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Is our “play” actually “work?”
True play is open-ended. There may be a goal, but it is not uppermost. Rather, the joy is in the doing, no matter the outcome. As a society, we have forgotten how to play. What we call play is often just another form of work because it is so goal-driven. We even go to the…
Read MoreAmahl and the Night Visitors
January 6, 2022 Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, when tradition celebrates the arrival of the Magi (Wise Men) from the East, offering gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to honor the birth of Jesus. Their astrological and astronomical studies had predicted that the advent of an unusually bright star would herald the coming…
Read MoreShenpa and Alexandrian Inhibition
I just watched a short “trailer” for Sounds True’s production of another Pema Chödrön teaching. This one is on shenpa, the Buddhist word for when we get caught up in our minds, especially when we are hooked on some emotion. What struck me most was how she used a pause in order to get unhooked.…
Read MoreTime-Travel
Time-travel fascinates me. It must fascinate others, too, because if you are looking, there are many movies and books that feature time-travel. The most popular recent series is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I’ve read all her books and watched some of the films. Other sources are various episodes of Star Trek, and of course the…
Read MoreElders: My Father
My father was the parent I was closest to. As noted in a previous post, my mother and I had some difficulties, so it was natural to gravitate toward Dad. Besides, he was usually in good humor, whereas Mom could be moody and unpredictable. He was born in Gardner, Massachusetts but lived most of his…
Read MoreElders: My Mother
In the past four years, I have lost three of my remaining four elders: my father, my uncle, and my aunt. My remaining elder—my mother—has what is probably vascular dementia, and so exists in the “in-between.” Her body is alive, she eats heartily, but speech is difficult and often incoherent so it is difficult to…
Read MoreFound Wanting
“You are enough!” is the cry of those who claim to be wise in the matters of psychological and spiritual health. “No, I’m not!” is the response from those of us who have felt the sting of shame. According to Karla McLaren—whose book The Language of Emotions is a remarkable foray into the tangled web…
Read MoreUnmoored
A boat that is moored is secured against drifting with the current or the tide. Unless a boat or ship is being steered in a certain direction—in other words, unless it is moving to a purpose—mooring keeps it safe. Humans need mooring, too. We need some person or belief or community in which to feel…
Read MoreIndignation Erupts
It was the sugar’s fault. I’m sure of that. The sugar and the blatant evidence that a once-treasured source of soul-feasting and retreat was being plundered in front of my eyes. At least that’s how I saw it, through the sugar-fed haze. I am usually very sparing in my intake of sugar, but Easter brunch…
Read MoreCancer: The Great Disrupter
There are many things, of course, that disrupt our lives and create situations of suffering: accidents, relationship troubles, losses of all kinds—work, income, a sense of safety, deaths of people close to us or even of strangers whom we hear about on the news. Most recently it has been the pandemic, which has disrupted the…
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