Tale of Two Sermons
G.I. Gurdjieff
I must tell you that in our brotherhood there are two very old brethren; one is called Brother Ahl and the other Brother Sez. These brethern have voluntarily undertaken the obligation of periodically ...
Serving Is Different From Helping And Fixing
Rachel Naomi Remen
In recent years the question how can I help? has become meaningful to many people. But perhaps there is a deeper question we might consider. Perhaps the real question is not how can I help? but how ca...
Stop Shooting Arrows
Thanissaro Bhikku
The Buddha compares pain with being shot by arrows. Physical pain is like being shot with one arrow, but then on top of that you shoot yourself with another arrow, the anguish you build up around the ...
The Most Subversive Invitation
John O'Donohue
Humans have an uncanny ability to domesticate everything they touch. Eventually, even the strangest things become absorbed into the routine of the daily mind with its steady geographies of endurance, ...
Lessons From 25 Years of Meditating
Yogi Mccaw
I did meditate nearly everyday for about 25 years of my life, and some days, for hours on end. [...] Here's what I found. 1. meditation is not painful. [...] As the Buddha pointed out, ...
Processing Anger With An Open Heart
John Robbins and Ann Mortifee
Anger is an intense and primal expression of the life force, a burning flame that cannot be ignored. It is the psyche’s alarm system, demanding that attention be given to a limit or boundary of ...
Fearlessness
Thich Nhat Hanh
Most of us experience a life full of wonderful moments and difficult moments. But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is fear behind our joy. We fear that this moment will end, that we...
Beyond The Conflict Of Inner Forces
Author Unknown
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life: “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.”It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – ...
Can You Love The One Who...
Leah Pearlman
There’s one in you who’s sweet. There’s one in you who’s mean. Can you love them both? Can you let them both be seen? Can you love the one who tries? A...
Small Wonder
Barbara Kingsolver
Barry Lopez writes that if we hope to succeed in the endeavor of protecting natures other than our own, "it will require that we reimagine our lives.... It will require of many of us a humanity w...
Using Attention in a New Way
Gil Fronsdal
One of the things we are trying to do here, is learn to pay attention to seeing what complicates our attention -- where we get caught, what makes it difficult. Because the place we get caught is also ...
Gift from the Sea
Anne Morrow Lindberg
The beach is not the place to work; to read, write, or think. I should have remembered that from other years. Too warm, too damp, too soft for any real mental discipline or sharp flights of spirit. On...