Learning Not to Be Afraid of Things That Are Real
Recently I've been looking through a field guide on nature observation. The author, when he was a child, was trained by an old Native...
The Value of Solitude
Loneliness is not the absence of company, it is grief over that absence. The lost sheep is lonely; the shepherd is not lonely. But the...
Rediscovering the Art of Reverence
What you encounter, recognize or discover depends to a large degree on the quality of your approach. Many of the ancient cultures...
Pronounce a Silent Blessing
"It is forbidden to taste of the pleasures of this world without a blessing." --The Talmud I think that the best way to...
Renewability Makes Something Valuable
In the village, people used to build their houses out of traditional materials, using no iron or lumber or nails, but the houses...
Relationships Make You Conscious, Not Happy
With the acknowledgment and acceptance of the facts also comes a degree of freedom from them. For example, when you know there is...
Reverence Protects Life
As you work toward becoming reverent, your tendencies toward harming others and other forms of life diminish. As you acquire a sense of...
Vulnerability is the Path
Vulnerability isn't good or bad: it's not what we call a dark emotion, nor is it always a light, positive experience....
The Oppressor and the Oppressed Must Both be Liberated
I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the...
What We Need Is Here
Horseback on Sunday morning, harvest over, we taste persimmon and wild grape, sharp sweet of summer's end. In time's maze...
Three Kinds of Laziness
The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don't want to do anything, and...
The Capacity for Successful Solitude
The capacity to be alone is the capacity to know enough about yourself and who you are, and be comfortable enough with that. That way,...