Reading Archives (2012)
Social Intelligence
Daniel Goleman
One day, late for a meeting in midtown Manhattan, I was looking for a shortcut. So I walked into an indoor atrium on the ground floor of a skyscraper, planning to use an exit door I had spotted on the...
The Essence of Spirituality
Vimala Thakar
To be spiritual is to be related to the visible, invisible and the infinite aspects of life simultaneously. True spirituality never provides any escapes for fear-obsessed people. We may find other esc...
Always Had It, Always Will
Alan Cohen
Not this crude leather; luminous beings are we! - Yoda What would you do if someone swore that you knew the secret of life and put you on a stage to tell it? The Totally Hidden Video television sh...
The Power of Myth
Joseph Campbell
MOYERS: Why myths? Why should we care about myths? What do they have to do with my life? CAMPBELL: My first response would be, "Go on, live your life, it's a good life--you don't need mytholog...
10 Principles of The Artist's Way
Julia Cameron
It is my experience both as an artist and as a teacher that when we move out on faith into the act of creation, the universe is able to advance. It is a little like opening the gate at the top of a fi...
The Challenge of Gift-Giving
Nitin Paranjape
I am afflicted with a trait which I suppose is common, yet I feel peculiar. Even though I like receiving gifts, I find myself feeling awkward giving them. I suppose at the core is an assumption that t...
The Call
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
I have heard it all my life, A voice calling a name I recognized as my own. Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper. Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency. But always it says: Wak...
Frying the Seeds of Anger
Swami Vivekananda
When I am angry, my whole mind becomes a huge wave of anger. I feel it, see it, handle it, can easily manipulate it, can fight with it; but I shall not succeed perfectly in the fight until I can get d...
Planetary Birth
Barbara Marx Hubbard
From the vantage point of our birth as a universal humanity, we are not dying; rather we are in a dangerous but natural condition, Just post-birth, not yet awake, yet become aware that if we do not sh...
A Servant Leader
Vinoba Bhave
To progress, society doesn't need 'leaders' anymore. This doesn't mean that we won't have great men amidst us. I think great men will come and they will be vital for progress of humanity...
Sunrise in Laos
Pam Houston
I am a mountain girl, and my first love in Asia are the monasteries tucked between the snow-covered razor ridges of the high Himalayas. But I've been drawn south into these humid lowlands by the repor...
Gaining Mental Power
Swami Sivananda
Uncontrolled thoughts are the roots of all evils. Each thought by itself is extremely weak, because the mind is generally distracted by countless and ever-varying thoughts. The more the thought...
The Way of the Farmer
Masanobu Fukuoka
Extravagance of desire is the fundamental cause which has led the world into its present predicament. Fast rather than slow, more rather than less -- this flashy "development" is linked d...
Living from the Heart
Rick Jarow
When we are envious of somebody, it is because they are mirroring a place in us that does not feel abundant. After all, if you feel abundant, if you are overflowing, the symptom of abundance is that a...
The Spirit of Karma Yoga
Baba Hari Dass
What is Karma Yoga? Karma Yoga is a selfless act. Any work which does not directly fulfill your ego is Karma Yoga. If someone's tire is punctured and you stop to help, that is spiritual work. If you ...
The Rich Experience of A Quiet Mind
John Coleman
Entertainments, in whatever form one cares to take them, are necessary and indeed vital to happiness in the ordinary sense of the word. Both the body and the mind need rest and the batteries have to b...
Sitting Aboard Life's Merry-Go-Round
Karl Renz
Welcome! Welcome to the fair! I can see, you’re already sitting on the merry-go-round! It’s great how you are driving! You have a sleek car, with an accelerator and a brake. But most of al...
What Astrology Teaches Us
Isabel Hickey
Astrology is not meant to be a primarily predictive science. It is meant to be for understanding ourselves and also for understanding other people. I've had a number of interviews recently...
One February Morning in Vietnam
Eugene Hilderbrandt
It was another morning in Chu Lai, Vietnam -- a large and ugly army base where I was. One February morning, as I avoided the mud puddles in my morning duty, I found myself standing on top of a d...
Meaning of Yin and Yang
Masahiro Oko
Everything has a right to live. Everything wants to exist and we have to respect that. The weaker side in any relationship naturally demands things, because of the need for mutual balance....