Ideas & such
I know it’s graduation season, so it feel like a good time as we look over the lengthening light the Winter Solstice brings to offer the light of Paul Hawken’s words, here. One of the best I’ve read in past few seasons of speeches was the one Paul Hawken presented here below, as this…
I’ve been carrying this simple phrase around lately: share and heal. Not “share to get ahead.” Not “share once you’re totally safe.” Just: share and heal — because I don’t think we’re going to survive (or thrive) without moving in that direction. A lot of the world runs on the opposite philosophy. Even when it’s…
In this section of The World According to Brother Ian, called the Emperor’s New Clothes, we take a peek at the things around the world that people don’t seem to know about, but should. Just a few years ago on the CBC, someone was asking Gore Vidal in Montreal if he thought the divisive politics…
I hope you find new people & new ideas & new ways to see the way it all works….good place to start (if you don’t know him already) is Randall’s xkcd webcomic….he gets it, and has fun getting there. Here’s the link to the one above, and his site….be careful, you’ll get lost in the…
I know you think monks just sit around thinking up jokes & stories to make their point, which is hard because they don’t get out into the world enough (some monks, you know). But it’s really not like that – here’s one of my faves: +++++++ A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is…
Sara Tucholsky isn’t gonna forget. It was cool to hear this story from a few years ago – heard it then & want to share it now – that shows what happens when the right people do the right thing at the right time. And don’t tell me you’re not a softball fan – this…
Lighten for a moment beautiful one. Place down those shackles, tethers and bounds. Allow all your responsibilities to release too. For this special moment, just be free. The sun has risen and is touching us with her light. We have grown and are touching the world with our own. Lighten for a moment dear one.…
Listen intently to a voice singing without words. It may charm you into crying, force you to dance, fill you with rage, or make you jump for joy. You can’t tell where the music ends and the emotions begin, for the whole thing is a kind of music—the voice playing on your nerves as…
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in…
Letting go Hearing the bell, I am able to let go all my afflictions, My heart is calm, my sorrows ended, I am not longer boound to anything. I learn to listen to my suffering and the suffering of another person. When understanding is born in me, compassion is also born. Thich Nhat Hanh
Even when you see nothing but love Love where you’re at Even when you see nothing put pain Love where you’re at When you’re not sure where to start When you’re not sure when to finish Love where you’re at Over the hill is greener grass Up in the sky are clearer skies Deep in…
Puddle love. My friend Ellen is doing her teaching practicum at a pre-school…I asked her what interesting happened today. She said she told a kid today that it wasn’t a great idea to drink out of a puddle. She brought years of biology (germs!), geology (mud!), anthropology (the other kids don’t seem to want to…
I love this story – it reminds of my Dad & his classic car club. (That’s his ’22 Model T in the picture, by the way…his first car!) It’s the kind of tale he’d mention, when I needed biz advice: A father said to his daughter, “You have graduated with honors, here is a…
Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we’re wrong about that? “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility. I always like her work with Grist – when you check this out, you’ll see why.
Late last night, I was in the middle of a dream when the cat yowled at a raccoon outside. Kinda cool, because that helped me remember what was happening in the dream: There was a stream next to a tree with roots that were above ground (some of ’em, or they wouldn’t be called roots) in…
Over the years, little bits of things make a bit more sense. Time passes & experience grows, as I watch the way others do things & I do things, in this play we write each day, together. Since I was a young monk, my parents sent me to Roman Catholic schools, even though we were…
As many people in the world celebrate this Summer Solstice, I hope this day finds you listening to the love around you & finding the chances we have, to share & to give, and that it finds you smiling. I hope this day finds you connecting. Connecting with your father. And your mother. And the…