Originally posted 12/20/2011… As Tom Shadyac professes in his film “I AM:” We are all connected. Each person on this planet is connected to every other man, woman and child, and it goes deeper still … all of creation is connected. Our connectivity mandates that we make good choices because even the least of our …
Category Archives: Mind
A Toy Story
As the Polar Express steams by Herpolsheimer’s department store – the England Brothers of my youth in Pittsfield, Massachusetts – the kids on the train stare in wonder at the store’s window displays filled with magical Christmas visions. “I want them all,” the ‘know-it-all kid exclaims referring to the abundance of extraordinary gifts and toys. …
Merry Christmas
Originally posted in 2020, I believe this is worth re-posting. Merry Christmas 2021. I believe that Jesus has influenced and continues to influence more human beings than any person who has ever walked the Earth. His message of unconditional love and forgiveness was and is plain and simple. That is how he lived, simply: he …
Ambivalent
I rarely engage in political discussions and avoid them in most cases. This post is about as political as I will get. The fact is, we inhabit a politically driven world and the influence of politics on our lives is sadly inescapable. While I have many friends, I have a small circle with whom I …
The Star Thrower Revisited
In recent days and weeks, I’ve revisited “The Star Thrower” story. This story from Loren Eiseley’s 1969 book The Unexpected Universe was the subject of one of our earliest posts a decade ago. Its value remains true and unquestionable: If you base your choices on what is right, then what you do will make a …
No One Should Be Lost
As I prepared to park at Dwight’s company this morning, two young men approached me and asked in barely discernable English if I was “Sandy *****.” When I answered ‘no,’ they asked if I knew him. I noted a parachute logo on one man’s jacket. Since we stood a stone’s throw from SkyDive Arizona, I …
How We Want to Live
“O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come unto you.” Psalm 102 As a daily Mass attendee for six years, I’ve recited Psalm 102 many times as a responsorial psalm to daily readings. I thought about it this week when my friend Justin posted this picture from our kitchen in Cité Soleil, Haiti. …
Street Cleaners Beat Guns Into Brooms
“If you want to change the world, make your bed…” So begins the first chapter of Admiral McRaven’s treatise on how each of us can positively affect the world we live in and make it a better place to be. Not one of the young people of Guepard Boxing Club in Cité Soleil, Haiti has …
Spiritual Understanding
In a December 2017 interview with Kozo Hattori and Pavithra Mehta from Awakin.org, Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer said, “A spiritual understanding not practiced under fire is without value.” This is as profound a statement of spirituality as I have heard. It was part of her answer to the question, “Your Greatest Inspiration.” Dr. Aluli Meyer grew up …
I AM
As we hunkered down over the Arizona weekend under biblical monsoon rain, I encouraged my friend Dwight to watch Tom Shadyac’s 2010 documentary “I Am.” True to form, he did, and when I asked him what he thought, he replied, “Everyone needs to watch this film.” I first watched “I Am” a decade ago, recommended …