Category: Dharma Journal

The Art of Living Among Flowers

“Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers—and never succeeding.” – Gian Carlo Menotti I have often wondered about the human’s need to create when everything necessary has already been...

Echoes of the Natural Mind

One of the best ways to get to know an area is to learn its language. This helps us appreciate the way long-term inhabitants frame their world and, perhaps, offers us a glimpse into...

Confusion and Clarity

Bam! Our dining area window shudders from some kind of impact. Fortunately, the glass seems to be intact. Was it a bird strike? We’ve experienced small bird strikes before, but this was something much...

Walking in Beauty

I often refer to my connection with indigenous wisdom through my native mentors and friends. Today, I have the privilege of experiencing the presence and teachings of Lupita, a Diné elder. The Diné people...

A Meditation on Light and Dark

In the northern sky, dark clouds roil in strangely contorted patterns, intermingling with and embracing the wind currents. They weep tears that do not fall to the ground. This is called virga by meteorologists,...

Hearing Presence

I recently acquired a new pair of hearing aids. They are more effective than my old ones, and I am able to hear things now that I haven’t heard since before my hearing loss....

Lake Wobegon Buddha

Tarn and I have the great joy of attending the Garrison Keillor event at the Tower Theater. This is to be an evening of humor, stories, and singing—with full audience participation. Keillor is one...

Occupied

Ten years ago, a few folks with a bee in their bonnet about the way public lands are managed occupied a portion of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon. This area encompasses a...

Repotting

I once read somewhere about how we should listen to our natural insight and “repot” ourselves about every seven years if we are to grow spiritually. I imagine pulling my root-bound self out of...

Oh Holy Night

The night dawns as darkness. As contradictory as this sounds, it is really true. Darkness dawns in the mind no less than the light. But we often fear the dark, so we do not...