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March 2025

March 29, 2025

Evelyn Underhill’s Practical Guide to Prayer

A Meditation on Prayer Evelyn Underhill (I’m enormously fond of Evelyn Underhill. Her magisterial study,...

November 2024

November 16, 2024

Alan Watts for Good and for Ill

Alan Watts died on the 16th of November. in 1973. For many reasons, some good,...

September 2024

September 29, 2024

Of Angels & Devas: Messengers between the worlds

I'm much taken with the feast of Michaelmas, sometimes also called the feasts of the...

May 2024

May 13, 2024

Love Abides: A Brief Reflection on Julian of Norwich

The 13th of May, in 1373, Julian of Norwich starting having a series of visions....

April 2024

April 11, 2024

George MacDonald & the World of Wonder: A Zen Meditation

My friend Richard Kollmar observed that...

March 2024

March 19, 2024

So, What is Spirituality About?

I am currently at a retreat for Unitarian Universalist clergy...

January 2024

January 26, 2024

Of Zen, Nonduality, and the Healing our Broken Hearts

Recently I received a note asking about my meditation on David Loy's book Nonduality in...

January 20, 2024

Richard Rolle’s Fire of Love

A couple of years ago I offered...

October 2023

October 28, 2023

Recalling our Western Zen Ancestor R H Blyth

Reginald Horace Blyth was born...

September 2023

September 30, 2023

Rumi Is Born into the World

Jalaladin Muhammad Balkhi, the wondrous Jalaladin Rumi was born on...

September 26, 2023

That holy spirit, always resting wherever it wishes

Jan and I were at a gigantic annual booksale in Santa Barbara. We...

September 17, 2023

A Word of Advice for a Unitarian Universalist Congregation

I saw a huge form, rounded and shadowy, and...

September 09, 2023

Abba Poemen: The Bright Star of the Desert

Me, I'm endlessly fascinated by the monks and nuns we now...

July 2023

July 30, 2023

SPIRITUALITY FOR RELIGIOUS RADICALS

...

July 17, 2023

Spilling the Beans: Or, What I learned by living for seventy-five years

Beloved, we...

July 04, 2023

Henry Moves into a hut on Walden Pond

...

June 2023

June 16, 2023

Walking into the wrong funeral, and crying with the loved ones: A small Zen Meditation

Michael Coren, a writer and late vocation priest in the Anglican Church...

June 14, 2023

Thinking of Edward FitzGerald and his rendition of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat.

...

June 09, 2023

Quietism as a Spiritual Method & Quietism as a Spiritual Mistake

Jeanne Guyon died on this day, the 9th of June in 1717. Her...

April 2023

April 19, 2023

Zen, God, and Doubt: Encountering the Mystery

Zen, God, and Doubt: Encountering the Mystery James Ishmael Ford There's a lovely meme...

April 17, 2023

Sri Nisargadatta’s Zen Hinduism

Sri Nisargadatta's Zen Hinduism James Ishmael Ford Sri Nisargadatta...

April 06, 2023

Zen, Maundy Thursday, and the Mysteries of Memory and Communion

Zen, Maundy Thursday, and the Mysteries of Memory and Communion James Ishmael Ford There are...

April 01, 2023

NOT KILLING: A Consideration of Zen’s First Grave Precept

NOT KILLING A Consideration of Zen’s First Grave Precept James Ishmael Ford Death and with...

March 2023

March 29, 2023

Nelson Mandela Raises his Fist: A Meditation on a Zen Koan

Nelson Mandela Raises his Fist: A Meditation on a Zen Koan James Ishmael Ford The...

March 05, 2023

CENTERING OUR HEARTS: 112 Pointers for the Practices of Presence

CENTERING OUR HEARTS 112 Pointers for the Practices of Presence Wandering around the...

March 01, 2023

Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today

Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today James Ishmael...

February 2023

February 27, 2023

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion James Ishmael Ford As anyone interested in Christian origins...

February 26, 2023

Recalling Johnny Cash & A Consideration of Love as a Zen Koan

Recalling Johnny Cash & A Consideration of Love as a Zen Koan Or,...

February 23, 2023

Karl Jaspers and the Path of the Spiritual if not Religious

Karl Jaspers and the Path of the Spiritual if not Religious James...

February 17, 2023

Finding Zen Teachers & Spiritual Directors

Finding Zen Teachers & Spiritual Directors James Ishmael Ford Empty Moon Zen "Vigorous people who...