Browse Topics

Saying No

An Interview With Dirk Spruyt

When we filed our 1981 return, we wrote a letter saying that we had a conscientious objection to the paying of money for the purpose of killing people and asked that portion to be refunded. The IRS audited us.

The Green Woman

A hush fell between us now that almost had a thickness to it. It was like the moment when you drop a stone down a well and wait for the sound of its striking.

Sunbeams

You don’t tell the quality of a master by the size of his crowds.

Richard Bach, Illusions

Going Against The Dragon

An Interview With Robert Bly

Some dragons don’t want to be lifted up into the heart area. That’s their place down where they are. You go down and meet them on their ground. “I’m going to lift you up and bathe you in the violet light of the heart.” What do they care about that?

Pernicious Oneness In Spiritual Thinking And Practice

Spiritual seekers, in their thirst for the “oneness” experience, are easily led toward simplistic ways of thinking and impotent practices which, at best, may be a waste of time and energy and lead to self-delusion and, at worst, may lead to mental and emotional disturbance.

Dealing With Pain

A motorcycle crash, hair loss, schizophrenia

A Listening Heart

The key word of the spiritual discipline I follow is “listening.” This means a special kind of listening, a listening with one’s heart. To listen in that way is central to the monastic tradition in which I stand. The very first word of the Rule of St. Benedict is “listen!” — “Ausculta!” — and all the rest of Benedictine discipline grows out of this one initial gesture of wholehearted listening, as a sunflower grows from its seed.

A Practical Faith

An Interview With Swami Kriyananda

At age fifteen, Ananda cooperative village is a thriving northern California community with more than 150 full-time residents — quite a feat considering that the average life expectancy of such ventures is less than 30 days. While its founder, Swami Kriyananda, credits much of Ananda’s success to the blessing of his guru, Paramahansa Yogananda — around whose vision of a “self-sustaining world brotherhood community” Ananda is built — his own strong leadership and practical know-how have been important guiding factors.

Sunbeams

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

Ruth Rendell

Pilgrims

Charlie Tabor had taken charge of the Indians that morning because he’d been the first to see them. He’d been walking to the barber shop about 7:30 and he’d seen them parked down by the Home Creek bridge where they’d spent the night. He didn’t know they were Indians, but Charlie Tabor was always bound to check anything, so he’d walked to the bridge.