All of a sudden it’s a new day. I guess it’s obvious but you only have one date of death. Quickly time starts to accumulate. Today my daughter got a napkin and wiped tears from my wife’s eyes. Then she sat in my father in law’s oversized arm chair and said it felt like he […]
Spirituality
Film Review: Fierce Grace
Fierce Grace, produced and directed by Mickey Lemle, is a documentary about Ram Dass. The film was made after Ram Dass had a stroke. The film is about how the stroke changed Ram Dass’ life and how he makes meaning of what he calls, “being stroked.” The film moves between the present (2001-2002) and the […]
“I see no imperfections.”
Today, while zigzagging across Atlanta, I had a chance to listen to another episode of Jack Kornfield’s “Heart Wisdom” podcast. Again, I found something there that resonated. Jack told an old story about a time when his friend, Ram Dass, was experiencing intense doubt. In that moment, Ram Dass’s teacher quietly circled him, looking at […]
Beyond Meaning
I’m a meaning-guy. I like meaning(s). This doesn’t make me special. It’s just something I’ve come to know about myself. As I reflect back on the last couple of months (years?) I see in my writing, and therefore my life, that meaning has become something of a means and an end. Meaning-making is how we get […]
Remind
The deepest truths of human experience and reality can’t be taught. They can’t be acquired. Uploaded. Downloaded. Inputed. Scanned. Computed. Etc. They’re already there, in the inmost place where things sometimes find themselves forgotten, disregarded, shunned, or otherwise put out of mind. You and I already know them. Whether we’ve been too preoccupied to meditate on […]
Everyday holiness
There’s long been a distinction in Judaism between “Kodesh” (“Holy”) and “Chol” (“Profane/Mundane”). In fact, the Havdalah Service at the end of Shabbat includes a blessing that thanks God for distinguishing between these two different states- Kodesh and Chol. The distinction comes from the fact that the rabbis of ancient times thought that part of […]