A Traveler’s Guide — Content Map
The Space of Possibility contains every friend, loved one, beast, and critter, every gizmo and gadget, every feeling of love and compassion, every child’s laughter and newborn baby’s cry, every taste of coffee and smell of freshly baked bread, every thought, idea, and expression, every dance, every poem, every painting, every smile, and every other thing that can exist in this extraordinary space of experience.
And though we’ve brought much light and color to this space, an infinite landscape of unexplored terrain lies beyond the Wall of Ignorance — in a place where the unfamiliar, unexplained, and unimagined are cloaked…
What are Your Spiritual Impulses?
What are Your Spiritual Impulses?
“Children, love one another.” — John the Evangelist
If only these words could awaken the truth in our hearts and guide us with steady hands and feet.
Morality, though, can’t be established by words alone. It requires you to look into yourself. It requires a direct understanding of your inner motivations, intentions, and behaviors.
What is it that shapes your very being in this world? What are those inner forces that move you with their own power?
Only after you have seen and felt these impulses directly will you be able to understand and deepen your relationship with moral concepts…
The World Begins With Wonder
Wonder is the beginning. It is the space from which all things unfold, it gives birth to questions, it is the womb of understanding. It molds from the empty space of awareness all that can be known.
Deb Wood — my love, my partner, my human— recently held up a mirror for me. The humdrum of everyday life had gotten to me, and allowed sloth and torpor to take over. It robbed the light from my eyes. And she, with her perspicacity, her deep presence and understanding, left the subtle antidote:
“Your wonder for existence delights me.”
How could I…
How do you hold your love?
Do you hold her from stillness,
with nowhere to go,
with nothing to do?
How do you hold your love?
Do you hold her with acceptance,
with open hands and arms,
with unabashed surrender?
How do you hold your love?
Do you hold her from wholeness,
with an all-encompassing embrace,
with your heart as wide as the world?
How do you hold your love?
Do you hold her with wonder,
with an interest and eagerness to understand her,
with a selfless and undivided worship?
How do you hold your love? Do you hold her…
I wonder at the earth, my home.
Wonder at her relationships
With space, time, and darkness,
With the sun, moon, and stars.
I wonder at Her deepest oceans and highest peaks,
Wonder at Her deserts and Her forests.
At Her skies, rain, wind, and thunder.
I wonder at Her motions, at Her currents, and seasons.
I wonder at Her plants and critters, at Her people,
Wonder at how She holds me in Her,
And at how I hold Her in me.
I wonder at Her wonder, at Her knowings, Her understandings, Wonder at Her music, poetry, art, and expression. I…
One of the yummiest parts of my day is found in the company of my family’s stillness as we sit around the dinner table just before we eat. “Should we have our moment of silence?” Gideon, my eight-year-old, the oldest of our four kids, reminds us. The other kids get excited and silence quickly blankets the room.
Of the many forms of prayer we express in our home, all of which I love, there is something unusually special about our dinner prayer. As we sit and listen to the deafening voice of Silence, our busy thoughts become cleansed by Her…
Everyone Needs a Friend Like Mine
Everyone needs a friend like my Snow Leopard Guardian Angel — a bright light, a beacon, a North Star, a teacher, a wise counselor, a polished mirror to see your own reflection.
The more people and relationships I encounter, the more I realize how rare and precious a friend you are. With no time or space to waste, you push outward on every wall of my being. Your words and actions never idle or sit stagnant. …
To Parents & Teachers — My Heroes
Life is good. As if there aren’t enough miracles to be grateful for — my heart, breath, and awareness, the sun’s warmth, the earth’s protection, the most present and awake partner, my Snow Leopard guardian angel, exemplary moral parents, the list goes on — I have been graced with four of the most curious, creative, playful, loving, and just downright good children.
Each is an undeniable testament to their mother — to her astonishing and powerful presence, to her wisdom, to the keen awareness she places around her words and actions, which she paints with such remarkable tact and beauty…
How to Cultivate Bodhichitta
You are a miracle. Don’t think so? Point to something more miraculous, more awe-inspiring, more marvelous, than you, than your existence.
Yet, if you’re anything like me, this miraculous occasion, which we call life, is too easily and too often — in fact habitually — squandered in trivial pursuits. We compare, scrutinize, and pity ourselves and others. We gossip and fill the uncomfortable silence with our pointless words. …
Putting the Human Back Into Humanity
You and I aren’t so different. Your skin may be a different color than mine. You may have Hindu or Catholic roots while I was raised in a Mormon culture. You may pee sitting down and I standing up. Your passport may say Peruvian and mine American.
But let’s not forget some basic facts here. We are each children of the Sun and Earth. We each want to be free from suffering, to be free from fear, hatred, and anxiety. We want to be safe, warm, and comforted. We all want a place or a person to call home. We…
