On this day in 1967 the Summer of Love began with a Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park. I was just throwing myself into serious Zen practice, somewhere in the neighborhood of this date moving into a house across from the Berkeley Zendo, but still two years from joining with Jiyu Kennett and ordaining. Such hopes for the transformation of the world. As it turns out things didn’t go the way I thought they might. For some addiction. Others early... Read more

Today in 1968 Johnny Cash performed at Folsom State Prison. I couldn’t find the clip I wanted at Youtube, but thought this one from a decade or two later worked out just fine… Read more

Somebody has come up with a calculation that gives today as the day that Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon. Not a bad moment for us, you and me, to consider is there a river for us to cross, to then burn the bridges, and go forward? A dangerous moment? But worth throwing the dice? A moment trembling with possibility? Worth a moment’s consideration, I think… Read more

I find it surprising how much we have worth having comes from people who’ve done something incredibly stupid. And today seems a good one to notice and appreciate such foolishnesses. While people had been riding in balloons since 1784, on this day in 1793 Jean-Pierre Blanchard launched himself into the air in Philadelphia, for the first manned flight in America. It was witnessed by quite the throng, including the president of the United States, George Washington, and, as Wikipedia notes,... Read more

Ah, childhood memories. He would have been seventy-eight today. Sadly, Elvis was forty-two when he died… Lots of shooting stars in that musical firmament… Read more

EPIPHANIES An Exploration of the Three Gifts and a Revolution of the Heart James Ishmael Ford 6 January 2012 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. The Gospel According to Matthew I mentioned this last year, perhaps you recall. I... Read more

Last evening I was rummaging around the web when I came across an obituary from 2009 for my first wife. We had not spoken since our son’s funeral in 1997. I have to admit I was shocked. She was sixty-two at the time of her death, which while within the arc of normal life expectancy, is still on the younger end. It appears she had a number of health issues toward the end. We had been pushed into a marriage... Read more

For me the tag end of the year has dragged on a bit, this lower intestinal thing that I don’t quite shake, overtook me toward the end of a happy new year/surprise co-educational bridal shower for some very dear friends, and made my drive home (two hours ahead of the magic moment) a bit of an adventure, a dash, as it were over the snow and ice. Amazing how one can long for a visit to the bathroom… And it... Read more

Some great moments. Some rotten… Ready to move on. Read more

Sometime before this day in 1170, King Henry II uttered something in his court. According to Wikipedia “The king’s exact words are in doubt and several versions have been reported. The most commonly quoted, as handed down by ‘oral tradition,’ is ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?,’ but according to historian Simon Schama this is incorrect: he accepts the account of the contemporary biographer Edward Grim, writing in Latin, who gives us ‘What miserable drones and traitors... Read more