IT’S AN UNCANNY FEELING, WHICH I SUSPECT MOST OF US HAVE from time to time, to wonder whether you belong, to wonder whether you might not be a stranger in a strange land. In fact, it’s a timeless and universal feeling, one that has left traces in our literary history as far back as the …
Spirit, Matter and Soul
THE WORLD’S GREAT SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS ALL AGREE, with a few exceptions, that the material world is at least unreal, if not fundamentally false and evil. To state the case in overly simplistic generalizations, the spiritual is exalted over the material in Buddhism, in most Hindu traditions, in Daoist spirituality, in Christian theological and mystical traditions, …
Now Is a Good Time to Begin Healing
ALTHOUGH THE NEW YEAR BEGINS ON AN ARBITRARILY CHOSEN DAY IN TIME, the possibility for renewal a new year offers is both real and important. A new beginning is always a good time to begin to heal. Healing, however, is not the same as curing. Where curing an illness is a bio-medical procedure, healing is …
The Simplicity and Subtlety of the Way
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT DAOIST THOUGHT AND WRITINGS THAT MAKES THEM APPEALING. Even though they seem simple, even simplistic, they nonetheless give one the sense that they are also subtle, inscrutable and profoundly wise. As I re-read the “further teachings of Lao-tzu” in Thomas Cleary’s translation of the Wen-tzu (a Daoist classic from the Han Dynasty, …
Life in a Neurotic Society
EVERY DAY, AGAIN AND AGAIN, THE NEWS SHOWS US HOW DIVIDED WE ARE and how hostile some of us have become toward the others of us who see things differently. What’s going on? How did we become so uncivil toward one another? Denial. If you understand the mechanisms and effects of a collective denial of …
Mist on a Breeze #11
The Way (Laozi) There is something before heaven and earth —An undifferentiated whole.It has no concrete form, only abstract images.It is deep, dark, silent, undefined.To give it a name, I call it Dao, the Way. Mountains are high, oceans are deepBecause of it.Animals run, birds flyBecause of it.Unicorns roam, phoenixes soarBecause of it.The stars run …
When Thoughtlessness Is a Good Thing
USUALLY, WHEN SOMEONE SAYS, “YOU’RE SO THOUGHTLESS!” IT MEANS you’ve done something wrong, something about which you should feel shame; but it’s not always so. Recently, I’ve been re-reading Brian Walker’s rendition of the Hua Hu Ching (now spelled Huahujing), a Daoist text attributed to Laozi, which had been preserved only through oral tradition for …
“Life is change. How it differs from the rocks.”
In 1968, Jefferson Airplane released Crown of Creation, their fourth album, in which the political facet of their psychedelic rock became clearly visible. The album’s title track, written by Paul Kantner, blends philosophical insight with countercultural attitude in a song that, in the end, turns out to be a love song. The song’s closing lines …
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Carried Away in the Watercourse
LEFT ALONE TO FOLLOW ITS NATURAL COURSE, CONSCIOUSNESS EBBS AND FLOWS like the tides, rises and falls like waves on the sea, rolls and tumbles like a mountain stream, wanders like a meandering river. Over the past month or so, I’ve re-read the Zhuangzi (also known as the Chuang Tzu) in two translations, one old, …
Living the Questions
Lurking in the background, behind our everyday concerns, are those “big questions” about the meaning of it all. Who am I? Who are you? Where do we live? What lies ahead? What are we supposed to be doing? Answers to these deeply human questions are offered by our wisdom traditions, by our spiritual giants, and …
Soul Spirit Wisdom 