Published in All Gods, No Masters·PinnedMember-onlyOn Looking for God in the Age of ExtinctionWhat is the place of a spiritual practice in rebuilding the world while it’s falling apart? — I’ve had a hard time meditating lately — at least, in meditation like that. If you count sitting on the porch in silence riding waves of emotion at my country’s spiral into theocratic fascism and the looming likelihood of a civil war meditating, then I guess you could say I’ve…Spirituality8 min readSpirituality8 min read
Published in All Gods, No Masters·PinnedMember-onlyHow to Stand While the World Falls DownAdvice for transmuting a disaster — 1. A parable, or something When you first notice the cracks, you don’t see anything extraordinary. Walls crack sometimes. That’s how things go. When the first brick falls, you call it an anomaly. You say, that brick was rotten anyway. It alone is at fault for its failure. When it hits the ground, it shatters…Parable7 min readParable7 min read
18 hours agoMember-only(How to) Get Your Ego on Board with Your Spiritual Path3 simple tricks to dramatically reduce your resistance — So many of us struggle on the spiritual path because we make an enemy out of our Egos. The Ego, in this case, refers to the identification with your self as a separate, distinct (and usually, fixed) concept bound by your body. The Ego is not a bad thing, but…Spirituality7 min readSpirituality7 min read
2 days agoMember-onlyRage Against the MonopolyWhy we desperately need a world where many worlds fit. — I’ve got sand in my shoes again. When I moved to Vermont, I told myself I desperately needed to stay somewhere for at least a year, and this was as good a place as any, so I stayed. In the summer, that felt like an obvious choice. Now, in February…Society6 min readSociety6 min read
5 days agoMember-onlyHow to Escape the BullshitA guide to reducing unnecessary stress and getting your real life back — “And it goes: War! Recession! Recession and then war! / It’s written in the history books, we’ve seen it all before. / I’ll sing a song of freedom, and all I can say is: / Just don’t believe the bullshit.” — Beans on Toast If you’re reading this, you probably…Life Hacking7 min readLife Hacking7 min read
Feb 1Member-onlyUnraveling This (Par)asocial LifeMost days, I’d rather hang out with YouTube than my real friends. — I’ve been spending a lot of time on YouTube lately. In the way an earlier incarnation of me might promenade about the village square and say Bonjour! to everyone like Belle, I open up my YouTube app and check in with all my subscriptions. I get that hit of dopamine…Parasocial Relationships6 min readParasocial Relationships6 min read
Jan 30Member-onlyTrauma Is Not an IllnessWe need to stop treating it like one. — Some 7 million Americans are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) today. PTSD is currently considered a mental disorder, characterized by the experience of a traumatic event and the later onset of distressed reactions, such as nightmares, dissociation, avoidance or pronounced fear. This astonishing statistic certainly misses the majority of…Trauma5 min readTrauma5 min read
Jan 27Member-onlyWhy Does Validation Make Us Feel Better?What we can learn about spiritual truths from the common DBT practice. — It should come as no surprise to you that telling someone to “Just be happy!” when they’re miserable does not succeed in making them happy. In fact, it typically makes them annoyed and angry. Even pointing out to a miserable person all the reasons they could be happy instead tends…Psychology6 min readPsychology6 min read
Jan 25Member-onlyI’m So Sick of Being HardWhen will it feel safe to be soft? — To begin with, gender isn’t real. It’s real the way money is real — a thing we’ve constructed as a product of human agreement. “Gendered” energies are real, in the sense of intrinsic to nature— yin and yang, really nothing more than “open, receptive energy” and “forward-moving, penetrative energy.” All…Femininity3 min readFemininity3 min read
Jan 23Member-onlyHow to Live in La La Land, ResponsiblyTurn on, tune in, but don’t just drop out — divest. — I’m still a California girl at heart, but man, I love living in Vermont. It’s like the Shire. “Burlington doesn’t feel like it exists,” says Chris Fleming. “It was a Patagonia team-building retreat that got lost in the 90s and went insane… a city where the industry’s like 90% harp-maker’s…Climate Change5 min readClimate Change5 min read
