WINN – What is Needed Now

Look Up and … See?

By Brian Luke Seaward When I was young, I used to lie on a woolen blanket in my backyard on a summer night and look up to see the millions of lights in the sky. I recall that the Milky Way was so dense that it appeared like a thick cloud. Some nights I could…

How To Grow Together

By Celia Coates Laura is a friend who doesn’t sit still when there’s a new place to explore or something fascinating to discover – that’s how she found Fitzgerald, Georgia. She was visiting friends and heard about a nearby town filled with chickens that have the right of way in traffic, so she went to…

“What Is the Color of Heaven?”

by Celia Coates That’s the question Oliver Sacks asked in 1964 – “What is the color of heaven?” Last week I heard a Radio Lab re-broadcast of an interview by Robert Krulwich in which Dr. Sacks described how he got his answer. The story was also published in the National Geographic * where Krulwich wrote,…

Getting Christmas

By Celia Coates This year I’ve felt worn out by all the “get-ing” that surrounds Christmas (and other celebrations of this season). It includes the question that we ask ourselves, “What am I going to get the people on my gift list?” and the question others sometimes ask, “What do you want to get this…

Scientists and Mystics

By Celia Coates Emanuel Swedenborg was a scientist before he became a mystic. He was a scholar, author, researcher, and inventor fascinated with finding a connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. Born in 1688, he entered the University of Upsala when he was eleven and studied astronomy, geology, botany, zoology, and the mechanical sciences….

Appreciating …

By Celia Coates WINN appears now on the first and third Friday of each month, but there’s an extra Friday this November. Here’s a very small, “extra” WINN: “One of our major flaws, and causes of our unhappiness, is that we find it hard to take note of what is always around. We suffer because…

Learning About True Healing

By Alexandra Kauffman I am an undergraduate at the University of South Carolina, still in the process of discovering what I’m truly passionate about. I already know for certain that I want to promote good healthcare for people, no matter what form it ends up taking. This past summer, I had the opportunity to take…

Finding Quiet

First the story, then some comments: It was late at night. All little children were in their beds, fast asleep. All except one. The night wind brushed against a window. “Shh-h-h,” whispered the wind. “Go to sleep.” But the child could not fall asleep. Outside, on the branch of a tree, Mockingbird was singing. “Mockingbird,”…

Reflections on Spiritual Direction

By Lucretia B. Yaghjian There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or…

What Is It Like To Be A Bat?

by Celia Coates “What is it like to be a bat?” is the question headlining an editorial in a recent issue of NEW SCIENTIST. It continued, “Philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 question has evolved to dominate our thinking on consciousness. Nagel’s point, simply put, is that even if we could fly and navigate using sonar, we…

How To Deal With Threatening Times

By Brian Luke Seaward A number of years ago, while in Colorado Springs for an event, I decided to fill up my gas tank for the 90-minute drive back to Boulder. With several credit cards and a one-dollar bill in my wallet, I headed for the nearest gas station and pulled up to a pump….

What About The Infinite?

By Celia Coates At a conference in 2008 Elmer Green said, “There is only one really important question: What is our relationship to the Infinite?” If you already know about Elmer Green and why someone might want to pay attention to his views, skip this next paragraph – Elmer was born on October 10, 1917…