Race reductionists love quoting Malcolm X when he was with the Nation of Islam because racists of all hues fundamentally agree with each other—the Nation of Islam met with the American Nazi Party and Marcus Garvey met with the Ku Klux Klan to promote their shared goals.Those who put race first have to quote Malcolm more selectively after he left NOI. He rejected identitarianism and black

I created this simple graphic as a reminder of the principles of Educational Sloyd. The sequence of learning described in it can be compared to Bruner's idea of scaffolding, but was first laid out by Diesterweg, a colleague of Friedrich Froebel. So while these principles are associated with the manual arts and Educational Sloyd, they actually fit education at large and describe the way we (even adults) learn. These principles, reflecting how we learn present a challenge for educators. In order to start with the interests of the child, the teacher must be listening, observing and adapting continuously. And as a good teacher will know, plans can go out the window when student interests cease to be met.  One of the reasons that rich school...

                                                                  Happy Joyous Hanukkah but Woody Guthry sung by Nesfesh Mountain. Today’s 6th night of Hanukkah song may come to a surprise to many.   It was pennedby a non-Jewish Okie—Woody Guthrie, the American folk music icon and radical activist. When Nazi Germany invaded the USSR Guthrie and the other members of the loose collaboration of musicians known as the Almanac Singers had to pivot on a dime and abandon their earlier anti-war pacifism and become anti-fascist/anti-Nazi.   In songs like The Good Ruben James about an American freighter torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat Guthrie and his pals tried to whip up public sentiment to enterthe wa...

      We are in a magical and dangerous moment, where uncertainty is in the air. Maybe even end times. And with that, doors are opening. Not least among these are doors opening into deeper understandings of what religion and spirituality might be. So, a critical question. What is religion? And with that what […]

Today is International Persons with Disabilities Day. Reflect on the things that your body can do–and the things your body cannot do. Reflect on the ways your brain works differently from the brains of others. Reflect on the barriers to access erected throughout our society and what it would take to dismantle them. How can … Continue reading (Dis)Ability

New research that examines the perception and interpretation of celestial objects by both modern and ancient cultures seeks to explain the commonality of The Pleiades in mythology across various cultures. Continue reading The Pleiades may be the oldest human myth at The Wild Hunt.

Herman Hiller, World Telegram staff photographer, Public domainIf Malcolm X had been killed in 1963, he would be remembered as just another of Elijah Muhammad’s racist followers. Malcolm admitted that in a letter written after he left the Nation of Islam (boldface mine):“I declare emphatically that I am no longer in Elijah Muhammad’s ‘strait jacket,’ and I don’t intend to replace his with one

Yesterday with the Rainbow group at the Clear Spring School we made turned Christmas tree displays for holiday giving. I turned the trees on the lathe, and the students sanded and assembled the stands and decorated the trees. To make the trees I used dowels 1-1/2 in. diameter, drilled holes at each end for dowels to fit and then turned them two at a time on the lathe. A parting tool was used to cut the shaped trees apart in the middle. Woodworking in school is a  collaborative exercise and fun for all. It's socialistic in that it fits the formula, "from each according to ability, to each according to need."  My own need is to be creatively stimulated and working out a means through which the trees could be safely turned on the lathe wa...

      Sixty years. Oh, my. Sixty years ago today, the 2nd of December, in 1961, the San Francisco Zen Center published the first issue of Wind Bell. An unsigned article from 50years.sfzc.org tells us: “From its humble single-sheet newsletter beginnings on December 2, 1961, prior to San Francisco Zen Center’s incorporation, over the decades Wind […]

Our world is becoming a more magical world, for good and for ill. There’s more power for us to draw on when we work spells. Spirits can access our world more easily, and not all of them mean us well. Our world is changing – let’s change with it.

                                                                      Light One Candle by Peter Yarrow performed by Peter, Paul & Mary.   We are spending more time this year on Hanukkah songs.   Consider it overdue balance.   So far we have heard from a Messianic Jew, and two Orthodox boys choirs.   For the Fifth night, lets switch to a largely secular and leftist Jew like so many of my friends.   Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary wrote the song in 1982 as a pacifist responseto the Lebanon War which was reflected in the lyrics: Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice justice and freedom demand, Light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker’s time is at hand. It also conn...

We are in the middle of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which celebrates the mystery of long ago of one day’s worth of oil burning for eight days. The Hanukkah menorah blesses the space in which it is lit as the original oil sanctified the desecrated temple. How can you embrace mystery to bless the … Continue reading Light

In a 2004 interview with Christian Century magazine, progressive evangelical Brian McLaren compared conservative evangelical Christians with more progressive Christians: “[Religious] conservatives tend to be rigid theologically and promiscuous pragmatically and [religious] liberals tend to be rigid methodologically and a lot more free theologically ….” Although McLaren wasn’t talking about Unitarian Universalists (he probably doesn’t … Continue reading "“Rigid methodologically”"

By James Baldwin | I have often wondered, and it is not a pleasant wonder, just what white Americans talk about with one another. I wonder this because they do not, after all, seem to find very much to say to me, and I concluded long ago that they found the color of my skin inhibiting. This color seems to operate as a most disagreeable mirror, and a great deal of one’s energy is expended in reassuring white Americans that they do not see what they see.

TWH spoke with several Pagan organizations about their responses and/or protocols for COVID-19 vaccinations for their members. Continue reading COVID vaccination recommendations in Pagan groups at The Wild Hunt.

Here is the UUA's updated guidance around gathering, updated for December 2021. Continue reading "COVID-19 Gathering Guidance: (Delta and Emerging Variants of Concern)"

Right now, our communities need action. We need humane protections for millions of immigrants who face the constant threat of detention and deportation. We need systems that keep families and children out of poverty. We need infrastructure investment. We need to honor the dignity of all and our sacred interdependence by building systems of support and care where our disabled siblings can thrive. We need a multiracial democracy that works for all of us. We need a radical revolution of values where we Side With Love-- declaring our commitments to justice, equity and compassion in all of our relationships. That is why we are joining the Poor People’s Campaign for a Moral Monday March on Washington on Monday, December 13th, at 12 p.m. ET o...

Sunday, December 5, 10:30 a.m. Opening to Joy An online worship service with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   Let us start this holiday season with joy! Join us on Zoom this Sunday, Dec. 5, for a multigenerational storytelling worship service featuring inspirational tales that warm the heart and lift the spirit.   Virtual Social Hour will follow   [ … ] The post Sunday, December 5 ~ Opening to Joy ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

JasonPToews, CC BY-SA 4.0Rich white people know they would win a race war and lose a class war. Rich liberals spout vapid phrases about their privilege as easily as kings proclaimed that they were sinners who were humble before God, and rich conservatives defend the “right” to exploit working people as easily as rich slavers defend the “right” to own them. The rich will say anything that protects

As December approaches and we begin our monthly theme of Reverence, we call to mind the MLK Memorial in Washington, DC. We had already climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and paused near the top, with the engraving at the spot where Dr. King stood ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov 30th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

CHILD DEDICATION!  This Sunday’s service will include a child dedication for one of our newest little UU’s.  We invite you and your family to attend the service and be a part of this special UU ritual, as we share a blessing for this precious new ... read more . The post RE This Week – Nov 30th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Reverence is defined as a deep respect that is felt or shown. It may be a somber reverence felt at the Vietnam Memorial, an awed reverence experienced on a mountain top or while looking at the night sky, or a joyful reverence of celebration of new ... read more . The post December Theme – Reverence appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Join UUs from across the continent on December 11th & 12th for Compass: Navigating the Paths to Liberation Together. The virtual event series, hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), will include invigorating worship, special musical guests, thought-provoking conversations, breakout caucus gatherings, a ... read more . The post Denomination-wide Opportunity: Compass: Navigating the Paths to Liberation Together appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We sent Members and Friends an update plan which includes much of the work done thus far during the global pandemic as well as the challenges we are facing as we move towards re-opening for in-person indoor worship. We have a target date, an aspiration ... read more . The post COVID-19 Update appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Leslie Gatto Acknowledging that our dream was not happening didn't end the grief, but it did offer closure. Continue reading "Laying Dreams to Rest"

Yesterday we installed the small bridge we'd made with students at the Clear Spring School, before getting back to making products for their pay what you want shop. The students added small toy boats, miniature Christmas trees and dreidels to their product line. Make, fix and create...

                                                       Light up the Nights  by Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir. On the Fourth Night of Hanukkah, we have to face the tragedy of a holiday song trying way too hard to be hip.  Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir are considered superstars of Orthodox Jewish choral music with more than 30 albums under its belt since 1980.  Begun began with a boys choir in Toronto in the 1970’s before relocating to Miami.  He is the composer and arranger of the ensemble’s original music. Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir. But in 1998 he applied the disco/Latin Funk/Miami Sound Machine vibe to Light up the Nights on the choir’s album Chanukah - Light ...

  Tell all the truth but tell it slant –Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind – Emily Dickinson People sometimes say they are spiritual but not religious. I find that phrase can open […]

This month, we will be exploring the theme of mystery–the unknown, the unknowable, and even those things we’d rather not know. Mysteries ask us to search for something beyond what we have right now. What are you searching for today?

Tiger Girl looks like a generic example of the Jungle Girl craze in comics, but she differs from them greatly. In 1944, while the South was segregated and most New York comic book publishers avoided putting out anything that might hurt sales by offending racists, Fight Comics introduced Tiger Girl, the daughter of an Indian prince and an Irish woman.Other things set her apart too: Her companions

The Lowlander Center provides vital support to southern Louisiana's Indigenous communities.

Several new archaeological discoveries in the U.K.: Southwark statue of King Alfred containing part of a Roman goddess, ruins of a Roman villa in Rutland, and the incredible finds made a 13-year-old in Hertfordshire. Continue reading New discovery concerning Southwark statue of King Alfred at The Wild Hunt.

Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, CC BY 2.0Focusing on race makes rich black people the heroes of America’s story and costs them nothing. Focusing on class makes them part of the problem and threatens their economic privilege.Adolph Reed provides two examples:At Neoliberalism & Black Politics: A TBS Conversation With Adolph Reed, Part 1, he said,‘I’ve been teaching mainly in the

By Masha Rumer | As the year draws to an end, it’s a reminder of the new coping skills just about everyone has acquired because of the pandemic. In the case of immigrants, the shortages also hurled us right back into our childhoods. Many of us we were raised on stories of famines and wartime starvation, tempered by breadlines and diluted sour cream, particularly in the former Soviet Union, where I’m from. Nothing went to waste: neither old yarn nor chicken skins nor beet greens. We brought this hardiness with us to the US.

                                                                      Hanerot Halalu sung by the Maccabeats. For the Third Night of Hanukkah, we will feature another song/prayer sung in the evening home service.   Hanerot Halalu is recited after the lights on the Menorah are kindled. There are several different versions.  The version by the Maccabeats that we are sharing here is used by many Ashkenazicommunities. The Maccabeats were students at the Orthodox Yeshiva University inNew York City.  The 14 member a cappella group was organized by Julian (Chaim) Horowitz in 2007.  By 2010 the were in the university’s graduate school when they released their first CD, Voices from the Heights which ...

    The deep matter of the heart is not bound by any religion. It is not owned by any culture. It is our common heritage as human beings. I suspect it will someday be possible to diagram the matters of the heart in scientific terms. And we are not there. Each time people think […]

History is written by people who think like the winners and thus miss inconvenient facts. “The Dawn of Everything” provides evidence that different ways of living are possible, because we have lived and governed ourselves in many different ways in the past.

“Do not fear agitation, for agitation is the rhythm of life itself; to be put into motion, to be stirred. Do not fear the movements that decenter what you always thought permanent. You carry within the center of your understanding, the compass to show you the way.” -Tania Márquez What is disturbing the rhythm of … Continue reading Agitation

Grassroots generosity and community action are powerful forces for good, especially in turbulent times.

In this week's pagan Community notes: bison and petroglyphs, SAPRA condemns TikTok videos, monarch butterflies, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 29, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

I know your are probably inundated with worthy Giving Tuesday begging.   But nowhere can your donation of any size have greater immediate impact than sharing with Compassion for Campers which serves the McHenry County unhoused who will spend all or part of each month this winter camping out or living in a vehicle.   Your dollars almost immediately be used to buy the critical gear—tents, sleeping bags, pads, tarps, stoves, fuel, warm gloves, hats, and socks—as well as personal hygiene items, flashlights and batteries, and non-perishable food.   Give today and a homeless person can pick them up at Community Empower Shower events at Willow Crystal Lake the first and third Fridays of the month.   Not only that, but 100% of your donat...

Thanks to Barry & Nancy Wilder for their years of service and contributions to All Souls Care Team and the Pastoral Care program. The post Centennial Awards: Barry & Nancy Wilder appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Tim Pierce from Berlin, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0The first law of prejudice: The rich look down on the poor.1. Basic dataIdentitarians and universalists agree the US racial hierarchy looks like this:from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-270.pdfFor identitarians, the racial hierarchy is all you need to understand who has power in the United States. They wave

                                               Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages) sung by Haddasah Berne. Hanukkah , coming early this year in November, snuck up on me.  I blame the wall calendar next to my desk which low tech me relies on to remind me of such things.  This year’s calendar doesn’t include Jewish holy days.  I’ll have the B’nai B’rith look into it. Hanukkah began last evening with the lighting of the first candle on the Menorah at sundown.  It is a celebration of the miracle of light that occurred when Judah Maccabee liberated the Temple in Jerusalem but only had enough purified oil to burn one night.  But the oil was enough to light the Menorah for 8 days until more could be rituall...

        Hanukkah is an interesting holiday. One the rabbis quite correctly have always felt more than ambivalent about, but also one people just love. I reflect on this celebration of light every couple of years. So parts that follow are repeats, parts are new discoveries I find I make each time I […]

“The question is not whether we will get lost in life, but rather how we will move through it in faith. Will we dwell on everything that we have lost? Or will we focus instead on everything that we have yet to find? As it happens, there is much that awaits us in our lostness. … Continue reading Lost

The mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights remain unexplained and offer an opportunity for adventure when it comes to viewing them. Continue reading The magic and mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights at The Wild Hunt.

CUC Approves 8th Principle on Dismantling Racism and Systemic Barriers to Full Inclusion On Saturday, November 27th, 2021 at a Special Meeting, Canadian Unitarian Universalists voted to approve adding an 8th Principle to the current seven Principles: “We, the member congregations of the Canadian Unitarian Council, covenant to affirm and promote:” Individual and communal action […] The post CUC Approves 8th Principle on Dismantling Racism and Systemic Barriers to Full Inclusion appeared first on Canadian Unitarian Council Conseil unitarien du Canada.

Nicogenin, CC BY-SA 2.0When the rich dress to impress, they wear black suits and dresses. Because wealth is associated with power and knowledge, judges, scholars, and priests wear black gowns. And because knowledge is associated with sex, people who want to be sexy wear black tuxedoes, gowns, little dresses, and lingerie.Black is the color of the richest earth.Black gold is a name for oil

In this season of Thanksgiving, we celebrate the many ways music can touch our spirits, sometimes at a depth words alone don't reach. This virtual service is mostly music, and features videos from many talented singers and musicians in our congregation and beyond. Our overarching theme is gratitude for the love we share, a love that can ripple out to bless the world.

We did a really hard hike this week. The “Old Quarry Trail” on Mount Burdell. It was beautiful, but there was about a quarter of a mile that was close to impossible for me. It was steep and rocky, lots of the rocks were loose and climbing required some really large steps on unstable ground. […]

      As it happens the Episcopal diocese of Hawaii celebrates today, the 28th of November as the “Feast of the Holy Sovereigns.” The rest of the Episcopal church marks today as a feast for “Kamehameha and Emma, King & Queen of Hawaii.” While I have mixed feelings about how royals end up saints, […]

You can create simple connector building sets by using axle pins. They are designed for use with two sizes of drill bit and are normally used to connect wooden wheels to toy cars and trucks. The tenon will fit tightly into a 7/32 in. hole, or rotate freely in a hole drilled 1/4 in.  diameter. At the Clear Spring School we use these as axle pins for making toy cars and also for pins to secure pivoting lids on boxes. Drill 1/4 in. holes in pieces you want to pivot freely, and 7/32 in. holes where you want the pin to fit tight.  I'll not show you anything further about this, as you can use your own imaginations or rely on the imaginations of your own kids. The point of course is that with a drill, some scraps of wood, and two sizes of dri...

                                             We Gather Together sung by the Hymn Ensemble.   This Sunday we share a simple, lyrical hymn beloved of American Protestants and most often used in Thanksgiving services.   It seems to invoke a colonial or early republican times.   But the song is not American, older than that, and not meant to be associated with the American harvest feast.   Instead, We Gather Together is 200 years older, of Dutch origin with a bloody inspiration.   Originally written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as Wilt heden nu treden to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. It was thus a patriotic song rather than a religious one.   But of course, i...

A meme going around says “most magic is just making stuff up.” I’m uncomfortable with this line of thinking. While intuitive magic is real, for most people a disciplined approach to magic will yield better results than flying by the seat of your pants.

“Creative Darkness, closest friend, you whisper in the night; you calm our fears as unknown paths surprise us with new sight.” -Jann Aldredge-Clanton Spend some time in darkness today. Feel its power and its healing.

Please join us on Sunday (28 November 2021) at 11:00 AM for “My Source of Resilience, Strength, and Hope — Member Reflections” by Claudia Harris and Kevin Henry.  This service will also includes reflections on Advent by Susan Caldwell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. This will be our fourth consecutive in-person … Continue reading "In-Person and Online All-Ages Worship (28 November 2021)"

Please join us on Sunday (28 November 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We are discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis. They are discussing the 13 kinds of bias that Rev. Barbara mentioned recently in … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 28 November 2021"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

The All Souls Holiday All Souls Holiday Park-It Market will happen on Sunday (12 December 2021) from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Attention all painters, bakers, sculptors, sketch artists, fabric artists, candle makers, candy makers, jewelry makers, authors, musicians, makers, and merchants of all the things . . . We know this is short notice, but … Continue reading "All Souls Holiday Park-It Market — Sunday, 12 December 2021"

Please join us next Wednesday (1 December 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

    All summer I made friends With the creatures nearby – They flowed through the fields And under the tent walls, Or padded through the door, Grinning through their many teeth, Looking for seeds, Suet, sugar; muttering and humming, Opening the breadbox, happiest when There was milk and music. But once In the night […]

                                                                      Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Let’s linger over Thanksgiving music through this four day weekend and before we plunge headfirst into Christmas fare.  No reason or need to rush the jingle bells and tinsel.  We’ll start with a piece by Mary Chapin Carpenter off her 2008 album Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas .  Chances are unless you are a hardcore fan you have not heard Thanksgiving Song which generated almost no airplay when it came out or since. Carpenter is an original and some say quirky country music/Americana singer songwriter who is much beloved by other artists across many genres ...

A recent genetic study of Viking Age individuals reveals that, far from being "pure Scandinavian," the Vikings embraced a diverse array of peoples into their culture. Karl Seigfried argues for contemporary Heathens to emulate this diversity in the modern religion. Continue reading Column: The Viking Age as a Model of Diversity at The Wild Hunt.

Orwell was Wrong.Jordan L’Hôte, CC BY 3.0Moralists dream of making the world better by controlling the language we use. I understand their love of symbolic change—it is much easier to make words taboo and create new ones than it is to change reality. The moralists’ belief that words shape reality is known, appropriately, by several names: linguistic relativity, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,

I got an advertisement via email this morning for this Brio Builder Set shown it the photo. It reminded me that many parents want their kids to be doing stuff. It also reminded me that a some parents out there have the capacity to make building sets that are far more interesting and at a much lower cost, and that offer a much higher level of collaborative fun.  Threaded inserts are a fabulous way of making jigs and fixtures for woodworking, but they are also great for building things that can be taken apart, and put back together in new configurations. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07QQQFZQW To build a builder set for your child, make a few long joining strips with 1/4 in. holes in them, buy some 10 x 20 steel screws of various lengths ...

    It’s November 27th! And with that, once again, the blessings of the saints Barlaam & Josaphat are upon us! This is flat out my favorite of all Christian holidays. And I like to remind people of the details of this original Christian Buddhist mashup. So, please forgive the repetition parts of this small sharing. […]

Bridges are marvels of engineering and architecture that provide vital connection for societies. Similarly, we build spiritual bridges that provide vital connection for our souls. Make a connection today. Reach out.

Please join us on Saturday (27 November 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (27 November 2021)"

"Other elemental energies sometimes communicate with me using words, but earth most often sends images." Continue reading Column: Elemental Earth at The Wild Hunt.

UUSC is committed to ensuring that elections in Honduras are fair and accessible for all Hondurans

Frederick Douglass is the most important black American and one of the most important abolitionists of the 19th century. I admire him for the same reason I admire Malcolm X: he started with almost everything against him and rose because he was a brilliant speaker who could admit his mistakes and transcend them.Yet Douglass was left out of the 1619 Project for at least two reasons. Regarding the

After a tough year and a half many of us can now get out and about to hear live music, perform, or join in seasonal singing.  Those all-Christmas music radio stationsare already churning out their short rotation of holiday hits.  TV specials from highbrow to hipare on almost every night.  There are plenty of ways for you to get your jolly Jones for Yuletide tunessatisfied.   But if you are in the moodfor a quiet moment each day with a steaming mug of coffee, cocoa, mulled something or other, or something stronger and more adult, Murfin’s Annual Winter Holidays Music Festival is for you!      Murfin's Winter Holidays Music Festival is back! This is how it works: Every year beginning on the day after Thanksgiving—Black Friday i...

A short “thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— The Roman poet Lucretius felt that a fundamental, material condition of nature as it appears [naturae species ratioque] was movement. He wrote: “Everything must pass through successive stages. Nothing remains for ever what it was. Everything is on the move [omnia migrant] . Everything is transformed by nature and forced into new paths” (Lucretius: DRN 3.829-831, trans. R. E. Latham). Today is the first Sunday of Advent and so it is worth remembering that the Advent and Christmas myths themselves express this truth because all...

Here we are at Black Friday again, and it seems that enough container ships coming from China made it to port and were unloaded in time to make most consumers happy with things that will fill our landfills in no time flat. The goods delivered to us from foreign manufacturers amount to trillions of dollars in cost with a balance of trade deficit that would quickly cripple a smaller nation. But few questions are asked. Some while back, economists and policy makers decided that we'd have a service economy rather than one that relied on making the things we need. Then we entered an "information age," in which exchange of information over the television and computer screens would earn our keep. It's time a few of us call BS. The opportunity c...

            For years and years people have talked about the Zen awakening experiences collected in Philip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen. These accounts have inspired many people, including me, toward the practice, especially toward koan introspection. And these accounts have enjoyed a fair amount of reaction. At first in at […]

“I don’t want a faith that wordsmiths my truth, that asks why it’s necessary to use the words that best describe my experience as a queer person. I don’t need help finding alternative words that might go over better with strangers. I need my siblings in faith to notice their discomfort in hearing about my … Continue reading Solidarity

UUSC partner el Foro de Mujeres por la Vida provides a critical space to discuss Honduras’ elections and what those elections mean for women’s rights.

Greetings of gratitude from TWH. Continue reading Thanksgiving 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

This is Thanksgiving day and as folks gather to celebrate the holiday let's remember to stay safe and not infect those we love with a disease that may keep them from being with us in years to come. Ironically, the celebration of Thanksgiving began during the Civil War in the United States as the North was fighting to abolish human slavery and the South was fighting to retain the right to hold human beings in bondage. And yet, now North and South, we celebrate and give thanks. One of the points that I make in my new book, The Wisdom of Our Hands has to do with the small things of useful beauty that occupy our lives.  Shopping small and avoiding the big box stores this holiday season, starting tomorrow with Black Friday, gives us a better...

Thomas Nast's 1869 Thanksgiving cartoon pictured Uncle Sam carving a turkey at a diverse post-Civil Ware table inhabited a legion of ethnic stereotypes under the watchful eyes of Presidents Lincoln, Washington, and Grant belied Nast's own strong Nativist bias.  He extoled universal suffrage for freed slaves and women, but certainly didn't mean if to include the table's Native American interloper. For some, the annual angst over Thanksgiving is upon us.  For years Native American protests that the Holiday represents European colonialism, American racism, cultural erasure, and actual genocide have begun to registerwith many of the rest of the current inhabitants of this country.  It is hard to deny that our First Nations, as the Canadia...

      In preparation for Thanksgiving, along with getting ready for the family gathering, where my spouse Jan & I are the cooks (we appear to be the only people in the family who aspire to taking care of the vegans and the folk who need blood at every meal), I reviewed some of […]

The practice of gratitude is one that connects us to something important. We do this daily to remind ourselves of the grace–the unearned blessing–that surrounds us. What are you grateful for today?

Our area of Maine loves nature news. So when we heard in the news that there were visiting river otters in the ponds at Evergreen Cemetery, we joined many other Portland residents to go to the cemetery to see if we could see them. And we did! We saw this one in one of the […]

As COP26 closed, scientists and investors were already looking at strategies to mitigate the impact of a warming planet. Continue reading Some strategies to offset climate change impacts were underway before COP26 at The Wild Hunt.

An online service with lay preacher Daniel Stack   “Soon after I became sachem they disarmed all my people…their land was taken. But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country.” King Philip, Sachem Metacom of the Wampanoag   The Unitarian Church of   [ … ] The post Sunday, November 28 ~ Exploring Our Forebears ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

I’m so grateful to everyone who came together to affirm the dignity of lives lived in truth and connect to the tragedy of the at least 46 lives lost due the compounded violences of transphobia, racism, classism, and capitalism. This service was a reminder that we are all responsible for the epidemic of violence against the transgender community…and must do everything we can to celebrate the lives of the transgender, genderqueer, and non-binary community by dismantling any and all barriers to total equity and full inclusion in our congregations, institutions, and society at large. View the 2021 UUA Transgender Day of Remembrance Chapel Resources to Support the Transgender Community Subscribe to the UPLIFT Newsletter TransLash Media cr...

We've finished an arched bridge with student help at the Clear Spring School, and with help from my tractor and some straps we'll carry it for installation on the Schoo campus, giving our students a clear path over a creek between buildings. On projects like this, that are adult in nature, not every child will be involved with the same level of enthusiasm, but each can help and learn, and too few kids these days are drawn in as participants in adult labor. In my home woodshop I'm finishing some boxes that had accumulated unfinished. Each is different, so they'll give me a way to provide boxes to a few galleries that handle my work. When I have quiet times in the wood shop I've been listening to the Path to Learning Podcast. It is readily...

Sally Fritsche May we release ourselves from the need to fit every truth neatly into our own language. Continue reading "An Atheist's Prayers"

Murfin’s It turns out that this illustration, swiped from a children's book, was actually created by Theresa Murfin! Gotta be some kind of relative!.  Hello, cousin and feel free to stop by for the feast.  We'll make room. Note— This has been one of my most popular, regularly requested, and widely shared of my annual holiday posts. So here it is today, in plenty of time to share with your guests—or your hosts.   This list of rules is particularly apt for those of us who do not live in House Beautiful , Snapchat posts, or Martha Stewart fantasies.   It’s for those of us with cramped space, short time, and real families of blood, choice, accident, or convenience that don’t resemble that famous Norman Rockwell cover or behave ...

        Keiji Nishitani died on this day, the 24th of November, in 1990.\ If you’re unfamiliar with him, and you are interested in Zen, I suggest you may want to learn more. He was one of the principal figures in the establishment of the Kyoto School, which the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, […]

“This is a prayer for all the travelers. For the ones who start out in beauty, who fall from grace, who step gingerly, looking for the way back. And for those who are born into the margins, who travel from one liminal space to another, crossing boundaries in search of center.” -Angela Herrera What are … Continue reading Boundaries

I sometimes like to say that I’m religious but not spiritual, because I associate “religion” with institutions, and “spirituality” with individualism. I’ve come to really dislike the hyper-individualism of the U.S. today, and for me institutionalism lies at the very heart of my religion. So to better express my religious values, I just added an … Continue reading "Institutionalism"

By grieving healthily, the memory of loss gradually transforms its predominate tone: from pain to gratitude for what was. This work can have no deadlines. You’re ready to move on when you’re ready to move on, and you can’t determine in advance when that will be. It takes as long as it takes. You can bring some intentionality to the process, but you can’t control how long it takes. Eventually, on its own schedule, grief work leads us toward gratitude and peace. The other connection between gratitude and grief points the opposite direction. Gratitude contains hints back toward grief. All things must pass. That for which we are today grateful will pass. Today, once again, I am grateful for breathing. Some day – maybe today – my ...