Transitions
Are you a fox or hedgehog?
Many of us still bear the scars from high-school science classes, from memorizing facts, figures and laws — Boyle’s law, the laws of motions,...
That's no bull
Zen has a wonderful, 900-year-old pictorial story, which, in modern terminology, would be called no bull. It's actually called the Ox-herding Pictures, and...
Faith in everything
Faith can not only move mountains, it can transform lives, even the lives of the agnostic and the atheist. Many have lost faith in religion, given up on the...
Kindness is best prescription
Pharmaceutical companies must love cold-and-flu season. Even the people who don’t go to the doctor buy chemical concoctions to make them feel better. But...
Keep it simple
The simple truth is life is not complicated, but we choose to make it so. Newton’s third law of motion applies to our life as much as it does physics: to...
We think too much
The average North American is as addicted as any junkie shooting up in a back alley. And, unlike the junkie, we lie about our dependence. We live in an...
Power of the equation
The equation that shook the foundations of science and changed the world 112 years ago can be a platform on which to build a philosophy of life today. Albert...
Act like the cat
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said...
You have a right to be here
Even though we know better, we re-inforce and re-affirm what we don’t want. The more we repeatedly think and act in a particular way, the more we become...
Solving the mystery of you
As we tell, and re-tell, ourselves our stories, what genre do we use: drama, romance, comedy, tragedy, farce? At times, we use every method, but one worth...
Take another road home
Life thrives on chaos, but we want order and dulling routine. We prefer the safety of habit to the unpredictability of the new and unexpected. Our ancestors...
And there was light
In the beginning, there was light. On that point, religion and science agree. There is, however, a slight disagreement over when and how the light was turned...
You get what you give
The Me Generation never quite grasped that the ultimate purpose of life is to be of service to others. We were too busy looking out for No. 1. Our mantra was:...
All around you beauty
Our soul is calling us to the barricades to launch a revolution, an inner revolution. Revolutions change the world. Twelve thousand years ago, the Agricultural...
The best gift: yourself
We sometimes spend considerable time and money looking for just the right present for friends or family. We run around the mall, stumble into stores, check the...
Searching for peace
In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Big Daddy (Burl Ives) in a sad voice says to his son, Brick, played by Paul Newman, “Son, you know you got a real liquor...
Getting what we don't want
Even though we know better, we re-inforce and re-affirm what we don’t want. The more we think and act in a particular way, the more we become unconscious...
Shout yes at the silver moon
Life doesn’t ask much of us; only that we say yes, especially when we want to say no. It’s easy to affirm life when things are going our way, when...
Searching for the big secret
Some people spend a lot of time and money looking for a philosophy, a concept, a belief, a way to make our lives more bearable. We take yoga, martial arts,...
Don't forget dad
Most spiritual traditions instruct us to honour our mother and father. In generations past, honour was a much-used word — from the mythical battleground...