September 1982
Seeing The Gift
An Interview With Hugh Prather
I had to begin doing things out of peace. I had to begin following my peaceful preference regardless of what my ego said the consequences would be. I didn’t know what the consequences would be. The fact that it was a peaceful thing for me to do was sufficient reason to continue doing it.
The Quiet Answer
At the start of our journey, the perception of love may appear to come and quickly go. And for some there may be long periods of comparative bleakness. Yet beneath it will be a growing sense of gentleness and innocence and a deepening conviction that a Friend walks beside us and holds our hand in love.
Understanding Pain
(Part One)
How can pain be minimized? The general rule is: Be agreeable or go away.
Outfielder
Coggins walked through an afternoon fog as soft and gray-white as his own hair. He had walked a half mile or so nearly every day for twenty years — at first on the advice of a doctor who had repaired his heart, and then later because it became his deepest habit, and broke the day.
Sermon On The Rat
Do you have a dog? he asks me. I say no, and he says well that’s good because dogs shed so much. And do you have cats? I say no. And he says well, you might think about getting one, they’re always good to keep the mice down. I don’t think too much about that until I start cleaning out the kitchen cabinets and find a spring trap about a foot long, large enough to cripple a horse.
The New Age
There are only two goats. The big one’s got horns and a beard under its chin and I’m sure he’s male until the little one reaches under and butts her udders, fat with milk, and starts sucking. My oldest kid and I stroke her greasy hide. She seems gentle enough.
