“The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” ~ Thomas Merton This morning, I put on the yellow Champion polyester shirt matching the yellow Polar… read more
“How does one honor the past and also innovate?” a colleague asked a few days ago. It was the kind of question that reminded me of Rainer Maria Rilke’s invitation in Letters to a Young Poet: Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked… read more
“What is that bright light?” I asked in a low but tilted voice, the kind that reveals a spark of resistance to change. I was sitting on a natural hot spring nestled by towering pine trees in the Sierra Mountains. I had my head leaned back on the rocks that shaped the pool, looking up… read more
It all started with a wrong turn. Earlier, I had decided to walk instead of drive around Berkeley to take care of errands, allowing me to squeeze in a workout. During my fast paced walk, arms swinging by my sides, my mind was running through its favorite designer list of downer interpretations guaranteed to cause… read more
“You are the Sultan.” This is the point that Scheherazade made to her husband in the climax of One Thousand and One Nights. The Sultan had been lamenting the existence of a law that dictated that any woman he married must be put to death. Following 1001 nights of listening to his new bride tell… read more
There are people who walk towards conflict wanting to know peace. This encapsulates the sense I had of the practitioners and panelists I met at the 5th National Conference on Community and Restorative Justice in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (May 31 to June 3). But there is more. The conference was not only on restorative justice,… read more
