“Sometimes I go about with pity for myself and all the while Great Winds are carrying me across the sky.” Ojibway Saying Our crucial task when in pain or despair is not to let the sour feelings spill into everything, so that we stain our sense of the world. Yet we…
There is nothing to do and nowhere to go. Accepting this, we can do everything and go anywhere. One of the basic notions of Taoism is that the world in all its mystery and difficulty cannot be improved upon, only experienced.We are asked to believe that life in all its…
“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” Agnes Repplier If forced to name them, the biggest obstacles to peace are ourselves and the world. Often en route to the truth of my soul, I get stuck in my self…
“When you make the two one, when you make the inner as outer and the outer as inner—then shall you enter the kingdom.” Jesus The goal of all experience is to remove whatever might keep us from being whole. The things we learn through love and pain reduce our walls and…
“Older now, you find holiness in anything that continues.” Naomi Shihab Nye The longer I wake on this Earth, the louder the quiet things speak to me. The more I experience and survive, the more I find truth in the commonalties we all share. The more pain softens me, the…
Wherever we stop is the summit. I was climbing Trail Ridge Road through the Rocky Mountains, determined to make the Continental Divide, when two sharp feelings pierced me almost at once. I, who have never had any trouble with heights, felt rushes of fear as I drove on narrow stretches…
“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” Lao-Tzu Beyond what we need to survive, to better ourselves has come to mean having as much as one can store, and as such has…
“If you tell me you already understand, I feel a little pessimistic. If you say you do not understand, I feel more optimistic.” Thich Nhat Hanh This Vietnamese monk, so renowned for his insight, helps us remember that no one can live up to their image of themselves. We can…
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