Table of Contents
Winter 2017
Facing both the planetary and the spiritual climate, this issue asks how we might live with clarity, restraint, and love. In his discourse, Alireza Nurbakhsh answers climate change with a Sufi ethic of contentment: laws may help, but only a fundamental change of heart—unconditional loving-kindness, mindful awareness of mortality, and responsibility to future generations—loosens our fixation on consumption and possession. Essays turn to attentive presence (Mark Nepo), Quaker silence (J. Brent Bill), al-Ghazālī’s “reasons of the heart” (M. Coetsee), and a classic teaching on the way of the master (D. Ghalandar, tr. Nezam Manouchehri, rendered by Dani Kopoulos). Interviews explore the roots of yoga with Edwin Bryant and spiritual activism with Adam Bucko; CultureWatch visits qawwali and recent books, while poetry gathers themes of presence and love.
Discourse
- Climate Change: A Case for Contentment — Alireza Nurbakhsh
Articles & Essays
- The Secret Kingdom Is Everywhere — Mark Nepo
- Silence: The Quaker Sacrament — J. Brent Bill
- Heart or Rational Soul? al-Ghazālī’s Early Insights into the Reasons of the Heart — M. Coetsee
- The Secret of Being a Master — D. Ghalandar; translated by Nezam Manouchehri; rendered by Dani Kopoulos
Interviews
- The Roots of Yoga and the Diverse Traditions of Hindu Spirituality — Interview with Edwin Bryant by Komal Majmundar & Jawid Mojaddedi
- Spiritual Activism — Interview with Adam Bucko by Safoura Nourbakhsh
CultureWatch
- Qawwali — A “Riot of Perfume in My Heart” — Barbra Joffe
- Book Reviews — Becoming Wise—An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living; The Way Under the Way (both reviewed by Tim Smith)
Poetry
- Let Go — Alireza Nurbakhsh
- White Cherry — Jeni Couzyn
- Being Here — Mark Nepo
- The Rain That Makes Ashes Dance — William Wolak
- The French Garden’s Garden — Raphael Block