Reading Archives (2011)
Make Your Life Into a Giving
Jaggi Vasudeva
Make your life into a giving. When I say a giving, it is not to be understood as an act. Giving as an act is a deception because, after all, what can you give? Everything that we have, including this ...
We Are Between Stories
Judith Thompson
We live in an exciting time. As cultural historian, Thomas Berry put it: "We are between stories." The old story -- bracketed on the one side by reductionist scientific materialism, and on t...
Everyday Creativity
Ruth Richards
I’m rather good at maps. I’m also good at using a GPS device. But I forgot the maps and here we were, late afternoon, last day of vacation, my daughter my cousin and I, driving along a two...
Letter to My Grandson
Daniel Gottlieb
Change is difficult for all of us. The older we get, the more change we face. All change involves loss, and whenever we lose something, we ache to have it back. Everything I have los...
A Spiritual Conspiracy
Author Unknown
On the surface of the Earth exactly now there is war and violence and everything looks horrible. But, simultaneously, something quiet, calm and hidden is happening and certain people are being c...
The Difference Between Natural and Unnatural
Masanobu Fukuoka
For thirty years I lived only in my farming and had little contact with people outside my own community. During those years I was heading in a straight line toward a "do nothing" agric...
Pilgrimage to Nonviolence
Martin Luther King, Jr.
First, it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violen...
Stand In the Tragic Gap
Parker Palmer
The bad news is that violence is found at every level of our lives. The good news is that we can choose nonviolence at every level as well. But what does it mean, in specifics, to act nonviolently? Th...
Finding the Deepest Joy in Relationships
Ezra Bayda
One very helpful tool in both clarifying and working with our relationship difficulties is to return to the three questions: Am I truly happy right now? What blocks happiness? Can I surrender to what...
That Which is Looking
Adyashanti
Only when you turn attention to awareness itself, there isn't anything behind it. That's what returning to the source means. It means that nothing is next. There's nothing behind it. With a thought th...
Psychological Materialism
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Even if you are against the materialism of society and you do not want to support it, refusing to work is still grasping at the wrong end of the stick. Not taking part in work and practical activity i...
Giving Somebody Your Heart
Anonymous
In every interaction you have with another human being—doesn’t matter who—you always have two main choices. (The keyword is choice.) One choice usually leads to logical (b...
Fool Realization
Steve Bhaerman
In the Greek tradition, tragedies were four act plays that ended sadly and badly -- kind of like situation comedies without the laugh track. Comedies, on the other hand, had a fifth act where the...
Love without Conditions
Paul Ferrini
You will find all kinds of methods to teach you “how to be”. But, as long as there is a method, you will be “doing”. I am telling you to drop all your methods.&n...
Living With a Rebel Within
Dzogchen Ponlop
Your true mind is a mind of joy, free from all suffering. That is who you really are. That is the true nature of your mind and the mind of everyone. But your mind doesn't just sit there being perfect,...
Three Universal Human Processes
Angeles Arrien
There are three universal processes that every human being is involved in whether you’re in Africa or China or among the island people of the world. They are, first, the work with self. That is ...
Difference Between Eah and Oh!
Jerry Wennstrom
After walking some distance, stopping for a cup of tea, and winding my way back to the apartment, I happened upon an older, homeless man in an alley. He was surrounded by several overstuffed plastic b...
I Am Nothing
Paul Buchheit
What will you do if you're too tough to be a good woman, too sensitive to be a good man, too selfish to be a good husband, too lazy to be a good employee, too shy to be a good friend, too caring to be...
You Are Not a Prisoner
Andrew Cohen
Q: Why is it important to practice meditation consistently? A: You meditate to remind yourself that you are not a prisoner. If there is power in your meditation, if your experience of the Groun...
Evolution's Gold Standard
Diane Ackerman
Feeling low? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when people feel bad, their sense of touch quickens and they instinctively want to hug something or someone. Tykes cling to a...