Living in Interesting Times (2016 - 2019)
Dreaming Earth
Imagining the deep stories underneath the climate crisis and the future of humans (2018 - present)
Love in the Time of Asuras
June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California
An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.
The Myth We're In, Part One : Breaking the Spell
December 17, 2017
It's the middle of December 2017. We've had almost a year of this administration, and many of us feel that the imperfect, yearning fabric of our culture and the very earth we stand upon are under assault. We're facing a generational challenge to preserve what we hold dear about how we treat each other, and to steady a world that sometimes seems to be shaking itself apart. Our traditions ask us how we'll respond to such a time, and our traumatized hearts ask how we'll cope.
It's the middle of December 2017. We've had almost a year of this administration, and many of us feel that the imperfect, yearning fabric of our culture and the very earth we stand upon are under assault. We're facing a generational challenge to preserve what we hold dear about how we treat each other, and to steady a world that sometimes seems to be shaking itself apart. Our traditions ask us how we'll respond to such a time, and our traumatized hearts ask how we'll cope.
The Myth We're In, Part Two : Initiation
March 1, 2018
In Part One of this essay, I suggested that our current president brings to mind a buddhist asura, a relentlessly angry anti-god. Asuras cast a powerful spell of paralysis and division, but we can break the spell and become what the asura president refuses to be : protectors. Once we've found a myth that's helpful in describing a disastrous situation and suggesting a response, we can, blessedly, redirect our attention towards the longer-form work of asking how we got here, and how we might heal.
In Part One of this essay, I suggested that our current president brings to mind a buddhist asura, a relentlessly angry anti-god. Asuras cast a powerful spell of paralysis and division, but we can break the spell and become what the asura president refuses to be : protectors. Once we've found a myth that's helpful in describing a disastrous situation and suggesting a response, we can, blessedly, redirect our attention towards the longer-form work of asking how we got here, and how we might heal.
The Myth We're In, Part Three : Exile, Home
May 19, 2018
In Parts One and Two of this essay, I suggested that our current president brings to mind a buddhist asura, a relentlessly angry anti-god. Asuras cast a powerful spell of paralysis and division, but we can break the spell and become what the asura president refuses to be : protectors. I wondered about seeing this time as a national humiliation, a necessary passage in a culture-wide initiation — an initiation that might mean we attend to what has gone unattended and come to maturity as a culture. Now I’m turning to one last mythical aspect of the age of the asura president : Is it possible that we as individuals are experiencing this time as a confrontation with an archetype that could lead some of us to our own kind of initiation?
In Parts One and Two of this essay, I suggested that our current president brings to mind a buddhist asura, a relentlessly angry anti-god. Asuras cast a powerful spell of paralysis and division, but we can break the spell and become what the asura president refuses to be : protectors. I wondered about seeing this time as a national humiliation, a necessary passage in a culture-wide initiation — an initiation that might mean we attend to what has gone unattended and come to maturity as a culture. Now I’m turning to one last mythical aspect of the age of the asura president : Is it possible that we as individuals are experiencing this time as a confrontation with an archetype that could lead some of us to our own kind of initiation?
First Response : Calling Your Soul Home
November 9, 2016
Since many of us are feeling stunned and ripped apart right now, and since we've been presented with something of a black box - no one really knows what's about to occur - it's important to pause a moment.
Since many of us are feeling stunned and ripped apart right now, and since we've been presented with something of a black box - no one really knows what's about to occur - it's important to pause a moment.
Second Response : The Revenge of Kindness
November 10, 2016
Tuesday's election has passed, but every day we have a new choice about what ballot we cast, upon the waters, into the air, to wrap around the shoulders of our sisters and brothers...
Tuesday's election has passed, but every day we have a new choice about what ballot we cast, upon the waters, into the air, to wrap around the shoulders of our sisters and brothers...
Third Response : Balancing Monsters of Love
November 11, 2016
The ground is going to be unsteady for awhile now. There will be comings and goings, things that slam shut and some that break open. Ghosts and tremors and tears that surprise. Strange dreams and unexpected resolve...
The ground is going to be unsteady for awhile now. There will be comings and goings, things that slam shut and some that break open. Ghosts and tremors and tears that surprise. Strange dreams and unexpected resolve...
Fourth Response : Ghosts & Ancestors
November 12, 2016
Some have said that they felt as though something died with the election. If that's true for you, you could do a ceremony of turning that ghost into an ancestor.
Some have said that they felt as though something died with the election. If that's true for you, you could do a ceremony of turning that ghost into an ancestor.
Fifth Response : Please Try Not to Cope
November 14, 2016
When the initial numbness starts to wear off, it's so very human to cast about for ways to cope. As understandable as that is, here's a counter-suggestion : Don't cope...
When the initial numbness starts to wear off, it's so very human to cast about for ways to cope. As understandable as that is, here's a counter-suggestion : Don't cope...
Sixth Response : Koans for Interesting Times
Unprecedented times are what the koan way is made for. It's a Dharma of courage and fierce steadiness, creative generosity and kindness - and it will help us navigate whatever comes.
| Koans for Interesting Times |
Seventh Response : We Are All Ancestors Now
December 3, 2016
Let's provisionally consider that we're in the midst of a disaster. Let's put a pause on fighting with life for being life, accepting instead Auden's notion of the disobedience of the daydream. Let's see if that frees up some energy for other things. Like asking who we are now, in this new age...
Let's provisionally consider that we're in the midst of a disaster. Let's put a pause on fighting with life for being life, accepting instead Auden's notion of the disobedience of the daydream. Let's see if that frees up some energy for other things. Like asking who we are now, in this new age...
