In Celtic tradition there are many moments considered to be a “thin time” which means that heaven and earth feel closer and we might experience moments of connection to those who have gone before us in ways that we don’t usually. These moments are the daily portals of...
I’ve always considered myself to be both a very independent person and a very introverted one.I’ve always considered myself to be both a very independent person and a very introverted one. When I was in my early-mid 20s, I was especially entrenched in this view of...
This summer I’m celebrating the 22nd anniversary of my first year as a camper at Rowe Camp. That kind of anniversary is often accompanied by nostalgia and “best of” memories, so I thank you in advance for indulging me. There is of course no shortage of stories to...
As a wildlife tracker, I honed observation skills to detect slight disturbances in natural settings. Many of these tracks and signs are easily missed as they blend into a background of what often appears, to an untrained eye, an entangled pattern of twigs, leaves,...
PAID RECORDED PROGRAM Revisiting Iron John: A Six Part Online Exploration of Mythic Masculinity for Today In 1990, Robert Bly’s book Iron John: A Book About Men ignited a generation of men towards what would become known as the mythopoetic men’s movement. What...
The Fall of Kabul mirrored the Fall of Saigon. From many corners of the military, I’ve heard tales of anger, betrayal, grief, and moral shame. Many veterans, including myself, fear for the ones left behind, condemned to a horrible fate by our political leaders. We are...
The Japanese word haiku is composed of two characters: HAI (俳), meaning “light or comical,” and KU (句), meaning “verse.” Thus, haiku means literally “humorous verse.” But humor of what kind exactly? The more examples we find of haiku humor, the more puzzling it...
I have a confession to make that may not go down well in official haiku circles, but I can’t hold it in any longer. It has been fifty years since I first read Bashō’s little poem about the frog jumping into the old pond with a plop!—and I still don’t get it. Not that...
Every art form has its basics—those fundamental principles, forms, or techniques that must be set in place before you can learn the finer points of the craft. Watch children in any beginning ballet class, and you’ll see them learning the same five positions. Art...
“How necessary it is for monks to work in the fields, in the sun, in the mud, in the clay, in the wind: these are our spiritual directors and our novice-masters.” -- Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas Thomas Merton, the 20th century Trappist monk, knew that the true...