An Invitation from the Board of Trustees

Darakshan, Shahana, Halima and Robert

Greetings dear friends -- Every day we hear in the news that we are a country and culture riddled with division.  We are admonished that we are living in a time of unfettered and historic divisiveness. We are told that we are separated by politics, religion, race, gender, nation and generation. Yet, how can we recognize divisiveness if we have not known and experienced its counterpoint - unity?  With every story of hate, we can find one of love, kindness and compassion. read more »

Belonging to Life

A Reflection on Movement and Meditation

Robin Becker

"Throughout my life I have been drawn to contemplation, meditation and movement.  As a child, my love of movement carried me into the world of dance, where I have developed and worked as a dancer and choreographer for many decades.  If you had met me as a five year old child, and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have responded with full confidence that I planned on being a dancer and a nurse.  I never became a nurse. However, a fundamental interest in healing, and serving the larger world shaped and guided my journey over the years." read more »

Liberation Metaphysics

Zachary Markwith

"Liberation Metaphysics" is an unpublished volume of prose and poetry that I sent to a few colleagues and friends, including Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, who kindly expressed interest and encouraged me to share a few excerpts with readers of Seven Pillars. It is hardly a systematic expression of liberation or metaphysics, but it came from the heart in moments of reflection and inspiration. read more »

Detail of "Interconnectedness" by Beverly Decker

The Heart of Violence

Shams Kairys

Seven Pillars' submission guidelines say: "We especially welcome pieces that address issues of the day (environment, terrorism/war/violence, inequality, religion and tolerance, etc.) from a wisdom perspective." The articles and poem included in this update are amongst the grittiest we have yet published, each touching on the anguish at the core of violence with heartbreaking yet uplifting insight and beauty. read more »

Excerpt from “American Icarus: A Memoir of Father and Country”

Chapter IV: Love and War in South America

Pythia Peay

The following excerpt describes my research into my father’s service during World War II as an airman for the Army Air Force Air Transport Command—a massive operation that supplied the troops abroad with ammunition, medicine, bombs, and money, and that ferried German prisoners and wounded soldiers—and how learning about this period in his life changed my perception of him and his wartime service. read more »

A Poem from “Monsoon Blues”

Elijah Imlay

I located a close friend, Jim Birdsall, nicknamed “Bird,” 25 years after the end of the war in Vietnam. He had the same nightmare every night until we reconnected. He wrote about them and asked me to turn them into a poem, out of which came healing and forgiveness. Here is the poem... read more »

Excerpts from “The Alchemy of Combat”

Larry Decker

Our goal, as therapists, is to help veterans expand their belief systems, through the construction of an ideal self, to integrate the traumatic information of combat and discover new inspiration. Combat changed how veterans perceive the world. As a result of combat, veterans have new information regarding life’s possibilities and actualities. However, their belief systems often aren’t able to integrate the information. The new knowledge is too big; it won’t fit into their existing ways of understanding. read more »

Excerpts from “BOY: A Woman Listening to Men and Boys”

Hathaway Barry

Everywhere I go now, I see men differently. I have loved and appreciated and felt exasperated by men in many ways —father, brothers, relatives, playmates, friends, lovers, mentors, colleagues, husband, ex-husband, son, long-term partners. I know the goodness of men. And yet, after more than a half century of living with them, I realize I am still mystified by much of their behavior. read more »

In Celebration of Trees

J. Ruth Gendler

I am drawn to the way trees hold light and air and qualities that seem invisible, their generosity, wisdom and silent, soulful eloquence. Making art about trees—which I have done all my life but am doing with much greater focus now—inspires me to look more deeply at the world around me and also the world inside, to draw closer to nature, and find new ways to root and take nourishment from light.

Printmaking is a wonderful practice to investigate and celebrate my love of trees. see the gallery »

Does the Universe have an Inner Life?

W.H.S. Gebel

According to Sir Arthur Eddington, a prominent astronomer who confirmed Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, 1927 was the year when it became possible to reconcile science and religion. It was the year of the Solvay Conference in Belgium where leading scientists met to discuss the newly emerging field of quantum mechanics. In marking that year as a milestone, Eddington was referring to the replacement of the strict determinism of classical physics by the indeterminacy implied by the uncertainty principle inherent in quantum physics. read more »

Spiritual Principles in Action

A Story for a Younger Generation

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

I grew up in an England still dreary in the post-war years. Rationing only ended the year I was born. In my childhood there was religion but no spirituality. I went to church every Sunday, sang hymns and recited prayers. But nowhere was there the suggestion of spiritual states of consciousness. Spiritual bookstores did not exist. Christian mystical writings were present but just as historical texts rather than experiences to be lived. It was a grey world aspiring to middle-class materialism—a TV, a washing machine, even a car! Then in the mid- to late-sixties, another color entered the spectrum. read more »