Nestled on a wide plateau surrounded by the Espinhaço Mountains in southeastern Brazil is the city of Belo Horizonte, roughly 275 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The city of 2.5 million is an industrial and technological hub, which had historically led to stark socioeconomic divisions, including high rates of poverty. But while other similarly…
– inspired by a donation from a tribe during the Great Famine Excerpts from an article by By Harmeet Kaur, CNN May 6 2020 People in Ireland inspired by an act of generosity committed more than 170 years ago are paying it forward. In 1847, the Choctaw people collected $170 to send to people in Ireland…
A few years ago, I discovered with wonder a new form of magic: expressing appreciation to others for something they had done. And modern life offers us a thousand different opportunities to manifest that magic. A small example: I live in a community that makes a special effort to decorate public places. Multicolored flowers are…
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…
We live in an infinitely benevolent, ever loving, universe …. but a very, very strange humanly (dis)organized world! After all, a world where a tiny virus weighing a microgram can upset the world economy in a few weeks is either inhabited by a very, very clever virus…or then is really inhabited by an extremely strange group of people. So…
Chicago Sun-Times Editor’s note: A supposed “open letter from Bill Gates,” the tech billionaire and philanthropist, has been bouncing all over the internet since at least March 23. The letter — titled “What is the Corona/Covid-19 virus really teaching us?” — is a fake. Gates did not write it. But there’s a reason it has…
A new article from Center for Action and Contemplation calls and expands upon Lynne Twists’ teachings in the mindset of sufficiency. “When we live in the context of sufficiency, we find a natural freedom and integrity. We engage in life from a sense of our own wholeness rather than a desperate longing to be complete.…
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…
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…
by guest Rabbi Rami Shapiro – July 07, 2019 Comment: I love what Rabbi Shapiro writes – it is a major step forward from the rigidified religious practices of the past (and for quite a few, still the present.) However, after having been most of my life as a member of traditional churches, it is my belief…
To listen is possibly the most beautiful gift we can offer anyone. In a way it is to tell that person: “You are important to me, you are interesting, I am glad you are here. I am here for you; I am touched by who you are and what you are saying.” To listen is…
“The Infinite is the source of joy!” (Chandogya Upanishad 7.23) There is a mighty rushing river of deep Joy at the center of all life. Oh yes, there is also a roller-coaster ride of pleasure and pain at the surface of human experience. Yet transcending this is a Joy that is the very effervescence of…
“I bless children in foster care, that the challenges of their past weigh not unduly on their future. I bless the hosting families that they may welcome their foster child with gentleness, deep compassion and caring and an understanding of their special needs.” Pierre Pradervand, from https://pierrepradervand.com/365-blessings-to-heal-myself-and-the-world/ On any given day, there are nearly 437,500…
You have lighted me, and you are looking at me, dreaming. Perhaps you are happy to have me. In any case, I am happy to be lit. If I don’t burn, I shall be like the others, left in a box where I have no purpose. My reason for being is fulfilled only when I…
We know how to reach the stars, but we don’t know how to respect the heavens and even less so the immensity of the cosmos. We know how to talk about love, but we have such difficulty loving while respecting the other and one’s self. We know how to bake bread, but we have trouble…
Program your spiritual life for a new year! Customer: I really need some help. After much consideration, I’ve decided to install LOVE. Can you guide me through the process? Tech Support: Yes, I can help you. Are you ready to proceed? Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready to install it…
What is the gift economy? In a gift economy, goods and services are given without any strings attached; it is an economic system where it is the circulation of the gifts within the community that leads to increase; in this context, hoarding actually decreases wealth. At its core, gift-economy is a shift from consumption to…
(1917-2006, Co-founder of the Findhorn Community) Gratitude Be not concerned if your beginnings into this spiritual life are small. All good things have small beginnings. The mighty oak starts from a tiny acorn. From a tiny seed the most wonderful plants and flowers spring forth. From a tiny seed of love many lives can be…
“Compassion… the capacity for feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there never can really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” ~ Frederick Buechner Who would have ever thought that pairing preschoolers with elderly nursing home…
