Reading Archives (2026)
I Care And I'm Willing To Serve
Marian Wright Edelman
Lord I cannot preach like Martin Lurther King, Jr.or turn a poetic phrase like Maya Angeloubut I care and am willing to serve. I do not have Fred Shuttlesworth's and HarrietTubman's courage or Frankl...
Silence Between Breaths
Stephen Levine
There is a silence between breaths when the heart becomes a sacred flame and the belly uncoils which reminds me how remarkable it is to wake beside you another day. Between deaths we dreamed to...
To Remember This Dance, We Woke
Ayla Nereo
Once you free your sight once you be for life We are… When I dream, I dream in white, of bells and birdcage, boat dock sun and the cargo spice of what'...
Ask Why Your Mind Is Not Free
J. Krishnamurti
The word ‘freedom’ has been greatly abused by tyrannical as well as democratic governments, and religions too, everywhere in the world. Personal freedom and independence do not exist, exce...
Saying Yes To Our Lives
Mirabai Starr
All my life, I have been enamored of the God-intoxicated ones. Those rarified souls who slip into ecstatic states and spontaneously utter poetry. The ones who exude deep stillness, embody equanim...
The Super Chrysalis
John J. Prendergast
While walking along a creek path a few weeks ago, I stopped to inspect a Monarch Waystation that had been constructed this past spring. There were a series of carefully tended planter boxes filled wit...
When Things Fall Apart
Pema Chodron
I used to have a sign pinned up on my wall that read: “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.” Somehow, ...
A Hopeful Skeptic
Jamil Zaki
According to an ancient myth, hope arrived on earth as part of a curse. Prometheus stole fire from the gods, and Zeus avenged the theft with a “gift.” He commanded Hephaestus to mold the f...
Live By Vow, Not By Transaction
Koshin Paley Ellison
As we approach the new year, I find myself thinking about vow. In Zen communities, this is the traditional time to renew our commitments—not as New Year’s resolutions, but as something muc...