Armenian-American writer William Saroyan wrote in The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze a piece of advice that reads like a rallying cry to live life to its fullest: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste the food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible…
Who Is My Neighbor?
The parable about the Good Samaritan begins with the lawyer asking Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus answers with the parable. The parable is probably one of Jesus’s most famous and concludes with Christ asking, “Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the…
Create Windows
If the house of the world is dark, love will find a way to create windows. – The Analects of Rumi. My dear friend Tom, the Sufi master, turned me on to the poetry and wisdom of Rumi years ago. I came across the above recently. If we ever needed evidence of the truth of Rumi’s…
Turn, Then, And Live
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live. — Ezekiel 18:32. This morning, I wondered when was the first time temptation got the better of me. A child learns at an early age about white lies, pocketing a piece of candy, or placing blame on one’s…
Knowledge v. Understanding
Knowledge is acquired when we succeed in fitting a new experience into the system of concepts based upon our old experiences. Understanding comes when we liberate ourselves from the old and so make possible a direct, unmediated contact with the new, the mystery, moment by moment, of our existence. — Aldous Huxley. I haven’t stopped to…