Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
I woke up full of hate and fear the day before the most recent peace march in San Francisco. This was disappointing: I'd hoped to wake up feeling somewhere between Virginia Woolf and Wavy Gravy.
When we're dealing with the people in our family – no matter how annoying or gross they may be no matter how self-inflicted their suffering may appear no matter how afflicted they are with ignorance prejudice or nose hairs – we give from the deepest parts of ourselves.
My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another. Like lily pads round and green these places summoned and then held me up while I grew. Each prepared me for the next leaf on which I would land and in this way I moved across the swamp of doubt and fear.
A whole lot of us believers of all different religions are ready to turn back the tide of madness by walking together in both the dark and the light – in other words through life – registering voters as we go and keeping the faith.
The first holy truth in God 101 is that men and women of true faith have always had to accept the mystery of God's identity and love and ways. I hate that but it's the truth.
The earth is rocky and full of roots it's clay and it seems doomed and polluted but you dig little holes for the ugly shriveled bulbs throw in a handful of poppy seeds and cover it all over and you know you'll never see it again – it's death and clay and shrivel and your hands are nicked from the rocks your nails black with soil.
Some people seem to understand this – that life and change take time – but I am not one of those people.
I like the desert for short periods of time from inside a car with the windows rolled up and the doors locked. I prefer beach resorts with room service.
The worst part about celebrating another birthday is the shock that you're only as well as you are.
Some people won't go the extra mile and then on their birthday when no one makes a fuss they feel neglected and bitter.
Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you.
If you don't die of thirst there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness which we all yearn for or you can do the beauty of minutiae the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music or Neil Young.