Month: April 2016

Wilderness

“Wherever forests have not been mowed down, wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection, wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life - that to the white man is an 'unbroken wilderness.' But for us there was no wilderness, nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding...

out over the edge

One of the people helping our cathedral in the work we are doing to inspire new ways of conversation in our community - alongside new ways of discernment - is Tenneson Woolf (http://tennesonwoolf.com/) who reminded me today that in her book, Storycatcher, Christina Baldwin writes the following: “Life hangs on...

whirling away the ego to embrace the Divine One

We have mistranslated the call to a Holy War.  The warfare of the Islamic nations today, the warfare of Christians in the crusades, the warfare of the rhetoric in our political debates are all a warfare of “other,” a fight against “other” by a people who have lost their way...

the branches of a tree of life

On a recent walk, I noticed how the shadows of the winter branches cast their patterns on the grass beneath them during the high-noon sunlight and its high definition.  How we look at such branches or their shadows has so much to do with our outlook on life.  Is this...

Daily Bread

In our prayer, our seeming favorite one, we ask for our daily bread.  Daily.  Our daily bread.  I wonder what we mean when we say those words?  Sure, I know we need food.  But like the temptation to turn stones to bread in the trials of the wilderness, I am...

fear, giggles and minding our lives

Perhaps it would be nice to think of life as a serene stream in a quiet wood, or a gentle lake in a mountain valley or a yoga mat amount candles, or a chair by a fireplace with a glass of port and a gingersnap slathered in creamy blue cheese. ...

warm spots and salt-cans

My dog, Kai and I have a routine as do all families I suppose.  I sit on the end of the couch for my breakfast and some warm tea.  Then, when I get up to do, well, just about anything, Kai sneaks up onto the couch to take the big...

play

When I left the monastery, I was leaving something I loved but that I sensed was on loan to me. Some people are called to a monastery and some are called through one. It is hard to remember to do the mourning over the loss of the choices which we...

telling our story

The great benefit of self-observation, or as the Buddhists call it, “mindfulness” is that we humans can be so silly.  Watching ourselves can be like watching an animal at the zoo.  Playful, then slothful, then silly, then seemingly sad, the angry, then melancholic, then playful again. Many say that humans...

despair

“Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still, intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the...