In speaking of kindness last week, a quotation from the late educator, John Holt, came to mind. I looked it up and I’ll include it here. “I think that the social virtues are an overflowing,” he says, “they are a surplus; people have enough kindness for others when they have […] Read more
Kindness and Compassion: the Real Revolutionary Qualities
We have most recently spoken of vulnerability and of healing. Vulnerability involves an awareness of the possibility of being hurt, yet reveals the paralysis of building protective walls around ourselves. A gradually growing trust allows us to share something of who we are with one another and, in humanist psychologist, […] Read more
Healing as Move Toward Wholeness
As you know, I am fascinated with the etymology or roots of words, one of which is healing, the counterpart to wounding. In its origins the word heal means to make whole. Words with the same origin are health, hale, hail, holy. The terms, sound, safe, and uninjured appear also […] Read more
Vulnerability as Openness to Grow
Last week we wrote about fear and anger, and how beneath them are the deeper realities of our longing for life, meaning, and relationship or belonging. We have used the somewhat similar image before of longing as a yearning to gather ourselves into our hands as something valuable, and to […] Read more
Beyond Fear and Hostility to Meaning and Relationship
This week I would like to consider the experiences of fear and anger and suggest possible ways to respond to them. Of course, experience also tells us that knowing a helpful response is much easier than living out that response. Three prominent kinds of fears are the fear of hurt, […] Read more
Life Unfolding from Within
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