Question: What is Pi? Answer: A mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, the distance around the edge, it turns out, is a little more than three times the distance across. That “little more” makes it wondrously irrational… Question: What is Pi Day? Answer: Every March 14th, mathematicians and those who appreciate or perhaps even love math, celebrate pi, as William Schaaf says, “probably no symbol in mathematics has evoked as much mystery, romanticism,... Read more

My friend the Reverend Mary Gates writes “Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, the Chief Rabbi for Ukraine, has asked Jews and Christians around the world to pray Psalm 31 in solidarity with those in Ukraine who are under attack. Apparently millions of people are saying this psalm daily, and in Ukraine people are praying it aloud in subway stations, bomb shelters and wherever else they are sheltering. Many people are reporting that the psalm has taken on new meaning for them since... Read more

    A Holy Curiosity: A Meditation on Albert Einstein and Nondual Religion James Ishmael Ford A Sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 13 March 2022 The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity… Never lose a holy curiosity.  Albert Einstein In 2008, Albert Einstein’s so-called “God Letter” was put up for auction. It was... Read more

    STOP THE WAR Tom Daimon Wardle Empty Moon Zen   A Ritual to Read to Each Other If you don’t know the kind of person I am and I don’t know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star. For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break sending with... Read more

    I am a High School dropout. I am forever grateful for California’s community college system, its night school in San Diego offered me a way toward higher education. In my mid thirties, when I landed at Sonoma State University, I was pretty single minded about getting into graduate school, and moving as fast as I could. A couple of friends advised me to do myself a favor, look around, find a professor I admire and take whatever classes... Read more

At five fifty four in the afternoon on the 10th of March in 1933, Long Beach, California was stricken with a terrible earthquake. The epicenter was actually off the coast southeast of the city. As it turns out, close enough. It lasted for ten seconds. Ten horrific seconds. There were as many as 120 casualties, and millions of dollars in property damage. The damage was widespread, but schools were particularly hard hit. It was noted if it had happened a... Read more

    I recall reading how someone quoted from the wonderful teacher Norman Fischer’s Mountains and Rivers Sutra. “When the Chinese encountered the word ‘dhyana’, the Pali word for meditation, they translated it into something that sounded like ‘dhyana’ in Chinese. They chose the word ‘Chan’ which became ‘zen’ in Japan. But ‘Chan’ or ‘zen’ doesn’t mean meditation, it only sounds like the Pali word that means meditation. The literal meaning of ‘Chan’ is ‘to bow before mountains and rivers.’”... Read more

    I find the great gift of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition is expressed within the four seals of existence, the two truths, and the three bodies of the buddha. While I am wary of dogmas, I find these the most helpful pointers to the structures of the human heart of any I’ve encountered in my life. While all things need to be held lightly, subject to mutation and change, these have been the pointers that have so far proven... Read more

      I’ve been thinking a lot about the word freedom, and what it means. Over the past several years we’ve been presented with a number of views on the subject focusing on one’s right not to cooperate in a public health crisis.  Then, abruptly, we’ve found ourselves confronted with a nation being invaded by a neighbor with the intent of bringing down the government and either installing a puppet or simply annexing substantial parts or perhaps even the... Read more

      Faustus Socinus, also known as Faust Paolo Sozzini and sometimes as Faust Socyn died on this day, the 4th of March, in 1604. It’s fair to identify him with a naturalistic current within the Christian tradition, with Socinus focusing on the pure humanity of Jesus, and a religion that arises with that understanding. I like to share something about him most every year, sometimes on his birthday, sometimes on the anniversary of his death. He is worth... Read more