Right From the Hip

Chuang Tzu comes to visit on the terrace of the Coffee House of Grace, my imaginary, spiritual rest-stop near Jerusalem-from-above. We read over his book of brief anecdotal stories, called the Inner Chapters. They are related to disclosing the Tao, an interior, spontaneous type of spiritual or philosophic practice which may be translated as the ‘Way.’ These stories operate by indirect means, rather like parables, but since Tao is in some ways intended to be indescribable, the parables are shifting, […]

Courtesy of translator David Hinton, three more Chinese poets, dating from 365 A.D. to 761, have arrived for tea and poetry readings in my Coffee House of faith.  The years are distant, the geography is distant, but for just such reasons, the dialogue has substance.  Their images and observations, their collective plights and pleasures, present a clean palate, an unmarked canvas, on which to taste, to paint.  Like royal characters in a Shakespearean play, we will conduct our debate in […]

My self-assigned duty to write the next and final post on Citizens United has expanded into a major project. Like all such projects, it’s taking way longer than expected. In the interim, my daughter Elise married Alex at Auburn Valley State Park in Delaware, my son Nathan and daughter-in-law Rochelle brought Roslyn into the world in Downingtown, my daughter Laurie married Matt in West Chester and my daughter Amy moved in with us after her affairs in the state of […]