Here you will find most of what I’ve shared over the
decades: books and more — mythic, mystical,
devotional, and down-to-earth — translations, audio/video, and
notes on contemplative practice and the work of compassion.
The nook, more or less. After a photograph taken in a library
organized in 1886.
Become All Flame
Egypt, the fourth century
Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: “Father, as far as I am
able I keep my little rule, my little fast, my little prayer, my
little meditation, my little silence. As far as I am able I work to
cleanse my heart of thoughts. What more should I do?”
The old man stood and stretched his hands toward heaven, and his ten
fingers became like ten lamps of flame. He said:
“If you want, you can become all
flame.”
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
“We are free to be — and are obliged to strive to become
— beings through whom and in whom the highest energies of
consciousness and eternity blend into a unity in relationship to all
the forces of earth and passing time.”
Jacob Needleman
In short, you have the opportunity to be Love incarnate
— or, more accurately said, for Love to incarnate in, through and
as you. The practical daily manifestation of this is Love in action,
your natural, healthy expression illuminating and healing this broken
world.
Everything here is in service of this coming alive
in you.
Abba Joseph of Panephysis, in the desert of Egypt.
Where to Begin
Welcome to my Reading Nook.
There is no particular way you need to enter.
These offerings come from a life based on meditation, teaching,
service, and an enduring curiosity about a few simple questions:
Who are we, really?What lies beyond the small self we ordinarily take ourselves to be?And how might awakening change the way we love and live?
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I’ve explored those questions through Christianity, Kriya
Yoga, Buddhism, Kashmir Shaivism, myth, meditation, and simply through
the experience of being human.
Here are a few doors you might open.
If you want to know what it is all for
Become All Flame sits just above: a
story from the Egyptian desert, and the reason any of the rest of this
is here.
If your heart brings you here
Begin with Love in
Action. This is perhaps the clearest expression of my
understanding of who we are, where we are, and how to live. Spoiler:
I find that love is more than something we feel or something we do,
and that we can gradually become a vehicle for its expression.
Then try The One
Heart Practice. It begins with My Heart, expands through Our
Hearts, More Hearts, All Hearts, and finally returns to One Heart.
If you want to practice
Begin with Shortcuts
to Meditation. These are simple practices gathered from decades
of meditation and teaching. They work with your own physiology
rather than against it.
Then explore 112
Portals — 112 doorways into awareness from the
Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra — or spend some time with the short
guided practices in Moon in the
Water.
You don’t have to understand anything first. Just sit down
and see what happens.
If you are drawn to the mystical
Try Remember Who
You Are. It grew out of experiences that led me to wonder
whether the “I” we ordinarily identify with is only a
small expression of something much larger.
You might then listen to Molten
Golden Mountain Teachings, where many of these questions appear
in talks and guided meditations recorded over seven years.
If you are interested in the meeting of traditions
You may find it interesting to wander among the works rather than
choosing a single tradition. Jesus and St. Francis appear alongside
the Buddha, Kuan Yin, Krishna, Shiva, and the great traditions of
Yoga and Buddhism. I don’t see these as competing answers so
much as different languages and different doors.
What matters more than what they teach is what they invite us to
experience.
If you prefer stories
Begin with The Dust
Between Us, a Western novel with the Bhagavad Gita quietly
underneath its characters and choices. Or enter the world of myth
through Athy and
Alexander.
It’s said that a story is the shortest path to a truth. I
love a good story.
If you’d rather listen
The complete Autobiography of
a Yogi is here as an annotated edition, with the entire book
narrated.
These began as notes to people in an online sangha I’m given
to facilitate: a passage to sit with, a practice to try, or
sometimes simply an honest account of how the week had gone.
They weren’t written for a general audience — read them
anyway if this door feels like yours.
There’s no course to complete here, no finish line to cross.
The Reading Nook is more like a shelf of things that have mattered to me, many of
which have emerged through me.
Take down whatever catches your eye, sit with it a while, and read or
listen or practice as it asks.
And if something opens a door for you, peek through it. Maybe even walk through it.
Heal the world, heal yourself. This book distills a
simple approach to loving more fully. As you read and reflect,
you’ll learn
how to be more loving with your family, in the workplace, and as a
volunteer. You’ll learn about the simple spiritual practice of
offering your entire being to love, and gradually being
transformed into a vehicle for love’s expression.
I’ve been a lawyer and have practiced in New York and Oregon. My
life work was helping people experiencing homelessness, which I did for twenty-one
years in the Bay Area. This work put me in contact with strong, loving people, and
encouraged me to offer my best.
Meditation and allied practices are my mainspring, and I’ve
benefited from the guidance of wonderful teachers in over forty years of meditating
in several traditions. I’ve shared meditation with countless people, and have
taught at yoga studios, homeless shelters, Oregon Health Sciences University School
of Nursing, several social work schools, and the JFK University Graduate program in
Integral Studies.
My background in meditation, law and nonprofit management enables me
to help with a wide range of challenges and opportunities. I’m like a midwife
who helps people to be born into the full bloom of their lives.
