We were put in this world to love … our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to […]
When people are scared and insecure, they tend to return to the comfortable, the familiar. Last week, the search term “bread” was trending on Google. Gardening centers have seen a 250 percent increase in the sale of seeds, compost and other gardening supplies. Downloads of digital books have increased by 30 percent, according to some
They stand behind the glass, frozen in stunned silence. I turn away, embarrassed for them, for us, for the world we left behind. I have heard debate about what is considered “essential.” Nail salons? Gun stores? In-person church services? I shake my head, roll my eyes, at the world we left behind. Thousands of short-term
The World We Left Behind Read More »
My biggest question over the last week has been, “How might I contribute at this time?” The term “CARE package” originated in 1945, when millions of Europeans were at risk of starvation in the aftermath of World War II. It has since become a generic term for humanitarian relief, or a small package of snacks
On a conference call today someone said that, after a week of video and phone calls while in isolation, that it felt like “my world has both contracted and expanded at the same time.” I know this feeling. The world has quickly closed in around us. First the shops and restaurants closed, then the crowds
Contracting and Expanding Read More »
We have had a back seat view of the pandemic as it has marched it way from China, to Europe and the United States. I’ve been monitoring a variety of international news Web sites, trying to get a macro view of what is happening by aggregating the stories into a broader narrative. This is a
What COVID-19 Reflects Read More »
The word “exile” came to my awareness today as I was reading a book on inward pilgrimage. We are experiencing a massive global exile, away from the people we love, from familiar places and routines. We are in our physical houses and apartments, yet we are away from our spiritual homes. We are banished from
I feel I have spent the last two years of my life preparing for this moment. Obviously, I did not predict that the world would take a massive downshift. There is no way I could have known that tens of millions of people would suddenly and dramatically find themselves in their own bardo, their own
A Global Threshold Read More »
I can hear birds for the first time since we moved into this apartment in the center of Lisbon. The rhythm of the hourly church bells, unheard under the din of marauding drunken tourists and screeching cars, seems to carry a particular poignancy. The uneasy silence that has fallen across the city has allowed the
What is essential? Read More »
There’s the big “B” Bardo — the gap between dying in this life and being reincarnated in the next life, according to Tibetan Buddhist text Bardo Tödöl. Then there is the small “b” bardo, those transition moments between one state and the next. The twilight of sleep. The minute when you “zone out” and stare
Breathing in the Bardo Read More »