During this time when Trump is on the tip of so many American tongues, I’m preparing for an unusually political Share the Wealth. Our conversation this Sunday will not, however, traverse the usual spectrum between…
Dear Carla Cal keeps sending me stuff I keep sending it to you With my slight adaptations… Perry I endorse her rage I approve of it Even though the Buddhist masters say Anger is a…
At a recent gathering of the Saint Louis Mindfulness Sangha, I shared the following excerpt from Pema Chödrön’s book, Go to the Places That Scare You… The second of the three lords of materialism is the…
My friend Lindsey Weston sent me this letter in November of last year. I am happy to share it with you.
Dear Friends, John Gabriel wrote last week that he plans to meet with the archbishop to gain clarity. As I pointed out in my email to faculty on January 11, there is nothing ambiguous about the…
I suddenly had the everlasting conviction that any human being, even though practically devoid of natural faculties, can penetrate to the kingdom of truth reserved for genius, if only he longs for truth and perpetually…
I read James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson in the summer of 1999. At the time I was gathering materials for what eventually became The Book of Mev. The following passage from Boswell left its…
I once wrote for a magazine: I made a calculation, that if I should write but a page a day, at the same rate, I should, in ten years, write nine volumes in folio, of…
Hope itself is a species of happiness, and perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly…
Dear Carla Twice I read Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram Because of your enthusiastic recommendation I was captivated I was crestfallen Thuy’s diary revealed her commitment Comparable to that…