Articles
Go Kill The Chicken
Ram Dass (formally Richard Alpert) tells the Sikh story of the Holy person who gave each of two of his disciples a chicken and said " Go kill the chicken where no one can see." One of the students went behind a fence and killed the chicken. The other walked around for...
Who’s Hiding the Enlightenment?
They make is sound so easy. Just be here now, they say. You know who they are. They wear orange robes or walk around with glassy eyes and look as if no one is home inside. Nothing phases them. They can wrap their bodies up in knots or sit at the top of mountains...
How Big is Your Circle?
Some of us live in a circle the size of a pinpoint. The only person we talk to is our partner, child or one best friend. The only people we see are those who fit into specific categories i.e. recovering, women, men, teenagers, light, dark, evolving, intellectual, gay,...
Is this All There Is?
Sometimes when the night is still, a wee voice inside who once believed that the Universe or God was a trickster, whispers, What if there is only this? A question I asked very often in the midst of my childhood, beer can filled life? My in-breath catches. With a...
One at a Time
I’ve never been big on New Year’s resolutions; they feel like a set up to me. It feels a bit like pop-psychology. Just pretend you have done all the work you need to do to break those limiting behaviors and just jump to the other side of the bridge. If you really...
Just Breathe
We must all be brought to our knees occasionally. That is the space in which we get to greet face-to-face the courage of our own spirits and the tender humility and humanity of our own souls. Great loss, great challenge, great struggle come to all. But only great...
Ah So
I have often heard sages, even my own spiritual teachers, respond ever so gently to a student’s bemoaning life’s ups and downs with a simple, “Ah So.” I used to think they didn’t care much. I now say the same thing to my own students. This simple response is not about...
A Minute Ago?
A minute ago we felt safe. Getting the repair guy on the phone to fix the refrigerator could be more important than lingering for a moment to say I love you in a kiss. Running out the door without a hug was acceptable if you were late to work. Couldn't our partners...
What To Be, or Not To Be, When We Grow Up
The Tao Te Ching says. “If you want to be whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to be straight, let yourself be crooked. If you want to be full, let yourself be empty. If you want to be reborn, let yourself die. If you want to be given everything, give...
It’s All Me
A couple of years ago, Sonia Friedman, of "Sonia Live" (CNN) snapped her fingers as America watched a young woman with Multiple Personality Disorder (M.P.D.) now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) change her demeanor to that of a child of nine right before...