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Random Acts of Kindness
When we opened this lively and edifying paperback, we both resonated with it. Frederic said it made him think of the old cereal ad with the slogan "snap, crackle and pop."
We hope you will savor the "snap" in quotations such as:
"This only is charity, to do all, all that we can."
— John Donne
"The purpose of life is a life of purpose."
— Robert Byrne
We, along with Megan Murphy, the founder of The Kindness Rocks Project who wrote the introduction, and compilers Brenda Knight and Becca Anderson, hope that you will put into action the many practical acts of kindness (they all crackle) they suggest, such as:
Recycle your cellphone; they are the largest contributors of toxic substances to landfills.
Don't contribute to the great Pacific garbage garden that is filled with single-use plastic bottles.
Have a good neighbor policy. Bring your neighbor's newspaper to the front door. Offer to take care of a neighbor or friend's home, yard, or pets while they are away on vacation.
Here are a few more of our favorite quotes from this book that put an accent mark (pop!) on good deeds:
"There's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it is sent away."
— Sarah Kay
"Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away!"
— Robert Fulghum 201
A delightful book that puts some snap, crackle, and pop into your acts of kindness.
Animal Sutras
Stephen Levine (1937 - 2016) was an American poet, author, and spiritual teacher who was deeply respected for his work with his wife Ondrea on death and dying. In this posthumous volume, he shares with readers the spiritual teachings of animals in a lovely collection of stories about our four-legged, winged, and crawling companions. These selections are modeled after the Jataka Tales which consist of hundreds of anecdotes and fables which depict earlier incarnations of the future Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.
These teaching tales have many goals:
"The primary teaching of the Jataka tales is generosity. The collection of stories calls to us to overcome the human tendency to separate and attempt to control. It teaches the sweetness of renunciation; the giving of oneself to another, for the benefit of all. It is the lineage of the unfolding of generosity, kindness, and insight through the auspices of the evolution of consciousness. . . . The Jataka tales are stories of commitment and self-sacrifice in the time when the cosmic egg cracks, and being loving becomes even more important than being loved."
Levine's stories are different from the traditional tales in that they are stories from his own experiences with animals. He ranges freely through a variety of animal kingdoms with portraits and insightful observations about snakes, crows, ravens, mice, spiders, hummingbirds, ants, crabs, prairie dogs, skunks, bats, blowfish, cats, dragonflies, coyotes, and Daddy Long Legs. Here are lessons from a salamander about forgiveness, a mouse about faith, body refreshment and patience from bears, and many more.
"Animals have a natural mindfulness," Levine writes. "They know what they are doing. Humans, who are full of confusion and seldom wholly in touch with their mind/body, need encouragement and technique to live in the present. As Rumi said, 'Love is the bridge.' "
A wise and wonderful celebration of animals.
Blessing Box
A practice involving food and the democratic virtue of generosity is the blessing box. A blessing box operates like a "Little Library" or mini-food pantry. Set up a cabinet in a visible, trafficked area of your neighborhood or next to your building. Then congregants and neighbors can put non-perishable food and personal care items in it, and those in need are invited to take from it. A blessing box can easily be managed by a religious group who could check on the stock and make sure it holds supplies on a regular basis.
A suggestion for places of worship to offer blessing boxes.
Mine!
Amy is a little girl who properly loves all her things: a blankie she carries around and her three favorite stuffed animals — a bear, a bunny, and a bird. She says, "I love you all because we're together and because you're mine."
When the twins Zack and Jack come for a visit, Amy feels like she is under siege as the guests force her to cling even more fiercely to her possessions. When Baby Joe joins the group, he cuddles the stuffed bird and Amy is forced to decide whether to grab it from him or share it with him.
Mine! is written and illustrated by Sue Heap. It is designed for children of ages two - five.
A picture book that shows how a little girl learns to quit being possessive and selfish.
From Enemy to Friend
Amy Eilbeg is the first woman ordained as a Conservative Rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After many years of work in pastoral
care, hospice, and spiritual direction, Rabbi Eilberg now directs interfaith programs in Minneapolis/St. Paul. She also is adjunct faculty at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and St. Catherine University.
The greatest heroism according to the Jewish and Muslim faiths is to "transform an enemy into a friend, to move from hatred to caring, from suspicion and fear, beyond tolerance, to embrace of the other." This substantive paperback recounts Eilberg's seven years of pursuing peace in her life and work, drawing on her perspective as rabbi and spiritual teacher. The author has grounded the material in her own experiences in conflict management, classical Jewish texts on peacemaking, and peace and conflict theory.
Eilberg begins with the conflict between faith communities, looks at the different ideological lines within the North American Jewish community on the subject of Israel, and then hits high stride with the pursuit of peace as a spiritual practice. She believes that when Israelis and Palestinians are in dialogue that they stretch to respect each other's understandings and fears. The spiritual practices of kindness, compassion, openness, and forgiveness provide many new avenues for a more peaceful earth.
The first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi on her adventures as a peacemaker.
Enlightenment to Go
Whenever His Holiness the Dalai Lama is asked to recommend a book that explains how to put Buddhism into practice, he suggests Shantideva's A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. David Michie, a corporate communications consultant and author, sees this Tibetan Buddhist classic as "the world's first self-help book, outlining specific techniques to 'reframe' our experience of reality to achieve greater happiness and inner peace." Enlightenment to Go offers a sampler of Shantideva's spiritual teachings as well as a primer on Tibetan Buddhism.
According to Michie we all have the choice of waking up or staying asleep. We can live in the here and now or hide out in the past or future. Shantideva opens up both options with definitions of great love as the wish to give all other people happiness and great compassion as the yearning to help free them from suffering.
"Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world
All comes from desiring myself to be happy."
Tibetan Buddhists teach ways we can equalize ourselves with others — especially people we tend to look down upon or do not respect. They suggest seeing every person we come across as having been our mother in a previous lifetime. Or you might try thinking of all living beings as your best friend or sibling centuries ago. This practice makes it much easier to see others as beings just like us who are seeking happiness and wanting to avoid pain.
Michie emphasizes the importance of the bodhisattva way of life, which he defines as "the ultimate expression of compassion." In the second half of the book, he explores the connection between meditation and bodhichitta, the enlightened or awakening mind, stating that it can be practiced on a day-to-day basis. Bodhichitta becomes the seedbed and the catalyst for generosity, a state of mind that overcomes grasping and is its own reward. It activates the ten precepts or ethical actions and fuels patience in the face of anger and depression. It breaks the cycle of dissatisfaction and brings into being the four laws of spiritual success. And, finally bodhichitta promotes adventures in inner space and serves as a shield as we take on the battle with the eight worldly dharmas.
An explanation of the spiritual insights of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.
I Am Tama, Lucky Cat
A white cat with some orange and black markings has been on a long and arduous journey to find a home with food and shelter. She finds what she is looking for at a run-down temple at the foot of a majestic mountain. A monk who sees her standing at the doorway with her paw raised gladly lets her in: he names her Tama (Lucky Cat).
Good fortune has not smiled upon the temple where the roof leaks and there is not enough firewood. But the monk does not fret. He enjoys the cat's company and derives great pleasure from Tama's purring. The cat thanks him by sleeping close to him and protecting the temple's meager supply of rice from mice. All of the giving and the receiving pays off when Tama gets to be a hero.
We have a Lucky or Beckoning Cat on the counter by our front door. Over the years she has brought us good fortune in terms of soul mates who have joined us on our digital spiritual adventure. When we saw the cover for I Am Tama, Lucky Cat we were very pleased; she is adorable with her raised paw. We also loved the picures of cherry trees brimming with blossoms by illustrator Yoshiko Jaeggi.
Wendy Henrichs has done a smashing good job bringing the Japanese legend of the Lucky Cat to life. This book is designed for children from ages 5 - 9. They will benefit from this lesson about the importance of generosity and kindness and companionship between humans and animals.
An adorable cat who in return for a monk's kindness brings good fortune to the temple.
Stone Soup
"Stone Soup" is a folk tale that has been told in many different European cultures. The gifted writer and illustrator Jon Muth has adapted the story and set it in China.
Zen monks Hok, Lok, and Siew arrive in a closed-off village that has seen too many hard times with famine, floods, and war. Lacking in trust, the villagers are not kindly to strangers. Unhappiness has hardened the hearts of everyone. In fact, the monks discover everybody has retreated inside their homes behind locked doors. So the outsiders decide to make soup starting with some stones.
A little girl comes outside and asks them if they need a bigger pot; her mother brings it to the monks. Some others in he village share the little they have: salt and pepper, carrots, onions, mushrooms and other good things. Afterwards, when the soup is done the whole community sits down to eat together the meal they have prepared.
Stone Soup teaches children a wonderful lesson. They need not be afraid to show hospitality to strangers. Sharing brings true happiness.
A traditional folk tale adapted to the setting of China where a closed-off village learns the spiritual rewards of sharing.
Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices
"Do I have enough? Do I give enough? Can I work for a morally questionable employer? Can I pay my nanny under the table? What's so bad about a little credit card debt?" These are some of the poignant ethical questions swirling around our views about money.
This paperback, edited by Elliot Dorff and Louis Newman, begins with four case studies on morally troubling jobs, credit card debt, childcare, and allocating public money. The second part of the book is a Symposium in four parts. Articles on social issues cover a living wage; executive compensation in public corporations; government money; and money, women, children, and the Jewish future. Sections on personal issues around money, philanthropy, and reflections on the case studies include fascinating articles on managing money with contentment; a meditation on money and morality; and a piece on money, meaning and happiness. Editors Dorff and Newman conclude with an essay on the ethics of money where they salute the values of honesty, humility, and generosity.
Ancient and modern Jewish perspectives on some of the knotty ethical dimensions of our views and handling of money.
The Heart of Henri Nouwen
This rousing collection of excerpts from the books of Henri Nouwen has been edited by Rebecca Laird, a certified spiritual director and former editor of Sacred Journey, an interfaith spiritual magazine, and Michael J. Christensen, who currently teaches spirituality at Drew University. They are convinced that Nouwen was "a practical mystic with prophetic vision." For him, spirituality was a matter of the heart. In their introduction, the editors delve into this capacious term and what it meant to this scholar, teacher, writer, and activist. Nouwen saw heart as the core of our being, the center of the seat of emotions, intellect, and will. It is where human beings nourish their beliefs and decide their behavior. He concluded that the heart is "the center of our being where God comes to dwell with us and bring us the divine gifts of trust, hope and love."
Since Nouwen had communion every day, whether alone or with others, the editors have divided this anthology into four sections that correspond to the Eucharistic formula in classic Christianity — choose, bless, break, and give. Each section is introduced with a short biographical essay and some suggestions on how to process the readings. Among the books quoted are Beyond the Mirror: Reflections on Life and Death; Life of the Beloved; Here and Now; Sabbatical Journey; and Finding My Way Home.
One of the touchstones of Nouwen's faith was his repeated emphasis upon God's love for us. As he put it: "God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture God says, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love.' This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, 'I love you, too.' " Since our identity is rooted in this timeless dimension, we are freed from enslavement to time or the other mandates of our culture, such as proving ourselves to others or being successful.
Nouwen writes forcefully and clearly about faith, friendship, generosity, blessing, death, prayer, community, and much more. Given all the emphasis by many sincere Christians on heaven, we impressed with this passage: "Eternal life. Where is it? When is it? For a long time I have thought about eternal life as a life after all my birthdays have run out. For most of my years I have spoken about the eternal life as the 'afterlife,' as 'life after death.' But the older I become, the less interest my 'afterlife' holds for me. Worrying not only about tomorrow, next year, and the next decade, but even about the next life seems a false preoccupation. Wondering how things will be for me after I die seems, for the most part, a distraction. When my clear goal is the eternal life, that life must be reachable right now, where I am, because eternal life is life in and with God, and God is where I am here and now." Amen!
A rousing anthology with pieces on life and death, faith, community, friendship, hope, and joy.