When people talk about the “consciousness of the heart,” we automatically assume that they are speaking metaphorically, or romantically, or spiritually. We make allowances for the metaphor because, first, the understanding is based on common sense – love, care, and intimacy are all associated with the heart – and, second, because we don’t expect hard science […]
Two young boys, maybe 8 or 9 years of age, walk down the street, both free of any care in the world, at least by all appearances. Suddenly, one of the boys sticks out his leg in front of the other and turns his body sharply so that his friend is thrown to the ground, face […]
“God is our father, but beyond everything, he is our mother.”
Pope John Paul 1
Every so often, I enjoy asking those who attend my programs how they would feel if they suddenly discovered that God is a woman. The responses I get are remarkable for their unanimity and for the profound changes […]
Albert Einstein once said that every one of us is forced to ask and answer a single question: Is the universe a friendly place? The answer you give determines to a great extent the quality of your life and, indeed, the shape of your destiny. Why? Because if you believe that the universe is an unfriendly […]
There’s something about geese that has always evoked my heart. Part of my affection comes from the fact that they fly in community, squawking at one another like old married couples. They land in the water with a gangly innocence that suggests that they still haven’t got this flying thing down. And when they walk around […]
When I was just a small boy, my Aunt Tessie used to tell me to go swimming on August 15th, the day that commemorates the Feast of the Assumption, when Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken, body and soul, into heaven. “The Holy Mother blesses the water all over the world,” Aunt Tessie used to […]
Knowing your dream means knowing yourself. This is an unfolding process that will take a lifetime. The shortcut to your dream is to listen to your heart and follow its impulses in a grounded, practical, and healthy way.
Here are seven steps to knowing your heart, and following its guidance.
Once there was a little boy who lived in a cottage by a vast wood. His mother and father regularly warned him not to get too close to the wood, or, heaven forbid, wander into the forest, because it was a magical forest and once he entered he would get lost and never return to his […]
Many traditional societies saw an implicit order in life that we moderns often fail to see. Among the more important lessons that traditional people drew from such an order was that every stage of life offers a specific set of challenges and lessons that add to our maturity and support our individuation.
In the early part of […]
