Greetings Reader - Back in the thrilling days of yesteryear, I was a marketing consultant for a company that made 3-D graphics systems for creating virtual sets, the likes of which are now a regular feature of live TV. The company was based in France and I was hired to help the company make inroads into the U.S. market. The gig only lasted a year, but that was long enough for me to score a free trip to L'Hexagone. They flew me in for a meeting at their corporate offices in Paris to make plans...
5 days ago • 5 min read
Greetings Reader - Yesterday was an exceptionally beautiful day here in Washington, D.C.: mild temperatures, bright sunshine, balmy breezes—it was a perfect day for . . . a bake sale. When we arrived at our No Kings Day “visibility” spot on Connecticut Avenue, we were greeted by a group of kids excitedly promoting their bake sale to raise money for their local public school. And they were cleverly leveraging the fact that it was No Kings Day with their enthusiastic chants to draw attention to...
12 days ago • 4 min read
Greetings Reader, Some say that spirituality transcends politics. In one sense, this is true. At the same time, saying “spirituality transcends politics” is also a political statement. Everything is political, even things that transcend politics! Yoga is the art and science of transcendence, of developing spiritual consciousness. It’s also a moral philosophy that calls us not just to refrain from harming others but to act for the benefit of others as well: “This supreme liberation is attained...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Greetings Reader - Last Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem went to the city of Portland, Oregon to get a firsthand look at what President Trump called a “very serious left-wing terror threat in our country.” What she saw was a handful of non-violent protesters playing music from The Benny Hill Show to make the point that Trump’s characterization of the situation, and her appearance to survey it, was absurd and foolish. As Portland City Council member Angelita Morillo put...
19 days ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - A lot of people are talking . . . a lot. People in power who are saying scary, weird, and wildly inappropriate things. People out of power (and past their expiration dates) who are trying to sound defiant yet reasonable. People talking about the what’s going to happen, what won't happen, what might happen, what should happen, . . . Talking heads talking about what all the talking means. Talk, talk, talk: is it only talk? A lot of it is, but not all of it. I'm hearing some...
26 days ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the difference between being apolitical and being non-partisan. People sometimes say: “Religion and politics don’t mix.” But that’s never been true, and it's certainly not true right now: there has probably never been a time in American history when religion and politics have been so intertwined.. And it's not just a matter of religious or spiritual values informing...
30 days ago • 1 min read
Greetings Reader - Free DC is a movement dedicated to protecting our city’s “Home Rule” — our governmental autonomy in view of the fact that Washington D.C. is not a state (yet). I’m an active participant and, this weekend, I’m taking Free DC's advanced training intensive on the key skills of effective non-cooperation. Part of the training includes learning how other movements, usually in countries where people have more experience standing up to authoritarianism than we do here in the United...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - One of my favorite experiences in India was a visit to Vasistha’s cave. Vasistha is one of the seven great sages of antiquity in the Vedic yoga tradition. His cave is located up along the banks of the Ganges River a short distance from Rishikesh. Whether or not Vasistha ever actually sat in that cave is beside the point. Vasistha’s cave is super dark. Taking just a few steps in and then stopping so that your eyes can adjust is good idea. I definitely would have tripped over...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - Millions of hands grip millions of weapons as millions of warriors, bristling in a rush of adrenaline, press into the balls of their feet, ready to hurl themselves into mortal combat. The fate of an empire is about to be decided. Everyone is in position. The battle is about to begin. It’s at this precise moment that the wondrous and sacred dialogue of the Bhagavad-gita begins. Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, hesitates. Instead of signaling for the battle to commence, tells...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read