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In Christian circles the work of peace and reconciliation is put forward as a something to which all Christians should aspire. That is, to be Christian is to be called to make peace with one another and the world.

In my pocket, all my waking day, I carry a device that enables me to communicate instantly with practically anyone around the globe. I’m a cog in a vast international system of manufacturing, trade, and consumption. Sure, we’re all connected in these ways. But in our face-to-face encounters with other people, or when we walk in wilderness and commune personally with other living beings, we sense this connection in a much deeper way.

I have always suspected it is a chicken and egg phenomenon. What comes first? Personal transformation leads to the desire, or need even, to transform something in the world. Or do our efforts to change something that is unjust, something that causes suffering in the world lead to a personal and spiritual transformation?

Lao Tzu is attributed to have (but probably never did) said: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Teachers see this in classrooms frequently. Students really need love to blossom. You can’t learn unless you feel loved – you can’t learn unless it is alright to make mistakes. We only grow when we are in a supportive environment.

An aging Vietnam vet suffering from PTSD returns to Da Nang after 50 years in order to try to do something for those still afflicted generations later by the lingering toxic affects of Agent Orange. His nagging conscience leads to a redemptive act of self-healing and a common good.

Spirituality is often an amorphous and bandied about term that too often connotes the merely religious type, as somehow distinct from those who are not. Instead, I appreciate something as equally shared as it is often neglected, namely the human conscience and our sometimes-belated conscious awareness of it.

So, here’s a question: how do we train kids to have compassion? How do we get kids to understand that the right response is the loving, honest response? I don’t know the answer. But I promise I’m working on it. All I know how to do is to model it. The only way I can think of is we can bring more love into the world by the act of love. We need to act lovingly. We need to BE LOVE for there to be more love in the world.

Kindness Is Contagious is a feel-good documentary by David Gaz, narrated by Catherine Ryan Hyde, the best selling author of the novel (and film) Pay It Forward. It’s a film all about being nice and the benefits of being nice. Kindness Is Contagious profiles cutting-edge scientists and best-selling authors from Berkeley to Harvard and everywhere in between as well as real life people from all walks of life whose lives illustrate their incredible discovery: NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST!

We are in the midst of a revolution. We’ve had 20 years of massive self interest that’s gotten us into a lot of deep trouble. The revolution is about reorienting toward kindness as a way to make a difference. Will you join us?

“God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love, and to be” ~John Shelby Spong

The Golden Rule, known also as the Ethic of Reciprocity, is arguably the most consistent, most prevalent and most universal ethical principle in history. Many regard it as the most concise and general principle of ethics.

Kleinbard’s idealism is tempered by realism accrued in his tenure as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. Having seen Congress in action and inaction, he understands that some things he’d prefer are pies-in-the-sky. In his book he makes a strong economic case for the US to adopt European-style universal single-payer health care, but does not factor this into the proposals in his book. The super-heated right-wing ideology that dominates Congress today has taken off the table the obvious solution to runaway costs and fundamental injustice in our health care system.

As the spiritual head of the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, has emerged as an important thought leader for our time. The Karmapa has been described as “a world spiritual leader for the 21st century.

I’m sorry…I don’t want to be an emperor, that is not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible. Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not their misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another.

There is hardly anything more rewarding then practicing acts of kindness, or when standing up for something we believe in, especially when we are able to see the positive affects of those actions. Jesus was first and foremost a social activist. He saw inequalities and injustices around him and he spoke out against them. He called us to give up our possessions, to share our bounty, and to love our enemies.

How many times have we circled this fire, a prayer upon our lips?
How many times have we gone to the water’s edge to give thanks for these gifts?
And we will rise again, we will rise again. My people will rise again, We’ll rise.
So many times I’ve looked out across the ocean,
wondered what is it all for?

There is an exquisite diversity and beauty that can be found in the ‘Sacred Paths’ people choose to walk. This is a book that explores those paths. Women and men from a broad range of faiths, from Buddhism to Bahai, Christian to Pagan, Jewish Rabbi to Muslim, are asked five essentials questions; What Is God? What Is Faith? What Is ‘Evil’? What Is Contemplation? And finally, What Happens When We Die?

Panel discussion between Eckhart Tolle, Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu & the authors of “Educating the Heart and Mind-Creativity”

Yes, we all will one day die; but not even death can bury the love and peace we have shared. Our acts of kindness, strivings for justice, and practices of compassion are the eternal verities that give our life meaning and purpose, and will put our death in the context of a life that cannot be denied.

Astonished, with the pain of Good Friday lingering in our consciousness, we awake to a new day of hopes and miracles.