"Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism have been familiar for thousands of years with experiences of self-awareness in dreaming. More than that, all three of these traditions have developed practices aimed at cultivating these kinds of dream experiences and channeling their energies toward spiritual growth and enlightenment."

"At both scales of reality—the cosmic metaphysical and the human psychological—the untamed, chaotic unconscious is the mother of the conscious. The latter “eternally struggles to extricate itself from the primal warmth and primal darkness of the maternal womb,” that it may express the potential from which it arises as localized form or explicit thought. The roots of matter and thought thus share the same profoundly wild, oceanic origins as does time."

I've long championed the term “subtle activism” to describe the application of consciousness-based practices like meditation, prayer, and ritual for collective rather than personal transformation. The idea is to broaden the traditional focus of our therapeutic and spiritual attention beyond individual concerns to include the main global issues of our times. And it is in relation to the healing of collective trauma, specifically, that I think an approach like subtle activism has a crucial role to play.

A new documentary about the life of Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), premiered Saturday, April 2 on YouTube. Narrated by actor Peter Coyote, the film provides an intimate glimpse into the life of the global spiritual leader, poet, and human rights activist who is revered around the world for his pioneering teachings on mindfulness, global ethics, and peace. VIDEO

A commons isn’t a shared space for multiple lives but rather the space of their shared lives.