Fail, Fall and Fly

In The Active Life, Parker Palmer wrote, “Much human action is laced with the problem of pride…. Prideful action is often followed by a fall. But we make a mistake when we try to avoid that fall…” In my twenties and thirties, along with my teaching career,...

The Active Life Revisited

A few days ago, I travelled to DC and Baltimore to visit friends. While sharing thoughts about life changes, I mentioned Parker Palmer’s The Active Life. Some books are worth revisiting, and for me Palmer’s book is one of them. I first read The Active Life...

Selfies

Mother and I took a selfie during my visit last week. First, I updated her laptop’s operating system while we went to the dining room for lunch. Then I installed her printer software, held my iphone at arm’s length, took a picture of the two of us, emailed it to...

What do you Worship?

…quite often people confuse their fictional heroes with God. As they confuse their human lovers. Or themselves. It is a great hindrance to a happy life.– Jane Gardam, Crusoe’s Daughter While reading Adam Gopnik’s review of recent books about atheism – see “Bigger Than...

Vanaprastha

It occurred to me the other day that I hadn’t explained why my husband and I chose the name Vanaprastha for our mountain house. Traditional Hindus divide life into four stages called Ashrama. The Student (brahmacari): one is chaste and obedient to teachers The...