In this troubled time of war and pandemic, the World Happiness Report 2022 shows a bright light in dark times. According to the team of international researchers, including McGill University Professor Christopher Barrington-Leigh, the pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence. “COVID-19 is the biggest health crisis we’ve…
April 2022 The following quotation comes from a very recent letter of Roger W. McGowen (RogerMcGowen.org), a former death row inmate with extremely modest basic primary education whom Pierre, with the help a few friends, got off death row – but not out of prison. This man was condemned to death for a crime we…
An idea dating to biblical times that could be replicated elsewhere! The Cornwall Gleaning network was started in early 2020 after its founder, Holly Whitelaw watched a Simon Reeve documentary about Cornwall, its hidden poverty and challenges being faced by its inhabitants.After some shocking conversations with desperate individuals on the front line of the food…
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another…
The intensity of the drive within us will determine how many hours a day we will give to meditation and spiritual study. Some persons cannot drive themselves to practice scales for more than an hour a day. And others cannot drive themselves to stop in less than seven or eight hours a day. There are…
Recently, during my quiet time, I received what was clearly an order from “above”: “Love Putin!”. And since then, I spend a moment almost every day showering this man with love. For how can this important leader at the head of one of the most powerful countries in the world ever change with the wall of…
A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive it, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is too poor that he cannot give it…
Every thought we have and action we take becomes part of the collective energy of the planet. Sometimes we look at the actions of others and find it difficult to understand what motivates them. But we are all doing the best we can with the information we currently have. We have all been taught how…
Shared by Nick Polizzi All we need is the morning.As long as there is sunrise,then there is the possibilitythat we can face all of our misfortunes,celebrate all our blessings,and live all our endeavors as human beings.Spirituality is something that has becomenecessary in these troubled times.Yet it is inherently superfluous.We need it to remind ourselves,to bolster…
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newton, Connecticut and shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. The incident is the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in U.S. history. As first responders arrived,…
by Luc Bodin Many are wondering about their life path which is a good question. It is not always easy to answer them. However, one thing is common to all missions, it is to experience love, to live love, to radiate love during this existence. If you don’t know which direction to take in life, start by developing love … love in all…
There’s no time Kate Munger can remember that her mother wasn’t singing. Every night, Kate and her four siblings would be graced with lullabies at their bedsides. The physical proximity of the vibrations of her mother’s body would activate the cells in Kate. Now, Kate brings that gift of voice and vibration in service to…
By His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Wednesday November 14th, 2018 Can Compassion Cure All? In Tibet, we say that many illnesses can be cured by the one medicine of love and compassion. These qualities are the ultimate source of human happiness, and the need for them lies at the very core of our being. Unfortunately, love and…
Joel S. Goldsmith This very clear text of Joel Goldsmith reminds us of what could very well be the basic law of the universe: “We reap what we sow.” This is true not only in personal relationships, but also in our relationships with the environment, international relations and virtually every area of life. When we…
Christine Valters Paintner describes the ancient and accessible contemplative practice of walking or moving slowly through the natural world as a way of connecting with God. This is clearly the “road not taken” by too many of us in the modern world, even though it shaped and sustained the faith of our ancestors for millennia.…
by Philip Goldberg Below are a few excerpts from this article, which you can read in its entirety here. https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2021/04/27/namaste-lets-keep-it-after-the-pandemic …Thanks to the popularity of yoga, the presence of gurus and swamis, increased travel to India, and the assimilation of citizens of Indian descent, Americans have learned that the hands-at-chest greeting is traditionally accompanied by the…
According to WHO (January 2020) globally, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. Before giving this blessing, take the time to really enter your heart and from that holiest of shrines allow…
Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. 1. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences. 2. An…
by James O’Dea “I consider this an extremely important and and exceptionally lucid analysis of the contemporary spiritual/personal development scene. Many years ago, Byron Katie, one of the genuinely great figures of the world-wide field of personal development, stated that the number one problem of the world was not issues like hunger, war, etc. but…
October 19, 2020, Indianapolis Star (A leading newspaper of Indianapolis)https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2020/10/19/cats-inmates-rehabilitate… Cats are unable to distinguish between street clothes and prison uniforms – and that’s exactly what makes the relationship between the men at Pendleton Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison outside of Indianapolis, and the cats that live there, so special. For six hours a day, seven days…
On Bastoy, an island 46 miles south of Oslo, [125] residents live in brightly colored wooden chalets, spread over one square mile of forest and gently sloping hills. They go horseback riding and throw barbecues, and have access to a movie theater, tanning bed and, during winter, two ski jumps. Despite all its trappings, Bastoy…
There are so many extraordinary texts around people just run through them without it impacting them. But a story, it stays with you. which is why Jesus and other spiritual masters spoke in parables. Pierre Pradervand There once was a farmer who had some puppies he needed to sell, so he painted a sign advertising his 4…
May you letyour thought sweetly reston whomever comes to consciousness,without the slightest judgment,or need for them to be differentin any way. May you findthe quiet humilityto love them as they are right now,and just for this moment,may you feelthat this is enough. May you includeIn this Christlike embrace,The one for you right nowThat may be…
Jinja, Uganda By Caleb Okereke Contributor to the CS Monitor Shadia and Imran Nakueira rented the space for a restaurant in the dreamy, lakeside town of Jinja, Uganda, before they knew exactly what they were going to do with it. They knew one thing though: They wanted to work alongside people with disabilities. When customers first enter…
Fr Richard Rohr, OFM from his October 8, 2020 meditation – used by permission We can summarize the transformative gifts of a truly Franciscan simple life in these ways: When we agree to live simply, we put ourselves outside of others’ ability to buy us off, reward us falsely, or control us by money, status,…
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. “John Lewis Tolstoy wrote to Gandhi that “love is the only way to rescue humanity from all ills” ……
It is my deep conviction that any meaningful religious or spiritual approach must also really address the key issue of today – and that is a world that works for all. Disparities and inequalities in income and opportunities are become so huge, environmental degradation is advancing so rapidly, that unless we create a world that…
Excerpt from The Top 60 Love Skills You Were Never Taught by Dr. Scott Peck and Shannon Peck – by permission There is a great love awakening taking place and this awakening is both personal and global. Quite simply, we are all being called by Love, the highest power in the universe, to usher in…
What a powerful message of hope that the Covid 19 lesson has brought even some of the most entrenched defenders of the System to start questioning its existence! After all, is it not incredible that a little beastie (virus) so minuscule that one needs a microscope to just see it has just brought the most…
Around the globe, as uncertainty still looms over us, people are continuing to step up their compassion — in unprecedented ways. This story is one of many in the Karunavirus.org newsletter of April 23 (Karuna is Sanskrit for Compassion) Warring gangs in South Africa are working together in an unprecedented truce to deliver much-needed food…
To love one another you must try to understand one another, and to understand you have to be able to communicate. Whether that communications is done in words or in silent action matters not as long as it is done in love, your heart is open and the love flows freely. Where there is love…
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings. I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought…
The great Irish poet and writer remains a rare master of the English language. His use of words is unique. This month we quote from the introduction to that magical book of blessings of his, To Bless the Space Between Us. PP “It would be infinitely lonely to live in a world without blessings. The word blessing invokes…
A music teacher helps children living by a Paraguay landfill site to reach stardom with instruments made from rubbish. “To have nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing,” says Favio Chavez. On the edges of the Cateura landfill near Paraguay’s capital, he teaches a group of children to play violins, cellos, saxophones, flutes and…
There was an old man who was admitted in a hospital. A young man was visiting him every day and sat with him for more than one hour. He helped him eat his food and take his shower. Then he would take him for a walk in the garden of the hospital. After that he…
In Lyon, France, “L’Entreprise des possibles” helps the homeless. Some 3,000 people sleep every night in the streets of Lyon. A daily tragedy that a local entrepreneur wants to end. His idea? Mobilize all the companies in the region and pool their resources so that everyone can find a roof over their heads. A powerful…
Note from Pierre “This is one of the most remarkable spiritual texts I have read in a long time.” Mistakenly, some people think that Buddhism condemns all desire. But there is no getting rid of desire. Instead, Buddhist psychology leads us from desire to abundance. The Indian sage Nisargadatta, one of my teachers, challenged his…
What if you could actually train mothers to turn their compassion and connection into the first line of defense against terrorism? In Germany and 15 other countries, it’s happening. Their sons were dropping out of school, joining radical mosques, and breaking off contact. Hundreds of mothers had told Edit Schlaffer such stories when the Austrian…
For one who has discovered the deep, nourishing satisfaction of life lived in a spirit of service, finding opportunities of service becomes one of the joys of life. And there are so, so many such opportunities. For those who may be wondering what kind of service they may render because they have not yet made…
“Love itself can only increase by being shared. Extending love ensures its increase. Every loving thought, or every opportunity we take to think, see, feel or act in loving ways, such as forgiving, listening, allowing, accepting, and giving will manifest as Love in our lives. The more Love we give, the more we receive, and…
