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Paul with a couple of his heroes in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Paul with a couple of his heroes in Johannesburg, South Africa.
View Paul’s columns here:
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I was in Boulder, Colorado, at the studios of gaia.com, creating a meditation series tentatively called Care of the Soul. I sat on my knees and gave dharma talks about grief, anxiety, forgiveness, right practice, and compassion. Then I guided the audience through a Vipassana/loving-friendliness meditation. I spent a lot of time sitting that day, and the mind chatter that kept taking me from paying attention to my breath during meditation was about responsibility: specifically, what should I do about the injustice, hate, bigotry, exploitation, and other poisons so prevalent today?
IF YOU REMEMBER ONE THING from this column, remember this: Being out of harmony with your soul or with the demands of your spiritual nature is like having a rock in your shoe. It is going to bug you until you fix the situation.
THIS PAST SUNDAY I CRASHED MY BIKE so hard I flew over the handlebars, landed on my head and back, and broke my helmet. Thankfully, my 16-year-old son Patrick was there to make sure I did not try to move my neck or body or let anyone else move me. It felt good that his words were so solid, helpful, and calm with so many people wanting to do something before the ambulance guys took over—and then a CT scan showed nothing broken.
SEVEN YEARS AGO, I took my sons Henry and Patrick to South Africa to check out some new charitable project requests for the Utopia Foundation and to review some projects we were already supporting. Utopia’s mission is to create a world where every person goes to bed feeling safe, fed, happy, and optimistic about tomorrow.
LAST WEEK I PICKED UP STEVE KIESLING (who had been my editor at Spirituality & Health for 20 years before the publication merged with Unity Magazine) at the airport a few miles from my home in Gqeberha, South Africa. On the way to his B&B, I outlined the fun things I had choreographed for our two and a half days together: going to Addo Elephant Park, a long hike up the coast, a trip to the penguin sanctuary, and joining my family on some scouting activities at the beach.
LAST WEEK, I WAS ESPECIALLY GLAD we had our four-wheel-drive van jacked up four inches and fitted with steel plates under the chassis to protect the gas tank. Why? Because the “roads” shown on the GPS in this corner of South Africa turned out to be gravel paths with large rocks and ditches, as well as goats, sheep, and people to navigate around. The GPS signal also got so weak, I wasn’t sure we would get where we were supposed to go.