“Considered as a figure in our waking dream, (Trump) could be seen as the psyche’s attempt to call attention to the shamelessness of a culture whose dominant cultural complexes sanctify money, power, violence, and individual advancement over the grounding awareness that the survival of our species rides on our soulful interconnection with each other and our shared biosphere. As an Iraqui-born Lyft driver put it to me during a recent ride: ‘Paradise without others is not paradise.’”

“Those who love children know how important it is to bend down from adult height to look directly into their eyes from their closer-to-the-earth perspective…It is here, in that embodied state, that the world makes full impact; where senses and intuitions are keen, and the soul stand undefended against feeling terror and rage, sorrow and hunger and awe. The feeling-toned aspect of life is rich and universal, representing a significant healing dynamism for our troubled species.”

"…(and) what started as a kind of ‘Marco Polo’ in the social media swimming pool turned into a deep-sea-dive into more provocative, moving, and ultimately saltier and life-giving waters.”

“The cancer hit like a bolt out of the blue, discovered by a disbelieving radiologist in a routine mammogram. I met for the first time with my new oncologist to discuss treatment options on my fifty-third birthday. I found myself making a personal commitment to combat any internal voices that wished me dead. I’d worked for years on my harsh inner critic. Now I found myself visualizing my inner attacker as a bully coming up a set of school steps to beat me up. I vowed to kick him back down the stairs each time he came after me. I was sobered to discover that I was having to kick him down thousands of times a day, but what was ultimately born of those repetitive efforts were the first glimmers of a more deeply rooted self-love.”