Games Children Play

Posted by Satya Khan on October 29, 2008

An important aspect to a chivalric life is the adaptation of a moral code. It is challenging to identify one's ideals in crystallized form, and even more so to follow them and stay true to them, day in and day out, come what may. I have a great love for moral codes and find it fascinating to look at sets of ideals that a person or a culture follows, or in this case recommends - what draws someone to those ideals in particular? What things are most important? Are there universal ideals that are true for all people?

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A.E.  -  George William Russell

Posted by Eva Cristofalo on October 29, 2008

How does one synthesize a life such as this?

After months of becoming more and more engrossed with George “A.E.” Russell’s life and art, I realized I would never be satisfied with writing the short paragraph or two being requested of me.  Nor could I hope to approach the level of knowledge of those who have spent the better part of their lifetime studying A.E. alongside those other Irish greats with whom he was contemporary.  Then I found this brilliant essay by Declan Foley.

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Jesus Loves Me

Posted by Abi-Ru Shirzan Ghosh on October 20, 2008

If you turned to the hymn “Jesus Loves Me” in my Sunday School songbook, you would see an annotation below: “The favorite hymn of China.” Even for a child of fundamentalism, it was vastly reassuring to be told that the Chinese not only recognized Christ’s love, but that they were fond of singing about it....

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Transformation From the Inside Out

Posted by Abi-Ru Shirzan Ghosh on October 20, 2008

Sometimes my students yawn in my face when I talk to them about transformation. Change is something that was always inevitable, something that, in any case, was over and done with—rigor mortis setting in—long before their own college matriculation.  Alternatively, change is what WILL happen, in the roseate dawn of a new day following their own graduation or, more remotely, the election of their favorite candidate. Change is not about now. And—duh!—it involves circumstances, not personal characteristics. Change tends to be external and even cosmetic, not internal, not formative and even fundamental....

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Abraham’s Great Assent

Posted by Abi-Ru Shirzan Ghosh on October 20, 2008

Abraham was constantly asked to place something precious on the altar.  In the Midrash and the Quran, he is first asked to sacrifice idolatry.  Since his father was a maker of idols, giving up “graven images” amounted to breaking with his family and his heritage.  He surrenders his name in return for a promise.  The next request of Abraham is that he give up his place, his home territory, allowing himself to be uprooted without being informed of the spot to which he will be transplanted....

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Seven Septillion Stars

Posted by Ayaz Joseph Newland on September 2, 2008

Seven Septillion Stars. Yes, 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000: seven followed by twenty-two zeros. How many is that? It’s the current estimate of stars in the universe based on a recent astronomical survey. More than the grains of sand on the earth.

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