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2011 November/December
Transformative Travel: Greenland
For us today, as for ancient man, the four classic elements ― earth, wind, water, and fire ― are at the root of many religious beliefs and ways of life. For the Thule Inuit people …
2011 November/December
Getting into the Spirit of 2012
The winter solstice on December 21, 2012, is said to synchronize with the end of a 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan calendar. Although no one knows how the Mayan prophecies will unfol…
2011 November/December
Poetry: Canticle on Matthew 6 in Wartime
Canticle on Matthew 6 in Wartimeby Jennifer AtkinsConsider the missing lilies, the trees stripped of leaves and burnt, the grass trampled to dust.Consider the crows of the air, wha…
How to Give Better
From the archive: Selected stories from the past 20 years
So here’s the question: It’s a holiday season and charities are begging for our dollars. With so many needs, how can we give better?
2011 November/December
How to Let Go of Relationship Baggage
Most of us look back on our past relationships and see them as failures. We allow that belief to weigh us down, and it becomes the “baggage” we carry forward. We somehow think that…
2011 September/October
Why We Surprise Ourselves Doing Grand or Stupid Things
Over the last decade a number of studies and books have likened willpower to a single muscle. According to this model, all of our choices and temptations are tugging on the same “m…
2011 November/December
Most Spiritual Spa 2011: Haramara Retreat Center
Religious faith can turn any place or building or gathering into a potential source of healing. But for those who have lost religious faith or never had it the question becomes: Wh…
2011 November/December
Cold Turkey
At first, being vegetarian was great, and when I say great at first, I’m really referring to the time between making the conscious decision to forever swear off meat and the 22 hou…
2011 November/December
Better Souls than Roles: An Interview with Ram Dass
Ram Dass, which means “servant of God,” was born Richard Alpert into a Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1931. He earned a PhD in psychology at Stanford and began his spir…
2011 November/December
How a Bad Economy Makes Us Feel Better Than Average
Here’s a surprising thought: as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, each of us is more likely to rate ourselves as being farther above average. That’s the surprising messa…
