What Does it Mean to be Fully Human?

At times I am certain that many today are not human, not just in the figurative sense, but literally. No, I’m not playing around the edges of alien theories. I am simply stating that that which makes us human seems to be missing in so many these days. Are we human if we cannot feel? …

The Enchanting Alternative World

What a wonder each day is! Today turned the key of pure delight. It started with a walk in the woods, a visit to the gnome trail, and Sophia joyfully splashing in the little creek both coming and going and segued into planting a field of flowers where lawn once grew. The gnome trail is …

The Radical Message of an Anarchist

Jesus, a brown-skinned man, was arrested by armed men in the middle of the night, put up for auction with Barabbas, and lost. His radical message, he message of anarchy, was simply too much for the establishment to allow as they shouted, ‘Kill him and bury him deep.’ What was his crime? Living as love, …

Dread: Meeting the failure of compassion

What’s going to happen is going to happen, including all the actions I am going to take or not take. Perhaps more importantly, what’s happening is what’s happening and there is nothing I can do about what’s here right now. Despite these material realities, or at least my realities, I occasionally find myself a bit …

Storybook Lives

Now don’t get pissed. Guessing a few of you will, but oh well, this is what’s coming through today. Each of us is a master storyteller living our own unique version of life. We think that our story is THE story, that our truth is THE truth. It isn’t. It is just our version of …

Oh God! What a Zoo!!

Fearing life, not wanting to feel it twist the body, trying not to experience life’s myriad bouts of suffering as they come – the aching sense of lack, the surety of loss, the dread of betrayal and being deemed unworthy, the roiling belly, your shoulders up around your ears like skin and bone earrings, some …

Righteous Anger

I do not look away. I feel the suffering. I allow it in without filters. I am present, so I know that what is arising now is not the fallout of not feeling, of denial, of ignorance, willful or otherwise. What is arising now is anger, righteous anger, anger at those who see nothing wrong …

Th e Meaning We Give It

The problem with manifestation gimmicks is sometimes they appear to work. If they never did, you wouldn’t beat yourself mercilessly when your personal ship of state appeared to float or sink. Success now and again, even success a great deal of the time, doesn’t mean you figured it out, that you did it, or that …

The Juice of Transformation

lies in the heart of chaos … Are you wondering whether you should leave your spiritual practices and spend your time resisting the harm being done? Are you trying to decide if you should quit spending so much time on your own baggage and instead, help to allay the suffering of others? Your wondering is …

Ripples of Infinite Aliveness

Years back, my favorite expression was, “What about this can’t you love?” It kind of still is, but I understand it totally differently and probably would use another word besides love, although love when understood for what it actually is, works beautifully. This. Just this. Only this. This alone. This this. Yeah. Life exactly as …

Nothin’ Left to Lose

“Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to loseNothin’, don’t mean nothin’ hon’ if it ain’t free, no-no”Me and Bobby MCGee, Janis JoplinNothing left to lose is an interesting concept, right there along with freedom. One holds the potential of captivity, while the other dangles the promise of something to hold onto. The actuality …

Boom! What Aren’t You Appreciating?

After a morning without power, I’m snugged up in my cushy chair watching the snow fall … and accumulate. It is putting it down right now. Wow. I awoke this morning to the sound of a transformer blowing – bang. No that’s too high, this one boomed, snapped and grumbled. Not a sound you expect …

Is it possible to thrive in an era of radicalization?

Radicalization is fascinating to me. The word applies to religions, politics, social norms, personal expression, even our self-talk and the way we respond to one another. It’s an all-purpose term. The more radicalization worms into the mind, gut and heart, the greater the inflexibility is. Radicalization is another word for intolerance, for judgement, for knowing …

Bridging the Ever-Widening Gap

There are infinite responses available to us as we approach possibly the last (anything’s possible) peaceful handover of power on January 20th. Several come to mind: unbridled anger, deep and clawing angst, suffocating depression, willful ignorance, and feigned neutrality that would put Switzerland on notice. Oh, I forgot myself for the moment. Geez, can’t forget …

The Self: Mind’s Masterpiece

There’s an infinitesimal tipping point, a razor’s edge of sorts, where the individuated mind assumes control, or seems to, but of course, it doesn’t really. It’s that breath where the pause between thoughts, the spaciousness of beingness, is stealthily overwritten by identity. It’s a spellbinding miracle, that nothing creates something out of nothing, or the …