Paula Pryce

     Discussing the ineffable with the devotedly non-religious can be tricky. For my efforts to engage them, I’ve found that their alternative perspectives can sometimes elbow me out of blind spots. Sometimes unsettling, but ultimately always welcome. That happened at a dinner party I recently hosted. It all started with spidey senses and flying fish.

Tools for Carrying the Burdens of a Hostile World photo by Yassir Abbas   Part Two:  Intentional Suffering   Traffic in Boston is mythic. People racing, gesticulating, and jockeying in whatever way possible. Rules are optional, it seems, and civility? Well – I’ve often thought Boston traffic to be the perfect microcosm of the get-ahead society. Here are a few of the images seared into my mind: A father with a carload of toddlers drives onto the sidewalk to jump the queue and gives the finger...

Tools for Turning around a Hostile World photo by Lavinda Weber Part One: Conscious Work, Conscious Play Illuminated by a near-full moon, several women and I made our way along a forested lakeshore across from a Midwestern Benedictine monastery. We had crept out that night to extend our Wisdom School lessons in intentional living to the serious work of play. A half hour of twisting climbs and descents brought us to a rustic altar and wooden benches that the monks had built high on a rocky...