Healers
How to Live Jesus had his students Dipa Ma had her devotees Joanie French has her students Jesus sat with people Dipa Ma sat with people Joanie helps people to sit without pain Jesus placed…
Category: Wisdom Traditions
The True Secret of Writing (and Reading and Sharing)
In the Writing Our Own History course, I share some gleanings from my reading. For example, the following passages are from Natalie Goldberg’s book, The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language. Maybe one…
Mentshes/3
What You Understand Depends on Where You Stand For Brent Fernandez and Brett Schrewe Night Flight to Hanoi is an account of Jesuit Daniel Berrigan’s odyssey in late January and early February 1968, when…
With Presence, Alertness, Patience, and Care
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…
Solidaridad/2
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…
Dharma Sister
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…
The Prophetic, the Socratic, and the Democratic
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…
Sangha/1
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…
Political Holiness
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…
Darshan
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…