Paying Attention Again
“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake. . . .Only that day dawns to which we are awake.” Henry David Thoreau Last June, I posted about paying attention, and I am writing about it again...
View ArticleSubtile Body
“There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom.” Frederich Nietzsche Hard to think, perhaps, this old man lives in “subtile body”– looking at my lines, looking at my heft, beer belly &...
View ArticleWaiting for Snow in Carlisle
Today, I carpooled to a daylong meeting with several colleagues. As we rode back toward home, we heard weather forecasts calling for several inches of snow tonight and into the morning. Now, you should...
View ArticleDoubt, the Scurry
Thinking of it is your first mistake. A scurry caught in the corner of a cat’s eye– did it dart down that hole, that, or that? One thing for certain–it won’t come back to sure, after you catch a scurry...
View ArticleWhy I am a Unitarian Universalist
At college I found a small group of humanists who called themselves Unitarian Universalists. They were joyful people whose values of commitment and compassion I admired. I was not alone.
View ArticleBeauty Today
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Here in Central Pennsylvania, yesterday felt bitterly cold and we had several inches of snow. Yesterday was winter, and the weather...
View ArticleSerious Life
Life, you’ve noticed, is serious. In all seriousness, it kicks your butt, then, in all seriousness laughs about it. Life is serious. Life has at least two suits and a hundred pairs of shoes. Life...
View ArticleBodhidharma Proposes to the Wall
Bodhidharma sat there, they say, nine years, but you know how they talk. Bodhidharma there to wonder why he thinks this could be different from that. To wonder what it might have been we think...
View ArticleSoftballing with Spinoza
If a triangle could speak, it would say . . . that God is eminently triangular, while a circle would say that the divine nature is eminently circular. Thus each would ascribe to God its own attributes,...
View ArticleArguing Over the Light
All religions, all this singing, one song. Rumi 1. A poet I met once, Leslie Scalapino, said “stay in continual conceptual rebellion.” She thought we must “re-form” our minds, “make it new, every...
View ArticleThe Language of Faith
Last Sunday, while out to lunch with my husband and two young kids, we passed the time waiting for our food by playing Mad Libs. As you might remember, Mad Libs is a word game where one player asks...
View ArticleBeauty of the Season? Really?
I did not plan to write this post. In fact, I had intended to write something very, very different. Given that this weekend marks the winter solstice, I had wanted to write something poignant and...
View ArticleOn Building Bridges
“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Isaac Newton About five years ago, I sat in church one cold and dreary Sunday morning while our pastor, Jennifer, talked about bridges. I came into...
View ArticleWhat Bowling Taught Me About Patience
A couple of week’s ago, on a cold Chicago afternoon, after being cooped up for most of the week, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s go bowling.” Now, nothing says wholesome family...
View ArticleSimple Prayer, Profound Meditation
please… please.. please…please. I whispered the words softly, quietly. As I stood in the bridal waiting room at the back of the church, ten years ago, ready to step out to a church filled with family...
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