Browse Topics

We’re All Doing Time

An Interview With Bo And Sita Lozoff

People ask me about getting gang-raped and whether they should defend themselves or submit. I can’t say to somebody, “Submit and don’t worry about it,” and I also can’t say, “Defend yourself and die.” That’s his choice to make. Mahatma Gandhi could and would have submitted because he was so non-attached to his body there was no degradation there, there was no undignity. And yet on the other hand, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce wouldn’t have submitted, he would have said, “Ah, this is a wonderful day to die.”

Kali Comes Home

It is a short-term hurt for a long-term heal; I suddenly understand, not through some feat of logic but through living alone with the only thing I have ever had or will ever have — the pearl of my Isness. I am not alone, I am the beloved, I am understood, and there is nothing I need ever change.

Selected Poems

Song For Itzhak

During his 25 years in the United States, Itzhak became a legend in the field of bio-medical invention. His hallmark was producing new methods and tools that were ridiculously simple when completed, and nearly impossible to believe in before undertaken.

From Somebody To Nobody To . . .

An Interview With Ram Dass

Do you hear what I’m saying about being a teacher? What I say to everybody is listen with your heart and if it doesn’t feel good, run like hell. And that includes me as well as everybody else.

Moving With The People

A dim line of light appeared in the darkness beyond the window of the plane, along with some tiny flashes. As the line broadened, I realized that it was dawn, and the flashes were lightning. The line grew broader, up and down, until it reached the Indian Ocean far beneath us, and I searched in the gloom for the island of Sri Lanka.

O Marie, Çoncue Sans Pêché

On my calendar there aren’t any more social engagements or shrink appointments or movies to catch up on. It says here: “Monday. Get up. Eat. Floss teeth. Go to bed by 10:00.”

The Best Advice I Ever Got

Watermelons; mind over matter; you are not alone, and you are loved

Sunbeams

The necessary premise is that a man is somehow more than his “characteristics,” all the emotions, strivings, tastes and constructions which it pleases him to call “My Life.” We have ground to hope that a Life is something more than a cloud of particles, mere facticity. Go through what is comprehensible and you conclude that only the incomprehensible gives any light.

Saul Bellow, Herzog

Selected Poems