For many of us, Thanksgiving represents a mixed bag of our most altruistic and our most greedy impulses. On the one hand, we gather together with our loved ones to celebrate all that we have to be grateful for. On the other, we often do this through excessive consumption and the madness of Black Friday shopping. In this video from…
Looking for something interesting and enlightening to read? Here is a roundup of links recommended by the Garrison Institute staff, highlighting stories from around the web. On Being | Krista Tippett and Rachel Yehuda How Trauma and Resilience Cross Generations “We’re just starting to understand that just because you’re born with a certain set of genes, you’re not in a biologic…
Americans lead lonely lives. Or so say so many headlines. Study after study posits that we have never been more socially isolated than we are now, and that the pain of loneliness is expressed not just in our psychic yearning for companionship but also in our physical afflictions. Lonely minds are also lonely bodies, experiencing higher rates of cardiovascular disease,…
A favorite image in many Buddhist traditions is of the bodhisattva who ferries people from the world of delusion, across the sea of suffering, to a home of wisdom and compassion. The word “bodhisattva” means awakened being, or in today’s language, a “woke” person. To be awake is to be aware of the multiple layers of narrative that run through…
The truth has never been more important, or more besieged. How does a political and media landscape—now dominated by bias, half-truths, hyperbole, rancor, and occasionally weaponized misinformation—affect us psychologically, morally, and even spiritually? How do we maintain a healthy information diet, even in the midst of this crisis? When should we tune in, and when should we tune out? And…
Carried out to its utmost limit, Satyagraha is independent of pecuniary or other material assistance; certainly, even in its elementary form, of physical force or violence. Indeed, violence is the negation of this great spiritual face, which can only be cultivated or wielded by those who will entirely eschew violence. It is a force that may be used by individuals…
What is the origin of music? If you ask a Sufi the answer to that question they will likely respond: Music begins with the very beginning of our own souls. It begins on a day that is known by the Sufis as the Day of Alast, which, in the Quran, is described as a day when the creator called forth…
In recent months, perhaps because of the ugliness circulating throughout the national and international public spheres, beauty and its pursuit have become a subject of contemplation for me. Beyond something that is pleasing to the human senses, what constitutes beauty? And what does a genuine appreciation of beauty—particularly natural beauty—suggest about the values of individuals and cultures that exist to…