Sound the alarms! Call Greta Thunberg, Nordic world climate activist to rally her followers to go to Greenland ASAP! Nobody in the whole world should look the other way while a global emergency unfolds before our very eyes. Look up everyone! It’s one thing to turn our heads when violent wars destroy landscapes and lives—innocent bystanders—-watching the world powers play games with nuclear threats day in and day out—-threats making hostages of the whole world. We all know this feeling of...

It took six weeks, but it finally happened. I was walking along in the neighborhood where I have been enjoying summertime, when I witnessed the following scene: A man of about 80 years saying, “Welcome to Quebec. Are you from New York? A man in his car smiling said: “Brooklyn”. A third man wearing a chapeau and sipping coffee at the sidewalk cafe said: “We don’t like your President. In fact, we hate him”. I stopped for a moment noticing the yellow New York license plate wondering what might...

The catch all phrase “spiritual practice” comes across as a kind of ritualistic notion that bears repetition like a mantra. In times gone by, and in some places even today, rituals like reciting the rosary are practiced together in a particular place. In secular settings the practice can look like yoga, tai chi (of which there are so many promotions with promises of weight loss), or, of course, a meditation practice. It is not the chosen form that matters, but the practicing…like learning to...