Awakin Readings

Remembering the Sacred

Every week, we post a short reading from various wisdom traditions that points to the sacred. Each excerpt is also accompanied by an audio recording, an illustration and translations. Subscribe Here.

Read Latest (Dec 4, 2023)

View Archives

RECENTLY POPULAR READINGS

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...

Read Passage

14K reads, 21 comments

Shadow Cannot Drive Out Shame

Bonnie Rose

I was taught to affirm, “I am whole, perfect, and complete.” I didn’t have good definitions of those words at the time. So my ego said, “Really? I am? Well thank you for notici...

Read Passage

13K reads, 19 comments

An Ode To Imagination

Geneen Marie Haugen

What is unique about human beings? That was the question that followed me. Other philosophers have supposed that our form of consciousness is unique among the animals, or our symbol-making ability. Bu...

Read Passage

10K reads, 19 comments

Irony Of Marriage

Neale Donald Walsch

Largely, marriage has been used by those societies, religions, and families as a mini-prison, as kind of a contractual arrangement that says: "Everything will be, now and forevermore, the wa...

Read Passage

10K reads, 24 comments

Praying With The News

Rabbi Yael Levy

The 17th of the Hebrew month Tammuz initiates a three-week period of mourning that leads to Tisha b’Av, which is the day that marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem in 586 BCE an...

Read Passage

9K reads, 18 comments

Forgiveness

Wayne Dyer

Forgiveness is the most powerful thing that you can do for your physiology and your spirituality, and it remains one of the least attractive things to us, largely because our egos rule so unequivocall...

Read Passage

8K reads, 19 comments

Compulsion To Closure

Joan Tollifson

Somewhere recently, I heard or read the phrase, “compulsion to closure.” I can’t recall how it was used by whoever said it, but it feels like a great description of our human difficu...

Read Passage

8K reads, 13 comments

Beginner's Mind Vs. Expert Mind

Christina Feldman

We collect, store, and accumulate so much weight in this life.  The thousands of thoughts, ideas, and plans we have are imprinted on our minds.  We have engaged in countless conversations an...

Read Passage

8K reads, 20 comments

Radical Optimism

Rev. Joan Halifax

Radical optimism is a big view of the moment that does not include outcome. Another way of saying this is that the radical optimist is not undertaking an investment plan. Rather he or she is involved ...

Read Passage

8K reads, 18 comments

A Flame In A Dark Cave

Colin Walsh

It was just another day of that, when it happened. I don’t know why, but the teacher suddenly broke off what he was saying and considered us for a moment. A movement like a camera shutter happen...

Read Passage

8K reads, 9 comments

Pain Expands Our Capacity For Joy

Nikole Lim

Daily, my work requires me to delve into the hellish reality of unimaginable experiences of gross abuse. Neither words nor images can fully convey the emotional crises, psychological torment, and hear...

Read Passage

8K reads, 15 comments

Tale Of The Ringless Ring

Thomas Moore

Nasrudin was a spiritual leader and teacher in a small village. He was honored and respected as a mullah, although he was rather unusual and unpredictable. One day a man of great virtue in the vil...

Read Passage

7K reads, 24 comments

What You Are Is Perfect Imperfection

Emannuel

Your less evolved areas have a right to be. They whisper of things past. They whisper of confusion, of unfulfillment and of the pain of the soul separated from its God and the longing for ...

Read Passage

7K reads, 13 comments

ABOUT AWAKIN READINGS

Awakin Readings started in 1996 as a way to remind ourselves of universal truths. Soon after, it began to be utilized as a discussion topic in weekly Awakin Circles in living rooms around the globe. Different artists and photographers offer a unique image for every reading; an audio recording is offered each week; and many volunteers collaborate to translate it into various languages. Our repository has over a thousand readings.

What is perhaps noteworthy about this effort is that it is entirely volunteer-run, and non-commercial, and has stayed that way for the last 25 years. For the many dozens of volunteer who contribute every week, this website is a labor of love.

We are grateful to Somik Raha, Liz Helgesen, and Rupali Bhuva for their consistent service for more than a decade. This website wouldn't be possible without the pioneering example Dinesh and Harshida Mehta's Awakin Circle of 25 years, and the larger field of ServiceSpace. Thank you.

To get engaged, join our newsletter or join the ServiceSpace community to explore volunteering.

"Compassion is a spontaneous movement of wholeness. It is not a studied decision to help the poor, to be kind to the unfortunate. Compassion has a tremendous momentum that naturally, choicelessly moves us to worthy action. It has the force of intelligence, creativity, and the strength of love. This vast intelligence that orders the cosmos is available to all. The beauty of life, the wonder of living, is that we share creativity, intelligence, and unlimited potential with the rest of the cosmos. To realize that we are not simply physical beings on a material planet, but that we are whole beings, each a miniature cosmos, each related to all of life in intimate, profound ways, should radically transform how we perceive ourselves, our environments, our social problems. Nothing can ever be isolated from wholeness." --Vimala Thakar