The dénouement of my retreat at the Center for Conscious Living and Dying came during my last workshop, Process Spirituality. In the first workshop of the retreat, Grief Within and Between Us, we had played the game of Opposites. It had been facilitated by Will Daddario PhD & Joanne Zerdy PhD. The objective was to … Read more
Process Spirituality was the last workshop I attended during the Birth, Breath, and Death retreat. The title, Process Spirituality, didn’t reveal what to expect, but I heard others recommending Kalyan Volpe, the facilitator. It ended up the central experience for me on this retreat that my daughter-in-law, Michelle, had encouraged me to go to. Before … Read more
My journey continued as it had begun, full of serendipities. Despite the last minute uncertainty about where I would stay during the retreat, the Air BnB that Jack booked for me for one night was perfect. Arriving at dusk, I found it accessible, cozy, comfortable, and “safe” feeling. I began paying attention to owning my … Read more
This past weekend I went on a journey. This was a far greater and deeper journey than my recent European river cruise. It had to do with my emotions; with living and dying. I thought I was attending a retreat to support my daughter-in-law, Michelle, who has stage 4 cancer. It was being given by … Read more
“Eat, drink and be merry.” Or so the Roman God, Bacchus, supposedly advises. “For tomorrow you shall die.” I have always taken this sentiment to mean, live it up now baby, ‘cause heck, we’re all going to die in the end! The antithesis to a spiritual practice in life, right? Eating and Drinking on the … Read more
This is the second of a three part series on the Cambodian Buddhist monk, Bante, who taught “green” meditation at Sherborne on my course in 1973. “Green Meditation with Bhante” began showing up as part of the weekly schedule on the bulletin board at Sherborne. We could just squeeze one group of thirty into … Read more
While I’m drifting down the Rhine on a river cruise, I thought I’d leave a series of out-takes about the Buddhist monk, Bhante, from my memoir, Real People. He met Mr. Bennett and visited Sherborne for the first time in 1973, during my course. Bhante, a Cambodian Buddhist monk, arrived at Sherborne from India. … Read more
I experienced a moment of compassion this morning with a friend. It happened as we were practicing one of Gurdjieff’s movements called the Great Prayer. This movement never ceases to reveal something to me in the practicing of it. There’s a lot of kneeling in this movement. Neither one of us is young, and she … Read more
Negative emotions that I didn’t know I had surprised me recently. There are tent caterpillars ballooning in a few trees in my yard. My go-to remedy for this is to cut those branches down and burn them, caterpillars, and all. I struggle with this because “all life is one and everything that lives is Holy,” … Read more
This is how the Work works— it only works when you do. And what, exactly, does that mean? It means, I am the only one who can change in any given moment. Like the moment of being profoundly unhappy, or mad, or dissatisfied, especially those moments when these feelings are directed at someone else. When … Read more