Buddha said the origin of light came from within. The implication is that there is an inner plane of forces that mirrors the elements of the physical world. That as matter is a conduit for fire, water, earth, and wind, our wakeful consciousness is a conduit for the forces of inner light, which manifest as intention, care, compassion, and kindness. And while survival has us navigate the struggles of circumstance, the transformative way to meet and mitigate events is to... Read more

It is the simplest of paradoxes: You can’t see what you are in.   As soon as you try, you are no longer in it. This is the trap of self-consciousness.   You can’t see the ocean when you are in the ocean.   You can’t see the bird flying, if you are the bird flying.   You can’t see how the lungs work when you are struggling to breathe.   Nor the contours of the path when you are... Read more

So many thought Monet was making it up, imagining wildly how things might be if God held them closer.   But what he did was much braver. Like a human microscope he kept looking and looking as warmth left the trees as waves remade the sea as loss slowed into peace undoing hard men.   He watched strange flowers open where only silence had been.   He focused so far in that everything shimmered. He proved by the strength of... Read more

When a horse runs, it leaps and touches down by turns.   In just this way, our life is always moving between joy and sorrow.   Trying to avoid this is its own sorrow, like a mad bird trying to escape the sky.   Rather, our call is to help each other rise and help each other land. A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a friend or loved one, tell the story of how someone helped you rise... Read more

The story of Moses carries an archetype that we all must face and live with. Of all his brethren, Moses was closest to God. Indeed, he climbed Mount Sinai to receive the ten commandments and heard God directly. But due to an accident as a child in which his tongue was burned by a hot coal, he stammered greatly. All his life, he suffered an inability to easily speak what he knew to be true. Though he listened to God... Read more

As soon as we can walk, we are taught to run. In time, we think we have to catch something out of reach, when, if we let go, time carries us the way a river carries a boat with no oars. If we find our place on the bottom, the noise stops and time holds us in its soft cascade. So jump into the current of time. Sure, we will get wet. But that’s the point. Important papers will dry... Read more

On the darkest night of the year, Susan asks about Grandma Minnie yet again. And again, I soften and speak of being a child in your Brooklyn kitchen, sitting next to your stove as you made latkes, patting the excess oil and giving them to me while they were warm.   And Susan jumps up, as she does every year, as if for the first time, and starts grating potatoes. I put on klezmer music and we make latkes and... Read more

Yes, you fell down. I feel for you, for I have fallen many times.   Now, you must get up. I know it isn’t easy. I know it will take time.   Remember, the seed can’t imagine breaking ground. And the fledgling can’t imagine flying.   And so, your broken heart can’t imagine finding its way.   But life is this repeating journey from sleep to wakefulness, from blindness to sight, from fear to love.   No matter how many... Read more

After almost two years at home, I was overwhelmed just ordering the Uber to the airport. I needed to reclaim that in-between space while traveling as home. Once Christopher dropped me off, I was back in the stream. But as soon as I got to the counter, I was delayed and would miss my connection. My mind began to spin with logistics. Could I still get to Denver tonight? Would I have to go tomorrow? Should I just rebook now?... Read more