Tag Archives: Mary Oliver

Who We Are As “Earthlings”

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

In connection with a recent trip back to Kenya in May, I began reading two books about Africa that had serendipitously (as often they do) come in to my life just as I was getting ready to leave. One, the nearly 800 pages of which I am only yet half way through, Continue reading →

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How Are We To Be Here In Love?

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

Love has inspired great deeds and great arguments throughout human history. Many people have written opinions, songs, poems, and plays about it. Yet, still we hardly understand it. Each of us, it seems, must work out what love means for us in our own lives. There is no doubt, however, that love has a claim on us from our very beginnings, both as individuals and as a species. Continue reading →

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India Journal 2010 Part V: Random Thoughts On Coming Home

Posted on December 31, 2010 by

I returned home after my time in India on Friday, December 17th, after a long continuous journey in airports and airplanes from Cochin to Delhi and then on to Chicago. I became aware as I arrived that the trip for me was a personal journey from an experience of rural, agricultural living back to urban living Continue reading →

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We Have Forgotten Who We Are

Posted on November 15, 2010 by

On the same morning this past week that I read the above lines from Mary Oliver’s poem, “Invitation,” I had an extraordinary chance to practice her suggestion for living more attentive to the natural world around me. In fact several months ago, I began a new spiritual practice of daily reading a poem from one of Oliver’s books for just that purpose. Continue reading →

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Time To Be Who You Are As A Leader

Posted on July 19, 2010 by

How many times have you found yourself in a work day saying, “Is it 5 o’clock yet?”; or, “TGIF!” (Thank God, it’s Friday!). We all do this at times because we are trained to think that our evenings and weekends are “our time,” while the 40-plus hours in our work-week belong to someone else. Continue reading →

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The Call of the Wild

Posted on May 10, 2010 by

According to legend, when the famous naturalist John Muir arrived as a young man in San Francisco in 1868, he asked for directions to “anywhere that’s wild.” He was told to head east for the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Also according to legend, when he first trekked into the mountains far enough to reach Yosemite Valley, he was so overcome by the sight of its majestic grandeur he shouted for joy. Continue reading →

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