A Primer for Forgetting, by Lewis Hyde
Primer for Forgetting, out this month from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ANTI-MNEMONICS Umberto Eco writes that “once, as a joke, some friends and I invented advertisements for university po­sitions in nonexistent disciplines,” one of these being an ars oblivionalis, as opposed to the ancient arts of memory. Eco tells the story in an essay meant to prove that, from a semioti­cian’s point of view, no such art could possibly exist. Others would disagree. At one point in the Biographia Literaria,Samuel Taylor Coleridge complains about the habit of reading periodicals, suggesting that it should rightly be added to the “catalogue... posted on Jun 27 2019 (5,193 reads)

Uncomfortable Place of Uncertainty, by Margaret Wheatley
weren’t trained to admit we don’t know. Most of us were taught to sound certain and confident, to state our opinion as if it were true. We haven’t been rewarded for being confused. Or for asking more questions rather than giving quick answers. We’ve also spent many years listening to others mainly to determine whether we agree with them or not. We don’t have time or interest to sit and listen to those who think differently than we do. It is very difficult to give up our certainties -- our positions, our beliefs, our explanations. These help define us; they lie at the heart of our personal identity. Yet I believe we will succeed in changing this world only ... posted on Jul 9 2019 (9,520 reads)

Toni Morrisson: On Borders and Belonging, by Maria Popova
does home mean and where do we anchor our belonging in a of violent alienation and alienating violence? I use “alien” here both in the proper etymological sense rooted in the Latin alienus, “belonging to another,” and in the astrophysical sense of “from another planet,” “not human,” for the combined effect of a dehumanizing assault on belonging for those treated and mistreated as alien to a country or a community. That, and some hint of the remedy for it, is what Toni Morrison (February 18, 1931–August 5, 2019) — one of the titanic thinkers and writers of our time, and the first black woman to ... posted on Aug 7 2019 (7,627 reads)

A Young Poet Tells the Story of Darfur, by ted.com
was 10 years old when I learned what the word "genocide" meant. It was 2003, and my people were being brutally attacked because of their race -- hundreds of thousands murdered, millions displaced, a nation torn apart at the hands of its own government.  My mother and father immediately began speaking out against the crisis. I didn't really understand it, except for the fact that it was destroying my parents. One day, I walked in on my mother crying, and I asked her why we are burying so many people. I don't remember the words that she chose to describe genocide to her 10-year-old daughter, but I remem... posted on Aug 9 2019 (9,402 reads)

Inner Preacher vs Inner Teacher, by Maria Popova
a poem is made available to the public, the right of interpretation belongs to the reader,” young Sylvia Plath wrote to her mother as she reflected on her first poem. What is true of a poem is true of any work of art: Art transforms us not with what it contains but with what it creates in us — the constellation of interpretations, revelations, and emotional truths illuminated — which, of course, is why the rise of the term “content” to describe creative output online has been one of the most corrosive developments in contemporary culture. A poem — or an essay, or a painting, or a song — is not its “content”; it trans... posted on Sep 9 2019 (4,961 reads)

In the Presence of Elephants and Whales, by On Being
follows is the syndicated transcript of an On Being interview between Krista Tippett and Katy Payne. Krista Tippett, host:“We are made and set here,” the writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “to give voice to our astonishments.” Katy Payne is an acoustic biologist with a Quaker sensibility, and she’s found her astonishment in listening to two of the world’s most exotic creatures. She has decoded the language of elephants and was among the first scientists to discover that whales are composers of song. [music: “Seven League Boots” by Zoë Keating] Katy Payne:By golly, they’re singing, of all things. They’re doing somethin... posted on Oct 22 2019 (5,082 reads)

My Summer of the Catbird, by Virginia May-Schiros
as too many of us do, separated from  Nature, we forget that we are supported on this planet only insofar as we remain connected in relationship to Earth and all of her creatures. John Muir understood this deeply. He encouraged people to “stay close to Nature’s heart” for healing and solace. It takes patience, quiet, and a willingness to step away from the pull of technology to find the heart of Nature in real time.  He saw how Nature has been sustained over eons through storms, floods, and fires, but she will “not be saved from fools” – meaning humans who have lost their relationship with Life. This is a problem for our ag... posted on Sep 24 2019 (6,258 reads)

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Jon Espino
will always be a need to tell powerful stories from some of humanities darkest times. This rings especially true for stories about the Nazi’s and the Holocaust because we have a resurgence of the same sentiment that led to one of the worst regimes in history. Diane Ackerman wrote a story based on real life historic heroes that remind us that we can fight against oppression in a non-violent way with her book “The Zookeeper’s Wife”. With the film out this weekend, we talk with Ackerman about her novel and how it still holds up as a reminder of human kindness in a sometimes cruel world. I never heard about the story before I read your novel.  Was it hard to... posted on Sep 29 2019 (4,470 reads)

How Oral Surgery Taught Me a Lesson in Wholeness, by Andy Smallman
little over a month ago my dental hygienist pointed out to me a dark spot that had shown up on the edge of the X-ray she had just taken. She called in the dentist who recommended I have the spot reviewed by an oral surgeon as soon as an appointment could be had. A few days later, there I was, having a much more complex X-ray taken, followed by a conversation with the surgeon: “There’s no reason to think this is malignant; in fact, I’m virtually certain it’s a cyst. But it needs to come out.” “Okay, what does that entail?” “Well, I’ll detach your palate to open up a space to remove the growth.” “Detach my palate?... posted on Nov 3 2019 (4,981 reads)

No Impact Man's Guide to Activism, by Colin Beavan
article from the YES! Media archives was originally published in the Spring 2011 issue of YES! Magazine. So many of us have good ideas for helping the world. But we tuck away our ideas. I did. I’d tell myself that if the idea were any good someone else would have already done it. That I’m not capable of making a difference. I’d sit on my ideas, get on with my life, and then feel angry at the world because the problems I cared about didn’t get solved. I had that fear of going first. Then I took my first hapless step into what I call accidental activism. In 2006, I started a project where I lived as environmentally as possible for a year—with my litt... posted on Nov 18 2019 (6,475 reads)

Ben Quilty: Artist Activist, by Jessica Raschke
Quilty is like any other human being: complex, flawed, obvious, messy, courageous, funny. As one of Australia’s best-known and internationally acclaimed artists, his public profile as an “artist activist” can invite intense public scrutiny. He gets fairly and unfairly described as all kinds of things, yet his modus operandi is humanity and compassion. In 2002, Ben won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, and was a finalist in the Wynne and Archibald prizes. His success continued: he won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2009 with a portrait of Jimmy Barnes, and in 2011 he won the coveted Archibald Prize with a portrait of artist and mentor, Margaret... posted on Nov 20 2019 (4,844 reads)

Mark Tredinnick Heals with Poetry, by Julie Perrin
first met Mark Tredinnick’s work through The Little Red Writing Book—recommended by a teacher I loved. Within the opening pages, I was hooked. I read the text avidly, for the author’s voice came to me with clarity, and elegance. Exercises adeptly invited me to ‘Try this’.  I was drawn to the way Tredinnick connected rhythm and sentence-forming to breath and walking in the natural world. Little did I know he was already a revered and award-winning poet and nature writer. In the years that followed I gave Mark’s book on writing craft to friends and family, using it to coach and encourage other writers. Through a Melbourne winter I met up with ... posted on Dec 2 2019 (5,633 reads)

What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in School?, by Diana Divecha
50 U.S. states require schools to have a bullying prevention policy. But a policy, alone, is not enough. Despite the requirement, there’s been a slight uptick in all forms of bullying during the last three years. Bullying can look like experienced basketball players systematically intimidating novice players off the court, kids repeatedly stigmatizing immigrant classmates for their cultural differences, or a middle-school girl suddenly being insulted and excluded by her group of friends. Bullying occurs everywhere, even in the highest-performing schools, and it is hurtful to everyone involved, from the targets of bullying to the witnesses—and even to bullies t... posted on Nov 4 2019 (6,536 reads)

A Chorus of Thank Yous, by Elizabeth Aquino
Editor’s note: As we begin this year’s season of thanksgiving with Thanksgiving Day in Canada (October 14, 2019) we offer the following invitation (originally published in 2015) to consider how gratitude might arise and serve “even as we mourn and starve and hurt.” Thanksgiving is a formal holiday for giving thanks, for sharing community with family and friends, but it’s also the holiday that represents most vividly the paradox of feeling gratitude even as we suffer or cause the suffering of others. Some of us live close enough to our immediate families that sitting down with them and sharing a meal on this one day is less about family and... posted on Nov 28 2019 (4,010 reads)

Spirit Bathing for the Worried and Beleaguered, by Patricia Adams Farmer
all who feel deeply about the world, for all who mourn a planet under siege, for all who care about justice and human dignity and democracy and the welfare of the most vulnerable — these are hard times. Shocking and dispiriting days. I feel it, you feel it. When is it all going to turn around? It will turn around, I’m convinced, but at a great price of waiting too long. My theory is that we humans are an eleventh-hour species, waiting until it is almost too late to do anything to save ourselves. But we do, history tells. We do. Barely. By the skin of our teeth. While the future remains open with no guarantees, I truly believe that the current moral sickness will break like... posted on Dec 6 2019 (7,182 reads)

The Lost Words, by Jackie Morris
by Jackie Morris from "The Lost Words" It has been described as a ‘cultural phenomenon’ by The Guardian, but really it is just a book of spell-poems and paintings. Created as a response to the realisation that we humans were losing sight of the common species, the everyday names of wild things that share our earth, the book’s aim was to re-connect, re-focus, revitalise. As Robert said ‘we do not love what we cannot name, and what we do not love we will not save’. It had come to our attention that words were slipping out from the mouths and the minds of children, but it was only once the book was complete and beginning to make i... posted on Dec 12 2019 (6,866 reads)

Annie Dillard on the Winter Solstice, by Maria Popova
considered the cold season the time for tending one’s inner garden. “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer,” Albert Camus wrote a generation later. “If we didn’t remember winter in spring, it wouldn’t be as lovely,” Adam Gopnik observed after many more revolutions of the Earth around the Sun in his lyrical love letter to winter. But if we are to reap winter’s quiet and invisible spiritual rewards, it seems that special regard must be paid to day of the season’s onset as the time to set such interior intentions. That’s what Annie ... posted on Dec 21 2019 (12,206 reads)

Shaped by a Silky Attention, by Jane Hirshfield
request for concentration isn't always answered, but people engaged in many disciplines have found ways to invite it in. Violinists practicing scales and dancers repeating the same movements over decades are not simply warming up or mechanically training their muscles. They are learning how to attend unswervingly, moment by moment, to themselves and their art; learning to come into steady presence, free from the distractions of interest or boredom. However it is brought into being, true concentration appears -- paradoxically -- at the moment willed effort drops away. It is then that a person enters what scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has described as "flow" and Zen call... posted on Jan 18 2020 (5,378 reads)

Love Letters from La Pineta, by Jane Jackson
Letters from la Pineta" by DailyGood volunteer Jane Jackson is more than a book -- it is a living gesture of love that wings its way between the visible and invisible world. A book that embodies hospitality in its deepest sense. For to truly welcome love and all its bright gifts we are required to keep our hearts open when grief's shadow descends. And that is exactly what Jane does in this book letter by heartfelt letter.  Written in the years following her beloved husband Blyden's passing, the letters are addressed to him, and to Jasmine their granddaughter who arrived on this Earth after he had "changed address." She writes them from Mornese -- the It... posted on Feb 14 2020 (4,772 reads)

Learning to Move from Strength Instead of Strain, by Awakin Call Editors
a young man he trained for a decade in the classical dance form of bharatanatyam. As an adult he studied yoga, and ran a studio of his own. Until one day he decided to put aside every shred of training he had received and announced he was going to observe his students in silence, and see what arose …it was a radical decision, and for Gert van Leeuwen, it was a moment that changed everything. Gert van Leeuwen is the founder of Critical Alignment Yoga and Therapy, and the director of two Critical Alignment schools in Amsterdam and Russia. Over the last forty years his work has largely flown under the radar, drawing a small and dedicated following around the world. He has... posted on Feb 20 2020 (5,114 reads)