Why American Collapse is Only Just Beginning (Not Ending): Six Megatrends That Will Shape the Future What do people whose lives are falling apart do? Well, the first thing they usually do is take it out on each other. Americans have been doing that for a long time now, so much that it is a way of life.… Read More Pathologies of Collapse Pt. 3
Michael Taft (Deconstructing Yourself) interviews Roshi Joan Halifax about her upcoming book, Standing at the Edge, and her work with Nomads Medical Clinic. I’m not going to review Roshi Joan’s book when it comes out because this podcast spells out exactly what’s in it and what it’s about. Roshi Joan seems determined to appear on… Read More RJH: Standing at the Edge
I’ve been working on my dissertation and re-reading lots of the research I’ve done on socio-political collapse, particularly Joseph Tainter’s classic anthropological study, The Collapse of Complex Societies. Tainter did a deep historical and cross-cultural study of societies in collapse around the globe, beginning from the Roman Empire and Mayan civilizations to the present. What… Read More Pathologies of Collapse, Revisited
The Quaker hour of silence or ‘worship’ is a collective work of silence, not just an individual experience. This is probably the major difference between the Quaker contemplative tradition, as a collective practice, vs. Buddhist practice, which is predominantly a solitary, individual practice, even when practiced with a group. The orientation of Quaker contemplation is towards… Read More Quaker Bodhisattva Pt. 5
What makes the Quakers different as a contemplative tradition? Why are they so keenly committed to social justice? As I wrote in QB Pt. 3, the Quakers have no instructions for practice or privileged doctrines. How does this utter emptiness of doctrine and practice lead to radical movements for social justice, for which they have… Read More Quaker Bodhisattva Pt. 4
What’s different about the Quakers? Why are they just about the only contemplative tradition that also has a confirmed history of social justice activism? These the questions that have been guiding my exploration of this sect. First, as I hinted at the end of QB Pt. 2, they have no priestly class. The Quakers are different because… Read More Quaker Bodhisattva Pt. 3
“Rekindling the Fire of Fox: Climate Change and the Spiritual Way Forward.” I’m introducing a teacher that is as new and exciting to me as I hope she will be for you. Pamela Boyce Simms is a Buddhist Quaker with lifelong accomplishments in social and ecological justice, a dynamic spiritual teacher and leader in the… Read More Pamela Boyce Simms: Buddhist Quaker
