Determination

Light in the Bardo

Tara Protecting from the Eight Fears, Kham Province, Eastern Tibet; 19th century Pigments on cloth, Rubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, F1997.15.1 (HAR 237).

I would have died if I hadn’t died. This sentence has been as consoling and informing to me as whole spiritual books and courses. For a long time I attributed it to the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Yet so far Internet searches have turned up nothing. I can almost remember hearing it in a classContinue reading “Light in the Bardo”

“If we could surrender to Earth’s intelligence, we would rise up rooted, like trees.” –Rainer Maria Rilke When most of us think of determination, we think first of imposing our will on the world, insisting on a particular outcome, our vision. Yet real determination appears when we keep going, surrendering what the ego wants, whichContinue reading “Determination”

The Power in Obstacles

Minor White, Moencopi Strata, Capitol Reef, Utah, 1962. Courtesy of The Minor White Archive, Princeton University.

Last week, a group of us talked about what happens when we face obstacles and difficult situations. We agreed that no one escapes such things, and that often what happens is inside is fear, which has a powerful undertow. Signs at ocean beaches warn swimmers not to try to fight their way out of aContinue reading “The Power in Obstacles”