Odin's Ravens

Stocism offered wisdom broad enough to appeal to both a philosopher-emperor (Marcus Aurelius) and the philosopher-slave (Epictetus).  

The seagull by Norah McGuinness  Tara Lemieux: “As the story is told, one day there was a seagull playing out in the yard at San Quentin. It...

Consider the similarities between Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of flow and the ancient yogic concept of Dharana, ...

The thief left it behind: the moon at my window — written by the Buddhist monk after he came home to find that a burglar had taken the few p...

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." — Marcus Aurelius  

'Lost Youth' by Deng Chengwen “And now, before I slip back into the convention of calling this young man ‘I,’ le...

Are people highly advanced in meditation serenely immune to anxiety, cravings, depression, fear and irritation? No — but...

A meme made for me by my lifelong friend Jim Hampton. Thanks, Jim! The point is not to let our reactions to our failures to achieve emotio...

A conceptual sculpture installed at Rong Khun Temple in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand “So if you ask the question “What...

• The ability to discern the best course of action to take in any given situation. • The emotional strength to follow that cour...

The single phrase  I have found most useful in life is from Marcus Aurelius: “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second i...

Thoughts on a long walk: It occurs to me that a tree is aware without being conscious. Without thinking, it reaches for the light. W...

Developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. “In the esoteric traditions, codes of morality...

Eckhart Tolle has put his finger on something here that I’ve wondered about for a long time. “As you approach adulthood, uncertainty a...

Given my lifelong fascination with super powers, this quote strikes me forcefully. By the way, we just happen to have a mad elephant on ha...

“(A)s we would come to understand much later, our crises each contained the seed of a magnificent gift. We were both forced, by pain, to ...

“Our senses numb when we overload them,” wrote Steve Hagen in his book Buddhism: Plain and Simple . “But once they’re numb, it’s tempting...