Reading Archives (2021)
Love Is Not A Feeling, It's An Ability
bell hooks and Sharon Salzberg
bell hooks: It fascinates me that while we are so obsessed with romance, many of us are turned off by the practice of love. When you tell someone that there’s really a practice—a way th...
A Map To Here
The Gnostic Writer
Many people tend to see spiritual awakening as a challenge, goal or spiritual destination  -- something to be achieved or accomplished. One advantage of seeing awakening this way is how it creat...
You Are Not Alone
Tracy Cochran
The dark season is here in the Northern Hemisphere. And maybe it is dark for you inside as well as outside. You may feel lonely or in pain. You may fear the future. It can be a great comfort to rememb...
When I Say I Know You
J. Krishnamurti
When I say I know you, I mean I knew you yesterday. I do not know you actually now. All I know is my image of you. That image is put together by what you have said in praise of me or to insult me, wha...
Unconditional Love Really Exists
Ram Dass
Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It’s not "I love you" for this or that reas...
Kintsugi
Stefano Carnazzi
When a bowl, teapot or precious vase falls and breaks into a thousand pieces, we throw them away angrily and regretfully. Yet there is an alternative, a Japanese practice that highlights and enhances ...
If It Can Suffer, It's Real
Yuval Noah Harari
Many people believe that truth conveys power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth. In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means tw...
Conscious Completion
Rosie Bell
Youth is peppered with conspicuous firsts. And unless we’re really trying, life's lasts can tend to sneak past, unnoticed. Your last cigarette may have warranted some ceremony. But what abou...
Secret Kinship With The Other
Richard Powers
Perhaps genes aren’t the only thing that we’ve been shaped to try and save. Maybe altruism evolves to recognize affinity, joint purpose, shared values. Maybe nothing elicits a sense of rel...
Self-Compassion Over Self-Esteem
Kristin Neff
The great angst of modern life is this: no matter how hard we try, no matter how successful we are, no matter how good a parent, worker, or spouse we are – it’s never enough. There is alwa...
The Balancing Force
Swami Krishnananda
The type of security and protection that we expect in this world of human beings is based on the humanly conceived notion of what is good and necessary for the welfare of all people. But God [Dharma] ...
Accept What Is, Lead To Improve
Marc Lesser
“Accepting what is” and trusting the Universe is an essential approach to life. But so is “fighting for change.” And if you want to be effective in business — and in rela...
Mother Trees In A Wood Wide Web
Suzanne Simard
Elders fill a special role in any community, having earned the respect of the tribe for their life-long wisdom, knowledge, and teaching. They help link individuals to the broader community as a whole,...
The World Feeling And The Soul Feeling
Anthony de Mello
For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? —Matthew 16:26 Recall the kind of feeling you have when someone praises you, when you are approved, accepted,...
A Life On The Ground
Parker Palmer
Question: ... the idea of having “a life on the ground”. Can you expand on what that means to you? That brings back a really important moment in my journey with depression, and in ...
We Are All Beggars
Chaz Howard
A lived theology of the bottom does not see the world through good and evil lenses. This is not a denial of the existence of evil, rather it is believing that evil is something that is done by p...
Fire
Judy Brown
What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail...
We Actually Never Experience 'It'
Culadasa
The "I" of the narrating mind is nothing more than a fictional but convenient construct used to organize all the separate conscious experiences occurring in the mind-system. Our very concept...
The Difficulty In Listening
Delshad Karanjia
Nasruddin was at the teahouse one afternoon when Arif the hakim walked in. “How are you, Mullah? I hope you and your family are well,” Arif asked politely. “I’m fine, tha...
Four B's Of Resilience And Worth
Saul Levine
One thing is certain: It is not the amount of accumulated material wealth, baubles and toys, which lead to self-appreciation and ease with one’s life. So, what is it? The genuine appreciation...