Tag Archives: culture

Salt Dolls and Other Temporal Measures

In a dharma talk given July 15th for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (as part of their Summer 2024 Commit to Sit program), Zen teacher Norman Fischer said something quite interesting and profound. He was discussing the … Continue reading

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Such a World: rondel

What sense can you make of such a world where kindness and consideration fail, and ignorance, its angry, hard fist curled, destroys all to build more graveyards and jails? When hatred’s flag has been proudly unfurled, has culture’s last ship … Continue reading

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14. See the world

In my life, I’ve met a large number of people who have lived and traveled no more than 50 or 100 miles from their birthplace. To me, this gives modern people no advantage over generations and ancestors past who did, … Continue reading

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The Great Unknown

It’s not so much the great unknown that gives me pause and food for thought. The universe may hide itself as it sees fit, and choose to show what tiny bits my mind can grasp according to some private plan. … Continue reading

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No Shaman Left to Heal Our Tribe

Come, dig the grave, but not too deep; the eighties were a shallow time. We spent a decade just to learn how to maintain appearance’s sake and delve with questions, off-the-cuff, in cocktail conversation bluffs. Come, dig the grave, the … Continue reading

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The Wheels of Progress

When ground to standstill, mired, besmirched, their cog-end mesh begun to rust, the wheels of progress can but lurch. Their motion barely moves the dust; and each gear’s inch assaults the ear with tortured squeaks and sudden stalls. Behind all … Continue reading

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What good is art

What good is art if it does not instruct, or for our “better angels” cast new wings beyond utilitarian design, reminding us that beauty without form is doomed, under the sheer weight of itself to force its rigid framing to … Continue reading

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