Not Two

James: There is subject and object, figure and ground, me and you, inside and out, here and there, good guys and bad ones, Starsky and Hutch. Okay, okay, the last one was a bit of a reach, at the horizons of even my aging memory, but you get the idea. For convenience, our mind parses phenomena … Continued

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It’s Right Here

James: In both interpretations of the phrase, it’s right here. As in: with the world, consonant with how it is supposed to be, for it can be no other way. Also, the opening into a new one that fits us ever better. This is the tension we walk as meditators, the movement between these two. The … Continued

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How To Bow In A House of Spirits

James: As we continue the practice of meditation, we liberate energy otherwise lost to consternation, furtive thinking patterns or behaviours. What once might have disappeared into friction is used to improve our view. Trees get a deeper green, the sparrow song that calls from them, a note sweeter. Friendships too. As discrimination improves, everything becomes more … Continued

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The Act of Non-Violence

James: After 20 years in the ER, if I haven’t seen it all, I’ve seen enough. People hurting themselves, others. I’m left with a question: Is it possible to be non-violent in a world that makes the position seem both poorly rewarded, and unwise? In my view, it is, and the rewards are undersold. Surprisingly, it … Continued

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