On this day in 1870 Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first American senator of African descent. The Reverend Revels was a remarkable and accomplished man who should be more widely known… Read more

I don’t know how many people I’ve encountered over the years who come to the Zen center looking for a way to relax. A worthy goal, absolutely. And, Zen really isn’t going to be the best place to go for relaxation. It can be hard explaining this to someone who has screwed up their courage to come to a strange place with hope for a real problem. I think the absolute best addressing of this common occurrence, is a comment... Read more

I belong to a clergy study group. Well, we say we’re a study group, and we do reflect on weighty issues in a formal way. But the real reason we get together is to ruminate on how things have gone to hell since our day. And, I swear. I love this country, rotten oligarchic republic that it is. And everything is going to hell… For a while we’ve had an uneasy balance between the grasping excesses of our capitalist hearts... Read more

As my weight drifts up, I’m looking for someone else to blame. Turns out there are plenty of candidates. Some really are co-conspirators… Read more

Edna St Vincent Millay was born on this day in 1892… Read more

  I’ve recently been in contact with an old Dharma sibling, Mark Strathern, who provided this photograph. He says it is from July 5th 1970 (an old newsletter says the ordination took place on the 25th, but I’m inclined to think Mark is right). Six of us had just ordained unsui. In addition to Kennett Roshi, the picture includes two of her senior students and my first wife. In the back row from left to right Aubrey Thornton, Mark Daiji... Read more

KNIT ONE, PURL TWO  A Meditation on Knitting a Life 20 February 2011 A Sermon by James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text For thou didst form my inward parts,Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise thee for thou art fearful and wonderful.Wonderful are thy works!Thou knowest me right well,My frame was not hidden from thee,When I was being made in secret,Intricately wrought in the depth of the earth,Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance:In... Read more

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The Hindu saint Ramakrishna was born on this day in 1836. Through Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard and most of all Christopher Isherwood, the spiritual revival that Ramakrishna sparked would play a significant part in the dawning of my own quest. While that quest would soon take me in different directions, I remain grateful… Read more

Giordano Bruno died on this day in 1600, a martyr to science. A church led the way, but the church was doing its traditional job of protecting the status quo. So, that blood is on many hands. It is the war of the entrenched upon the revelation of inconvenient truths… And judging from the continuing attacks on Darwin’s amazing insights as well as the attacks on scientists for warning about global warming, there should be little doubt the war continues…... Read more