Divergence Broadly speaking, there are two paths of spiritual exploration and growth. They begin at the same place: an irresistible desire/need to know what is beyond physical reality. One goes to the right, the other to the left. Imagine that the one to the right leads “down,” into the earth. It leads to the realm of plant spirits and medicines, … Read More
The Talking Circle
Picture a classroom of energized ten-year-olds who have just read My Side of the Mountain. It’s the imaginative and engaging tale of a boy who spends a year in the wilderness, learning survival as he deals with solitude, hardship, and his own coming of age. I had joined the class to to discuss some of the skills of living the boy in the … Read More
Born Whole post #2: Preface, segment 2 of 2
The Backdrop: My Beliefs As you reflect on what you read, I hope you will see how you can use what is offered in this book. Some of this may seem strange, even unbelievable, but all of it is what I have experienced. I grew up in a strongly religious environment. Perhaps the greatest gift from that early experience was … Read More
Buffer
LOVE IS A BUFFER without which we, in the presence of our Source would surely cease to be. And yet and yet I yearn for my Source as a raindrop yearns for the sea. April 5, 2021; originally published May 9, 2015
Forever
My tears taste of the ocean, my breath remembers mountain winds. My bones are kin with stone and soil, my hair with grass and fern and leaf. My blood claims its ties to the sun through heat and living pulse and red. This body came to be, has grown, will age and then, like all, will die; will rise … Read More
Don’t Leave No Trace
Remember when the phrase “Leave No Trace” was the catchphrase for any excursion into wildness? I haven’t heard that one recently. I’m glad of that, because we can’t leave no trace. We can’t “take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.” The idea of “leave no trace” assumed that all we take into nature is our physical selves. We … Read More
Born Whole post #1: Preface, segment 1 of 2
BORN WHOLE Preface This book is about how we and our children can be born whole. It is my story, and it is a story that belongs to us all. This book will stretch your understanding of what is real and what is possible. You may also find that the story feels familiar deep within you, at a level beyond … Read More
Time In The Ashes
It’s no surprise now, after more than a year of being in some form of community isolation, that we feel tensions rising from time to time. We have moments of being snippy, short tempered, or otherwise less than our best selves. Heck, this happens even without pandemics. This article is about a way to cope with being cooped. There’s a … Read More
This Is Your Birthright
As a human being you are born with the ability to run. You are also born with the ability to have a spiritual life. Early in life, you run a lot. Children up to the age of four run almost everywhere. As you grow, you notice that some can run faster. Whether you are one of those or not, you … Read More
The Girl at Middle Beach
It had been one of my best gigs. Five times every year for 20 years at a campground on the rugged west coast of Canada, I guided one-day programs with groups of students, leading them to engage with the beauty and richness of the life on the Pacific shore. Now it was time to move on, and I was feeling the sweet sorrow … Read More