Retirement is an amusing delusion that can be both dangerous and rewarding. After all, what can we really retire from? Certainly not anything that’s essential, anything we cannot live without. Like bringing all the love we can to here and now. Like managing fear. Like allowing our experience to teach us. Like aligning commitments […]
Juggling eggs while galloping on a Kentucky Derby winner is what a lot of this year has felt like for me. I don’t wish things were different, but it sure is surreal. There are times when the thought of a brief vacation is very appealing. So when the winter’s firewood arrived, instead of asking our
What happens to your lifelong pursuit of climbing the world’s tallest mountains after, mysteriously, your leg has been amputated and your eyes no longer see? There are certain people who are spiritually mature enough (even though they may not know it or believe it) that they are ready for a challenge that will help them shed
What’s Really Going On Read More »
A hot candidate for the Metaphor Hall of Fame? The topic at the AA meeting was “One day at a time.” Perhaps the most familiar of the AA slogans. Very helpful when you’re first getting sober and your life’s a train wreck and not drinking seems the equivalent of mud wrestling King Kong. Over time
Climbing Hunger Mountain Barefoot Read More »
At this fragile time, others have characterized my relationship with my beloved as “caring for her.” While it’s a perfectly understandable assessment, that’s not how I experience it. I don’t feel I’m doing anything for her. I’m simply attempting to honor my own sense of personal integrity. I’m attempting to act as best I
Dawn meditation had barely begun when I heard the soft, melodious baritone of a brass bell that, I guessed, was about the size of an orange. Its sound was irregular as if related to the movement of something or someone else. I’d heard it before, but never this close, as if an owl’s “Who cooks
Jesus in His Least Recognizable Form Read More »
Without discipline, love is compromised. Without love, discipline is almost assuredly harmful. Discipline is the perspective and practices that help us strengthen our ability to take meaningful action. These are resources every human needs to pursue whatever is important to them, from taking out the garbage on time to becoming a saint. Love is
The Big Unknown has come to call. My beloved’s well-being is uncertain. Our earthly life, therefore, is uncertain beyond the usual Who the heck knows? we all deal with. Maybe around a nearby corner a measure of predictability awaits. Maybe not. She and I tell each other there is nothing we can’t handle. But