Community
Photograph: Midnight Run, "Buddha and the Lotus" from Flickr.
Dear Friends,
Since our first inception as a magazine in 1976 we encouraged an active participation from our readers. Back then, that was through a section in the magazine for letters to the editor. In the digital age, you can find us at our website, as well as the social networking sites: Twitter, Facebook and Tumbr. We continue to welcome letters, suggestions & comments and encourage you to share the issues raised in our pages and online. Thank you to many of you who have already become actively involved.
Gain access through our increasing back issue library online through a digital subscription here.
Order a subscription to our print edition here.
— Luke Storms
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ARCS
Painting: John Atkinson Grimshaw, "Moonlight on the Lake" Roundhay Park, Leeds, 1872
“The absolute hangs like the moon above the water, and the water is my very own soul. Winds of desire stir my soul and my vision of the absolute. My reflection of the moon, my notion of eternity is in splinters, but I desire only to see the truth, to reflect the moon, and the winds die slowly…”
—Joseph Campbell
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Painting: Anonymous, "Dance of Death," German, 16th century
“A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No(one) can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.”
—Thomas Merton (1915-1958)
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Painting: William Blake, “Jacob’s Ladder,” 1800
The Question Answer’d
What is it men in women do require
The lineaments of Gratified Desire
What is it women do in men require
The lineaments of Gratified Desire
—William Blake (see the current issue for the article by James Hollis: "Permutations of Desire" where he explores the role of healthy desires in a healthy life.
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Painting: Michael Lukas Leopold Willmann, “Landscape with the Dream of Jacob,” 1691
"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world."
—C.S. Lewis
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Photograph: Herbert List, “Under the Sun,” Santorini, 1937. From The Essential Herbert List: Photographs 1930-1972.
"I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world."
Mary Oliver, “New and Selected Poems: Volume Two” courtesy of Fernwood Zendo, Victoria B.C.
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PARABOLA CALENDAR
Saturday, October 2
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered satyagraha. This is defined as resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence. This concept helped India to gain independence, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is often referred to as Mahatma Gandhi or "Great Soul", an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore), In India he is also called Bapu (or "Father"). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.
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Monday, October 4
Jean-François Millet (October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875) was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his scenes of peasant farmers; he can be categorized as part of the naturalism and realism movements.
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Thursday, October 7
Niels Henrik David Bohr (October 7, 1885 – November 18, 1962) was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen. He was part of a team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project. Bohr married Margrethe Nørlund in 1912, and one of their sons, Aage Bohr, grew up to be an important physicist who in 1975 also received the Nobel prize. Bohr has been described as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.
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Friday, October 8
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels. The Dune saga, set in the distant future and taking place over millennia, deals with themes such as human survival and evolution, ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics and power. Dune itself is the "best-selling science fiction novel of all time," and the series is widely considered to be among the classics in the genre.
"Paul shuddered. The universe opposed him at every step. It eluded his grasp, conceived countless disguises to delude him at every step. That universe would never agree with any shape he gave it."
—Frank Herbert’s “Dune Messiah”
CURRENT ISSUE
“I am dead because I lack desire,
I lack desire because I think I possess.
I think I possess because I do not try to give.
In trying to give, you see that you have nothing;
Seeing that you have nothing, you try to give of yourself;
Trying to give of yourself, you see that you are nothing:
Seeing that you are nothing, you desire to become;
In desiring to become, you begin to live.”
— In a brief Postface to "Mount
Analogue" written by René Daumal
PARABOLA STORE
See our online store for savings on back issues, books, videos, music and more.
TANGENTS
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism and writings on peace, justice and ecumenism.
The Thomas Merton Center is the official repository of Merton's artistic estate which includes over thirteen hundred photographs and nine hundred drawings in addition to his writing. The Center archives over fifty thousand Merton-related materials.
Faces of New York
"Once in a while we see a person in the street who immediately attracts our attention. We are fascinated by the appearance of the person and feel a strong urge to walk over and say hi.
I spent one month, seven hours a day, walking the streets of New York in search for people who had this effect on me. I found ten, and asked each of them the same question: What do you think about your face?"
—Simon Hoegsberg
Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In his time he was Japan's leading expert on Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best-known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1831) which includes the iconic and internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.
Sacred Text Archive
"The largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet. The site is dedicated to religious tolerance and scholarship, and has the largest readership of any similar site on the web."
COMMUNITY
Tracy Cochran's Blog
The editors at Parabola wondered if we could create a blog space that functioned like a parabola, casting outward like a flung fishing net or a boomerang, hoping to draw in new thoughts, impressions, and observations. Can a blog be a means of real exchange? What do you think?
Post this week: "Down from the Mountain."
The Forgotten Language of Children
Lillian Firestone's new book asks: "How can we encourage children to be inwardly free and find their own unique individuality?" It is available from Indications Press.Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism
Geoff Dennis is rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami and teaches Kabbalah and Rabbinic Literature in the Jewish Studies Program at the University of North Texas. He is the author of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, a Runner Up for the 2007 National Book Award, and recipient of an Honorable Mention for the 2007 Jewish Library Council Book Award. He has written numerous articles. The most recent, "A Song of Desire: Creation and the Yearnings of Israels God" appears in Parabola Magazine (Fall 2010).
In-Between
Can we find that without withdrawing or retreating from life? Temporary withdrawal may sometimes be necessary, in order to return and engage more whole-heartedly in our lives without losing so completely the sense of tranquility which inner silence brings.
Then, how do we see the world around us… and inside us? We can share our impressions of what we receive from life, our thoughts and feelings, our search for meaning and the testimony of others, in whatever way they express it. In-Between is not a blog, but an edited internet magazine.
Mind Deep
Welcome to Mind Deep, a mindfulness practice blog. My name is Marguerite Manteau-Rao, and I am a student of mindfulness meditation. Mind Deep is an online community for all interested in the experiential aspects of mindfulness.
The Beauty We Love
A curator of outstanding poetry related to search.
Speaking of Faith
Speaking of Faith (SOF) is a new kind of conversation — and an evolving media space — about religion, spirituality, and large questions of meaning in every aspect of life. The program began as an occasional series in 1999, became a monthly national program in September 2001, and launched as a weekly program in the summer of 2003. SOF is heard on a growing number of public radio stations in the U.S. — 230 and counting — and globally via Internet and podcast. In 2008, SOF was awarded the highest honors in both broadcasting and electronic media — our first Peabody and our second Webby Award. SOF is the only public radio program in the U.S. to achieve this distinction.
Anamachara - The Website of Unknowing
Carl McColman is the author of "The Big Book of Christian Mysticism," "Spirituality," "366 Celt" and several other books exploring spirituality from a variety of perspectives. He blogs about the spiritual life at www.anamchara.com.
On the Precipice
"On The Precipice is a blog exploring the practice of choiceless or open awareness meditation. It started as a result of my decision to go to Myanmar (Burma) to do intensive practice, and in the interest of sharing some of the life experience that elicited that decision with people who were interested.
I was at the Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Meditation Center in Yangon from August 2009 to March 2010 and am currently figuring out a model where intensive retreat practice can continue to be part of my life.
She also maintains an extraordinary Tumblr at It's All Dhamma.
Conversations.org
Conversations.org is a collection of in-depth interviews with artists from all walks of life. They also offer a monthly newsletter highlighting recent articles and a gift-economy print magazine.
108 Zen Books
“Anything I write about myself seems unimportant in the context of a boundless reality – not to mention that any story about my Self would be quite tainted with my inexhaustible and untransformed delusions. I love to write but I don’t take the time. I love to take photographs but I don’t do much with them. I love to practice but I tend to drift into intellectual backwaters and whirlpools of thought. There are no transmissions I can claim nor great realizations. i’m just a practitioner who struggles with all the same things every human does. And this blog is just another way to practice.”
Zen, Yoga, Gurdjieff - Perspectives of Inner Work
Ongoing commentary and observations from the author's personal experience of the Gurdjieff practice.
Whiskey River
An astounding collection of passages and quotes and a wonderful refuge for inspiration and contemplation.
ABOUT
The Parabola represents the epitome of a quest. As stated in our first issue, 'it is a curving line that sails outwards and returns with a new expansion—and perhaps a new content , like the flung net of a Japanese fisherman.' It is the metaphorical journey to a particular point, and then back home, along a similar path perhaps, but in a different direction, after which the traveler is essentially, irrevocably changed."
Please visit us at parabola.org
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