Opening the doors
I see
that the landscape
is
ever-changing.
One moment becomes
another,
not
in a sequence or
progression,
But
…Nonaligned faith and practice in the present
Opening the doors
I see
that the landscape
is
ever-changing.
One moment becomes
another,
not
in a sequence or
progression,
But
…Excerpts from “A Jewel in the Lotus: Buddhist chaplaincy includes compassion and ‘skillful means,'” by Chris Berlin, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn/Winter 2020
Chris Berlin, is an instructor in ministry and spiritual counseling and the denominational counselor to Buddhist students at Harvard Divinity School. With his colleague Cheryl Giles, he teaches the course Compassionate Care of the Dying: Buddhist Trainings and Techniques.
…The course interweaves teachings in the Buddhist view of impermanence and death with
I encourage readers to give full attention to the footnotes. I have used a reference librarian’s “due diligence” to offer relevant background information throughout this article.
It astonishes me sometimes—no, often—how every person I get to know—
everyone, regardless of everything, by which
Introduction: In Part 1, I wrote about growing up oblivious to the “white cultural mindset which is my default setting.” There is much more to this than most of us realize.
I encourage readers to give full attention to the footnotes. I have used a reference librarian’s “due diligence” to offer relevant background information throughout this article.
…Note: I encourage readers to give full attention to the footnotes. I have used a reference librarian’s “due diligence” to offer relevant background information throughout this article.
My life began in a liberal 1950s Ohio preacher’s family. When I was 10, Dad moved us to Boston so he could earn a doctorate
…
There is no way to
move through life except
to
lift your foot from
where it was
and
place it
farther
ahead.
Image: “Giacomond,” by Quint Buchholz (1984) [Quibu, CC BY-SA 4.0,
…“We Are All Called to Be ‘Heroes’,” by Elam D. Jones (Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn/Winter 2020, 19-21)
In “We Are All Called to Be ‘Heroes’,” Elam D. Jones explains why he is wary of the popular pandemic practice of calling essential workers “heroes.”
…I have come to understand that the label “hero” and how it has been employed in the United States to refer to essential workers not only generates complicated and ambiguous feelings
If we are concerned about use of force by the police, then we need to shine the light on the depths of our own brutality, brutality that we have projected onto them over the past century or so.
As America has become urbanized, we have handed over more and more responsibility for maintaining civil society to the “rule of law” and the “arm of the law.” Increasingly, instead of doing the personal work of neighbors and community, we
…There is nobody on the planet, neither those whom we see as the oppressed nor those whom we see as the oppressor, who doesn’t have what it takes to wake up. —The Pocket Pema Chödrön (156)
Human change is always personal, not political.
Yes, all social concerns are in some way “political” concerns (Greek politikos, from politēs “citizen’,” from polis “city”). But our feelings about a concern are personal reactions to the concern, not pragmatic steps toward remedies. And
…