John Brehm, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy When asked by a student if there was a secret to writing haiku, Buson replied, “Yes, use the commonplace to escape the commonplace.” When the student…
What You Understand Depends on Where You Stand for Ellen Rehg Mev looked up to Ann ManganaroCo-founder of Karen Catholic Worker HouseSister of Loretto medical doctorCompañera to Father John Kavanaugh When Mev went to El…
From the Cover of Amy Schmidt’s book on Dipa Ma Revision The poet W. H. Auden wrote “The funniest and kindest of mortals Are those who are most aware of the baffle of being” (A…
Cornel West, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight against Imperialism Pat Geier, a dear friend in Louisville, once told me of one of her favorite adages that dated back to the civil right movement: “If you see…
With the Sangha I meditate to decelerate my rampaging mindI meditate to focus on clear image of you smiling in TahoeI meditate on words of Hanshan and Wang Yang-ming I meditate to be able to…
Pedro Casaldáliga & José-Maria Vigil, Political Holiness: A Spirituality of Liberation Those who struggle for utopia, for radical change, saints marked by the liberating spirit, are all of a piece; they carry faithfulness from the…
The Power of a Photograph In the last couple of years I’ve read whatever books I could get my hands on Whose subject is Sri Anandamayi Ma (Her parents gave her the name Nirmala Sundari…
Edmund White, Marcel Proust Saturday 29 May 1999 Cullings A captivating, informed, discerning, spirited little biography, one could say that it is a bio of the gay Proust, as the author makes frequent reference to…
In the mid-1980s while working at St. William Church in Louisville, I was involved with the Sanctuary Movement. The church offered hospitality to a couple from El Salvador, Manuel and Maria Elena. They were the…
This is the second time this year I am facilitating a course on this do-it-yourself theme, which comes from Allen Ginsberg, “You have to write your own history, nobody’s going to do it for you.“…