THE WAY OF A PILGRIM Or, How to Save Ourselves and the World James Ishmael Ford 15 November 2015 Pacific Unitarian Church Rancho Palos Verdes, California Beirut, Baghdad, and Paris. Hundreds dead. Confusion reigns. People are demanding action. And here we are, gathered once again within this sanctuary. I suggest in order to engage our lives in the world, to make our actions, and right now our reactions more useful than harmful, we need to have a moral compass, a... Read more

About 1960, a year earlier, perhaps a year later, one Sunday Jan’s family decided to go to Olvera Street for lunch following church. There are a lot of options for Mexican food on Olvera Street, ranging from pretty upscale right down to the most modest. The family was not known for being extravagant with a dollar, and so picked one of the more modest restaurants, really a cafe, with one side totally open to the shopping plaza. It was Juanita’s... Read more

I was saddened to learn that Rita Gross, who had suffered a debilitating stroke in October, suffered another and succumbed on the 11th of November. The Lion’s Roar quoted Judith Simmer-Brown: “Rita Gross died peacefully today at her home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Following the instructions of her teacher, Ven. Khandro Rinpoche, her body has been washed and perfumed with saffron in the traditional Tibetan manner and her Wisconsin friends will sit with the corpse for the specified three days... Read more

In ancient Rome Feronia’s festival was celebrated on the Ides of November, which in all likelihood was originally the day of the full moon, but eventually was settled on November 13th, or to be slightly more accurate in the Roman versions of November 13th. Close enough, I figure… Here we get one of the profusion of our annual harvest festivals. Feronia was a goddess in central Italy absorbed in time into the Roman pantheon. She was mostly honored in hopes... Read more

Yesterday Richard McDaniel’s Cypress Trees in the Garden appeared in our mailbox. I immediately went to the chapter about me. What can I say? And, now that I’ve read it I want to categorically deny that I ever said, as reported on page 192, “Heaven’s-t’-Betsy.” Although I am moderately confident I did say the “Fuck you” reported on the same page… Cypress Trees in the Garden is a romp through the garden of our contemporary North American Zen scene. He... Read more

A lot of years ago when Jan & I first moved to New England’s rocky soil, Jan wanted to go to the Cambridge cemetery to put a rose on Henry James’ grave. I was more than happy to join her as I wanted to put a flower on William’s grave. We bought a small bouquet of roses and drove out to the cemetery which turns out to be just east of the more famous Mt Auburn cemetery. With good directions... Read more

John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields recited by Leonard Cohen Read more

This past Sunday after church Jan and I saw Trumbo. My goodness, Brian Cranston has come a long way from playing dad on Malcolm in the Middle! He really is one of the most interesting actors of our day. And, he was given a pretty meaty role, playing a central figure back when the great Red Scare moved to Hollywood. Biopics are always problematic endeavors. And making a movie about controversial figures at the center of political maelstroms when at... Read more

Leonard Cohen says he spent a couple of years working on what would become his masterwork Hallelujah. He estimates he wrote about eighty verses, while trying to find the right ones. The song was originally released on the album Various Positions, and he publicly performed it first as part of the 1985 tour in support of that album. However, within three years he was singing a different version with almost no overlap in the verses. It appears there wasn’t a... Read more

BENEATH THE SILENT STARS A Call to an Ecological Consciousness 8 November 2015 James Ishmael Ford Pacific Unitarian Church Rancho Palos Verdes, California Some time ago I was sitting with Meredith Garman, an old friend and colleague currently serving as minister of our congregation in White Plains, New York. We found our conversation drifting to extraterrestrial life, flying saucer claims, and the SETI project. What can I say? Conversations just go like that, every once in a while. I particularly... Read more