Reading Archives (Author)

No Big Answer

Harold Kushner

If logic tells us that life is a meaningless accident, says Ecclesiastes at the end of his journey, don't give up on life. Give up on logic. Listen to that voice inside you which prompted you t...

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8K reads

See Others As Brothers and Sisters

Hasidic Tale

An old Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun. "Could it be," asked one of the students, "when you can see an animal in the distance ...

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5K reads

Destiny is Within Us

Hawah Kasat

I remember walking to the bus stop one day. Sweat was dripping down my chin, while I gazed upon the faded metal bus-stop sign a block away. I saw an unorganized huddle of bodies. A few sat on the wood...

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16K reads, 11 comments

The Only Power of the Mystic

Hazrat Inayat Khan

The only power for the mystic is the power of love. Every kind of power lies in this one thing which we call by the simple name: love. Charity, generosity, kindness, affection, endurance, tolerance...

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44K reads, 13 comments

A Scheme to Change the World?

Hazrat Inayat Khan

The other day I lectured in Paris and after my lecture a very able man came to me and said, 'Have you got a scheme?' I said, 'What scheme?' 'Of bettering conditions.' I repl...

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15K reads, 16 comments

The Liminal Space

Heather Platt

What do you do when a friend has lost a child and you can’t ease their grief? Or when your partner loses her job and you can’t resolve it for her? Or a client has to make a big decision an...

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21K reads, 18 comments

Memnoon: Blessing The One Who Is Asked

Heather Schlessman

One of the keys to a happier life is doing only what you want to do. We have been taught that is being selfish. That teaching comes from thousands of years of developing a domination over society. We ...

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9K reads, 7 comments

Meaning of Love

Helen Keler

[Helen Keller tells how, as a deaf and dumb child, she learned the meaning of love from her teacher, Anne Sullivan.] I remember the morning that I first asked about the meaning of the word, 'love'....

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20K reads, 2 comments

Rude Awakenings

Helen Keller

The example of the newly blinded man is so concrete, I wish I could use it as a type for all life-training. When he first loses his sight he thinks there is nothing left for him but heartache and de...

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16K reads, 5 comments

I Awaken Before Dawn

Helen Moore

I awaken before dawn, go into the kitchen and fix a cup of tea. I light the candle and sit in its glow on the meditation cushion. Taking my cup in both hands, I lift it to my Lord and give thanks. ...

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15K reads, 8 comments

How Could There Be Wars?

Heng Ch'au

There is too much hate and suffering in the world. Things are out of order, out of harmony and balance. Why are heaven and earth (nature) angry? It's because our values and priorities are upside-do...

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3K reads

Encounter With A Deaf Man

Heng Ch'au

A big blue Cadillac stopped and a gentle, well-dressed man in his early fifties came over and quietly watched us bow. Suddenly he became very happy and excited. He ran over to me extending his han...

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4K reads

Giving Leftovers

Heng Ch'au

As we start getting further from the L.A. area, everybody wants to have a chance to give us a meal, to help out. As a result we have food to spare. Today we got a hot dish we couldn't possibly fi...

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4K reads

What I Learned In Africa

Henning Mankell

I ended up in Africa because the plane ticket there was cheapest. I came and I stayed. For nearly 25 years I’ve lived off and on in Mozambique. Time has passed, and I'm no longer young; in fact...

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29K reads, 12 comments

Solitude Is Where Community Begins

Henri Nouwen

Solitude is where community begins. That’s where we listen to God. Sometimes I think of life as a big wagon wheel with many spokes.  In the middle is the hub.  Often in ministry, it lo...

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19K reads, 20 comments

Putting Foundations Under Castles

Henry David Thoreau

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and i...

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4K reads

Worn-Out Path

Henry David Thoreau

It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived [in the woods] a week before my feet wore a path from my ...

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7K reads

What I Learned From Trees

Herman Hesse

For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are...

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22K reads, 15 comments

The River

Herman Hesse

I am only a ferryman and it is my task to take people across this river. I have taken thousands of people across and to all of them my river has been nothing but a hindrance on their journey. They...

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20K reads

Knowledge can be Conveyed, but not Wisdom

Herman Hesse

Look, my dear Govinda, this is one of my thoughts, which I have found: wisdom cannot be passed on.  Wisdom which a wise man tries to pass on to someone always sounds like foolishness.&q...

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24K reads, 12 comments

Trees are Sanctuaries

Herman Hesse

Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscri...

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49K reads, 24 comments

Surrendering To The Stream

Herman Hesse

The many-voiced song of the river echoed softly. [...] Siddhartha listened. He was now listening intently, completely absorbed, quite empty, taking in everything. He felt that he had now completely...

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8K reads

Become a Lake

Hindu Parable

An aging master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of...

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32K reads, 9 comments

Rich Man And The Beggar

Hindu Parable (Author Unknown)

Many years ago, a man was sitting in quiet contemplation by a riverbank when he was disturbed by a beggar from the local village. “Where is the stone?” the beggar demanded. “I mus...

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16K reads, 17 comments

We are the Ones We've Been Waiting For

Hopi Elders

You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered… Where are you living? Wha...

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289K reads, 193 comments

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...

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10K reads, 14 comments

Sound Of The Genuine

Howard Thurman

There is in every person something that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine ... There is in you something that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. Nobody like y...

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18K reads, 24 comments

A Marvelous Victory

Howard Zinn

There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment we will continue to see. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by ex...

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18K reads, 2 comments

Do What You Please, But I'm Watching

Hubert Benoit

Alone, in a quiet place, muscularly relaxed (lying down or comfortably seated), I watch the emergence within myself of mental images, permitting my imagination to produce whatever it likes. It is...

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9K reads, 7 comments

Wide Angle View

Huston Smith

The final reason for understanding another is intrinsic -- to enjoy the wider angle the vision affords. I am, of course, speaking metaphorically of vision and view, but an analogue from ocular sigh...

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4K reads