just like, "Oh my goodness."You know, when the power goes out, you feel like you should be in control of it, because you're hosting the event. I was so embarrassed, and we just kept going on, talking in the dark, hoping people would stay. It was really ridiculous. I mean, there were no windows. Nothing. It was a dark hall.All... posted on May 14 2024 (1,891 reads)

each one, not just for somedisplay Kindness as you listenLove with love that never ends.search for Meaning as you NurtureOpenness makes strangers, friendsfoster Peace and learn by Playingas you Quest, may you Revere.welcome Shadow, welcome Silence,Teachers bring transformation near.work for Unity with Vision,Wonder at the mysteryYearn and follow your desireslive God’s Spirit Zealously.Charles: I'd love to invite us just to 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 abili... posted on May 5 2024 (3,278 reads)

communities to hold conflict and navigate complexity across various levels of authority. She holds a Bachelors of Engineering from the American University of Beirut, a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and is an incoming PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, where she will research the pedagogical and theoretical implications of generative AI. Vartika Sharma is a collage artist and illustrator based in New Delhi, India. Inspired by surrealism and symbolism, she creates emotive images through bold compositions. Her digital and print work has appeared in The New Statesman, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Atavist Magazine, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. Poking fun at ho... posted on May 15 2024 (3,393 reads)

they would “shush and drop” them into shiny metal bowls. The aim was to separate out the little bits of stone or grit, the less-than-ideal specimens. Her mother wanted each bean to be perfect.  “Shush and drop, shush and drop, shush and drop,” Alice murmurs. Even now, the sound carries her back in time, back to herself at five and six years old. “More than anything in the world,” she says, “that sound transports me.” Many of us turn to images to spark our memories: the childhood drawings, still stuck to the belly of the old refrigerator; the family album crammed with faded photographs. But sounds, too, can be powerfully evocative.&n... posted on May 20 2024 (1,785 reads)

you ever woken up in the middle of the night with upsetting thoughts spinning through your head? Maybe you argued with your partner and you’re reliving the fight in agonizing detail. Perhaps you can’t stop worrying about all the things that could go wrong in an upcoming job interview. Or maybe you’re perseverating about the state of the world. Rehashing the past or imagining the future isn’t unusual. That’s how we humans figure out how to navigate our lives. But sometimes this system goes haywire, and we get stuck, like a needle stuck on a record album that plays the same riff over and over again. Repetitive, ruminative thinking can make it hard to see re... posted on Jun 13 2024 (3,748 reads)

seen in Parade - January 1, 2012) I’ve received quite a few nice notes and letters from people who saw my piece in Parade. That piece was necessarily much shortened, because of space limitations, so I thought I’d share an earlier draft with those who have taken the time to come to this page. Here goes. “Knowing that you had to work on Thanksgiving, of all days, I thought I’d express my gratitude that you have taken the time and made the effort to learn my name and greet me each day in a way that makes me feel like a person instead of a number.  It’s a small thing, but on any given day, it can make all the difference.  Thank you!” I sent th... posted on Aug 18 2013 (100,986 reads)

interview was first published on September 16, 2014.] Beginning in the summer of 1977, two American monks in the Chinese Mahayana Buddhist tradition committed to taking three steps and one bow for 800 miles along California’s Highway 1. A pilgrimage to bring peace within and without, their journey took them through some of the most beautiful and also some of the most dangerous parts of California. Two and a half years later, they completed their pilgrimage at the steps of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, in Ukiah, California. One of these monks was bestowed the name Rev. Heng Sure, or “Constantly Real.” Born into a Christian family in the midwestern city of Toledo,... posted on Jul 5 2024 (2,380 reads)

group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think... _____ "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca - age 8 _____ "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4 _____ "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - ag... posted on Dec 29 2010 (643,980 reads)

in West Tennessee, not far from Graceland, nine women -- or "The 9 Nanas," as they prefer to be called -- gather in the darkness of night. At 4am they begin their daily routine -- a ritual that no one, not even their husbands, knew about for 30 years. They have one mission and one mission only: to create happiness. And it all begins with baked goods. “One of us starts sifting the flour and another washing the eggs,” explained Nana Mary Ellen, the appointed spokesperson for their secret society. “And someone else makes sure the pans are all ready. We switch off, depending on what we feel like doing that day. “But you make sure to say Nana Pearl is in charge... posted on Jun 29 2012 (1,785,737 reads)

delivered in January 2023 for the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium at University of Pennsylvania. The evening was graciously hosted by Symposium Committee, Office of the Chaplain and Office of the President.] Thank you for such a heartfelt introduction. To be in the company of such inspired love-warriors from the community and to be in shared field of honoring Dr. King's legacy is a tremendous honor.  Having just spent a couple of months in India, today, I'm hoping to build a bit of a Gandhi-Dr. King bridge that perhaps points us to the hem of the Infinite. I want to start in 1958. Dr. King was 29 years old, his first book had come out, and he was  signing ... posted on Feb 2 2023 (10,591 reads)