It is in this environment of a looming global catastrophe that the peaceful nations of the world must rise up and adopt universal foreign policies of unselfish love. While we continue to stand strong, with total commitment and absolute military vigilance against violent and dangerous tyrants like Ahmadinejad, we must also adopt a much more comprehensive and far-reaching foreign policy that deals with the breeding ground of violence: the human heart. more

What is it that we love, in ourselves and in others? At first, our answers might include a variety of personality traits, such as humor and wit and charm. We are drawn to others for many reasons, both noble and ignoble. Even though we may be temporarily fascinated by glitter or power or celebrity, is it not common to us all that we recognize that a person’s true value is found in their internal world? more

The Mowgli Factor is the strange phenomenon that occurs when a child is partially or completely denied access to the thousands of years of culture, civilization, knowledge, ethics and spiritual teachings that have brought humankind forward to its relatively enlightened state. more

Who would think that one cruise could provide so much fodder for inspiration, but it did! Dinners were the main place we were really able to share a lot of fun with our fellow cruisers. Every night, after watching the early headline performance from about 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., we went to the Pacific Dining room for dinner. more

I’ve lived in Maine now for six months. Four of them have been in winter. I have reached the point  when I now expect nothing but snow from now on. I have been conditioned. Spring, summer and autumn are from another life, like vague dreams that haunt me like a song I can’t remember. The white, cold reality seems to be the eternal state of things. I live in Dr. Zhivago’s ice palace. I live in Whoville. My soul is on ice. (Eldridge Cleaver must have lived in Maine.) My friend Melissa, who owns a gardening store, told me she feels like we’re in Narnia and the white witch’s spell is upon us. more

To get on a ship and go deep into temperate waters after living in the dead of Maine winter is other worldly. Our schedule was to be at sea for a day and a half, and then stop in three ports on three consecutive days, and then have one more day at sea before returning to Miami. Our first stop was the Mexican island of Cazumel. more

Genevieve and I were winding our way up (or down?) a staircase on the ship and two handsome young men were passing us and we engaged in a bit of small talk with them. Genevieve asked them if they were performing on the ship and it turned out that one of them was - Evan McHugh. His friend’s name was Garrett Moore and it turns out that he is a musician too, although he didn’t sing on the ship (that I know of). more

Oh my holy potato, Gaelic Storm! They had the good fortune to play on the same Lido deck as Evan McHugh except that they had the advantage of being a large band with a large sound that could command the space. more

After Lyle Lovett and possibly dinner, I can’t remember in which order, we sashayed to the Red and Black Lounge which sounds satanic but wasn’t. There, sequestered, or sea-questered, as we were at sea, were the long, lovely, lean and blond Bowman twins. “Womb-mates” as my twin friends, Edy and Betsy, always say. more

Dear Peter ... by writing this I am praying that maybe you can offer me some type of hope or comfort as my heart is once again crushed, wondering again why? more

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Ray Charles; Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band; Southside Johnny and Asbury Jukes; Gary US Bonds; Roberto Duran KO’s Davey Moore to Grab His 3rd World Title in Madison Square Garden more

I am trying to recall what I saw live in 1983 in New York City and the quick list I have made below looks quite interesting. Here we go. more

In those sleepless nights in New York, I had one more friend that I spoke to often, whose name was Richie. He was a security guard, and had a night shift at the YMCA. His station was in the lobby, right at the entrance, at a round wooden counter with a chair hidden underneath. It looked like an information counter in an airport, except that the brown colored wood looked old and classical. more

One of the hardest things to get used to in the spirit world is the sense that time has little meaning. After Rhys had brought me to my new home by the river, I had decided to explore the land around my cottage. As I traipsed up and down the countryside, and climbed to the tops of some surrounding hills, I kept expecting the daylight to fade into the warmth of a summer evening. Even though Rhys had told me that the sunshine was unending in the middle and upper realms, I found myself hoping that a sunset would sneak its way over the mountains and surprise me. more

Spreading news from one end of the village of Tamberleau to the other, and then on into the cottages and hovels dotting the surrounding farmland, was a favorite pastime of the old woman with the broom. She took particular delight in reporting on the misdeeds of men, being convinced that most men were slaves of the devil. When the Chevalier Gilot de Fournier rode into the village to claim his inheritance as the new Baron, on a bitterly cold winter morning in early December of 1356, the old woman cursed as he passed. more

The Master of the Moon was just finishing a detailed sketch of a dimple when the light over the message tube flashed red. He paused, and thoughtfully erased a smudge on the paper, trying to ignore the insistent flashing. He had been expecting it for days. more

It was a Tuesday when it Happened. The baby sparrow, affectionately called Lewie by his father and mother (short for Llewellyn, of course), had decided that today was the Day when he could fly. His mother, Frances, had looked at him severely, and cuffed him with the tip of her left wing. "Fly? At your age? I don't think so!" more

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince named Tadin. He was four years old, and he had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a green cape, a red hat with a green feather, and golden boots. more

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Imaginación e iluminación nos ha llevado a este momento donde podemos ver el futuro. more

Imagination and illumination have lead us to this moment where we can see the future. more

I love looking at the sky. When I’m buried in work and stress and the confusion of a million details, I often go out in our backyard and stand under the trees and look up at the sky. I feel the oppression of the daily grind melt away as I breathe and stretch and revel in the limitlessness of the heavens. more

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“Everything is Illuminated”, “Chocolat”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood”, “Little Women”, and “Amelie” more

What a magnificent musical treasure she is. more

Shawn Colvin is simply one of the finest singer/songwriters in America today. more

What a beautiful story of a woman’s year of travel; studying, eating, meditating and living. more

This book is a truly amazing exposition of techniques for what the author calls "Scientific Prayer". more

There are almost too many books to name but these are seven books that I have shared with my 18 year old daughter.  It’s been wonderful to share the friends from these stories with her. These books have beauty, insight, depth, pathos and spiritual nourishment. more

This book is both fiction and non-fiction, for Van Loon recounts imaginary dinners with historical figures, and then proceeds to actual biography of each one, all done with a great deal of wit. more

One of my dearest childhood books, these are the tales of the six Bastable children, set in England. more

"Your outward search for God culminates in the greatest of all possible discoveries -- finding Him at the center of your own being. Life flows up from within you." more