quote of the month

“Blessed is the man who knows his own weakness” — Isaac of Nineveh

Isaac of Nineveh, who is also known as Abba Isaac and as Saint Isaac the Syrian, was an important figure…

March 1, 2023

“The future is no more uncertain than the present.” Walt Whitman

If you're a long-time visitor to this site you may have wondered why there are fewer posts here than their…

March 26, 2021

Eleanor Roosevelt: “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Eleanor Roosevelt is often credited with saying "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." As a bit of…

October 12, 2020

“Let these three expressions: I do not have, I do not understand, I do not know, be repeated over and over again.” — Padmasambhava

One time, when I was rereading a massive Tibetan Buddhist text called the Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava, I was…

July 12, 2019

“It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.” Antoine de Saint Exupéry

"It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more…

April 16, 2018

“Turn toward the fire, and enter, confident.” Dante Alighieri

Today I'm going to talk about pain and how meditation can help you deal with it. You may not be…

March 17, 2018

Emily Dickinson: “The brain is wider than the sky…”

The brain is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side, The one the other will include With…

February 7, 2018

“We are all formed of frailty and error; let us reciprocally pardon each other’s folly.” Voltaire

In this artwork by Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Milov, which was on display at last year's Burning Man festival in Nevada,…

March 1, 2016

“The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.” John Locke

One of the most radical and attractive things about Buddhist ethics is that the rightness or wrongness of an action…

November 4, 2015

“Everyone rushes elsewhere, and into the future, for no one has reached his own self.” Montaigne

Montaigne's words (it's "Chacun court ailleurs et à  l'advenir, d'autant que nul n'est arrivé à soy" in the original French) are…

September 3, 2015