Reading Archives (2024)
Longer Ladders Don't Get You To The Moon
Michael Gordon
Sundials came into being over 3,000 years ago, telling time-based on shadows cast by the sun. But they were thrown off by variations in the length of days and by differences in latitude. Geometry was ...
The Inward Sea
Howard Thurman
There is in every person an inward sea And in that sea, there is an island And on that island is an altar And standing guard before that altar is the angel with the flaming sword. Nothi...
The Dilemma That Faces Us All
Kent Nerburn
This is the dilemma that faces us all when we decide to walk the difficult path of forgiveness. Are we complicit in wrongdoing if we do not challenge those who wrong us? Or are we contributing to the ...
Grace In The Classroom
Francis Su
I want to demonstrate to my students that their worthiness does NOT depend on the grades they earn in my class. Of course, I want to give my C students the same attention that my A students get....
Organizing With Love
adrienne maree brown
My favorite life forms right now are dandelions and mushrooms—the resilience in these structures, which we think of as weeds and fungi, the incomprehensible scale, the clarity of identity, excit...
As Way Opens
Carrie Newcomer
Lately I’ve been thinking about the traditional Quaker phrase, “Proceed as way opens.” Proceed as way opens or As way opens, is an encouragement to live with a kind of i...
Without Ourselves
Afton Wilder
A clear glass orb floats above the cliff just off the edge representing our conscience, souls, and selves what if it shatters? becoming a puzzle of icy glass and then nothing at all? what i...
Three Supports For Turning Towards Mystery
Martin Aylward
There are three primary supports for nonconceptual awareness. These three supports are obvious in many ways, and yet, their simplicity belies their extraordinary depth. Over the last thirty years of m...
Conscious Complaining
Karla McLaren
Not to start on a down note, but repressing your emotions can destabilize your psyche and do a number on your overall health. When emotions fester and stagnate, your body reacts to that lack of flow w...
Equanimity Of Doctor, Hunter, Warrior
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
There are three types of equanimity. First is the equanimity that realizes how even though you may have goodwill for all beings and compassion and empathetic joy, it’s not the case that every...
When My Father Faced An Emergency
Nora Bateson
Someone asked me once if I had ever seen my father in an emergency situation, and if I might describe how he dealt with it. At the time I replied that I had never witnessed him in any danger, or in an...
The Difference Between Knowledge And Understanding
Aldous Huxley
Knowledge is acquired when we succeed in fitting a new experience into the system of concepts based upon our old experiences. Understanding comes when we liberate ourselves from the old and so make po...
Starlings In Winter
Mary Oliver
Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing ...
Effort Does Not Change The Person
Anthony De Mello
Effort may change the behavior but it does not change the person. Just think what kind of a mentality it betrays when you ask, 'What must I do to get holiness?' Isn't it like asking, How m...
An Awe Walk
Dacher Keltner
What gives you a sense of awe? That word, awe—the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world—is often associated with the ...
May Your Cup Always Overflow
John Paul Moore
I've never made a fortune, And I'll never make one now But it really doesn't matter 'Cause I'm happy anyhow. As I go along my journey I'm reaping better than I've so...