The world is complex and our knowledge of it is small.  Each and every one of us benefits from knowledge we do not have used by people we do not know.  Virtually nothing we “know” is based on first hand experience.  In terms of our awareness of our complex environment we may be ahead of…

IMPORTANT UPDATE below At a Good Friday service in the Vatican and attended by Pope Benedict, preacher Father Raniero Cantalamessa compared the current scandals over sexual abuse by Church officials with “the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.” To say this is obscene is perhaps an understatement.

UPDATE below I think the outbursts of hatred and anger we have seen since passage of the Health Care Reform bill indicate it may have been an even bigger deal than I thought.  I think something far deeper than a simple political battle may be going on. I  think we are really seeing a spiritual not…

I had an wonderful talk with a friend who was for some time a Buddhist abbot before he decided Buddhism was not his final path, and began exploring other spiritual traditions and practices. Whenever our conversations shifts to these kinds of topics, one of their most enjoyable aspects is his speaking mostly fondly of the…

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