I have been speaking lately of a way of interpreting our life experience as a gift and call to bring something to life, even out of the many deaths in the midst of life. I have also been reading a little each day from a few different books. One of […] Read more
Life as Gift and Call: a Few More Thoughts
Last week, in light of the story of The Old Man and His Grandson, we suggested a way of interpreting our experience. One approach is to see each experience as a gift and call to bring something to life rather than put something to death, and to bring something to […] Read more
Experience as Gift and Call to Life-Giving
I mentioned before that I have been teaching a five-week class on folk tales. This past week we looked at the story of The Old Man and His Grandson. Since I have used this story at the beginning of many classes, a number of you are certainly familiar with it. […] Read more
The Energy of Presence
We have been speaking of words, especially in images and stories, that may speak to our heart. And we have spoken of listening from the heart. We referred to Erich Fromm who insists, in The Art of Loving, that the content of our listening and speaking is less important than […] Read more
Listening from the Heart
We have been speaking of words, especially in images and stories. We have mentioned how these speak to our heart. They help us to get in touch with and to name our deepest experience. The corresponding insight is that human beings grow and develop by being listeners, listening from the […] Read more
Stories, Our Story, and Transformation
During the last two weeks, I have been teaching a course of folk tales which, like the ancient mythologies, draw on symbols that seem to be embedded in the human condition, and so universal.. They seem to come from and speak to the deepest part of ourselves. In Sleeping Beauty, […] Read more
Achieving a New Vision and Wholeness
We have often spoken of story and retold many stories in our weekly reflections. We might recall again that, in some sense, we see our life as a story, and we have a certain image of the kind of person we are and are becoming. And in living out our […] Read more
Naming with Wonder and Love through Story
Last week, I referred to an interview in which children’s book author, Kate DiCamillo said that life is chaos and art is pattern. She said as well that story and other arts are genuine if they name life truthfully but with love. She cites Charlotte’s Web as an example. E. […] Read more