Johnny the Pig
I live in the tiny Vermont village of Putney, on a narrow dead-end lane bordered by deep woods on one side, and Main Street with the village grocery, Library and even a world-famous Music center, on the other side. I share an old Priory close to the dead-end with six...
Each Day
Each day, as I move closer to 90 and further from 80, I wonder what I am still supposed to be doing here. Who, and what, still needs me? What unique gifts have I still to offer? What adventures are still mine to experience? The answer is, I don’t really know. I...
A History of Death
A few days before he died, my friend Jackson related this dream to me: “I’m swimming, but not in water—like in clouds. Narrow clouds, close together like a tunnel, so I've got to swim with my arms tight against me, and my butt sticking up in the air.” He shot me a wry...
The Bigger Picture: Synchronicity
I wonder if there is some hidden reason behind the obvious mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. I’d like to believe there is, for reasons I cannot quite yet fathom, nor try to explain. But for years, I have been ‘saved’ by unexpected happenings at the last moment,...
Scared to Death
N.B., I wrote this while still living on the West Coast, on Wild and Radish Farm, before I moved to Vermont. Last night I awoke from a nightmare in which I was nowhere and knew nobody…there was a sad and frightened man I brought to the ocean; a moaning girl in a...
Guardian Angels
Last night, the night after the lunar eclipse, I had a dream of being in a crowd of people somewhere and being approached by a dark-haired woman in a white blouse. I did not know her, but she put her arm around me as if she knew me well, and I felt safe with her by my...
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
for Rudolf Wagner, in memoriam There is a YouTube now making its way around the Internet of a blindfolded young Muslim fellow on a streetcorner in New York with a sign that says, “I am Muslim. If you trust me, please give me a hug.” He cannot see those who pass him...
On Listening
I’ve spent the last few days on silent retreat in the country with my eyes closed, mostly listening. There are very few human sounds out here except for the occasional car arriving, so nature’s ‘biophony’ is clear to be heard, especially at dawn and dusk when the...
My Birthday Message to Everyone
Hello, my family, friends, neighbors, community… Here is my offering to you in the month of my 86th birthday. I figure this is a pivotal moment in history, as well as a turning point in my own life, and I’d like to pass on to you a magical gift that was given to me...
Walls
I live at the cul de sac of a road that ends in forest, in a wood-framed Priory that once housed six Catholic priests, but not anymore. My own rooms, I would guess, were once used for visiting clergy because they look out onto an impressive lawn, but the...
