Two months ago, I wrote about my commitment to stay in my poustinia in the forest through Pentecost, on May 31, leaving a few times each week for groceries and wifi. As you may recall, in the Russian monastic tradition, a poustinia (which means “desert”) connotes a...
I awake early this morning. The sky is lightening, just enough to show contrast with the dark form of the trees. I can’t yet see anything with clarity, but it is clear that day is coming. It will be another startlingly hot day, but for now I can enjoy the coolth of...
Early in the morning, I walk in the forest, exchanging greetings with the woods creatures. The birds, of course, sing their good mornings. Wood thrush and hermit thrush, sapsucker and downy woodpecker, titmouse and chickadee all sing hello, in words I know well....
My head is all in a muddle this week, not knowing which way to turn. My heart is filled to overflowing, but I can’t tell from moment to moment whether it is filled with joy or sadness, gratitude or grief. On Saturday, we had a howling snowstorm. Today I am gazing at...
The usual props of daily life have fallen away. Routines are disrupted, or exploded into bits. Not only the outward structures of work, travel, shopping, exercise, meals, and family that provide a container for regular life, but our inner structures, too, have been...
Fifty years ago today, as a freshman in high school, I walked the streets of Lexington, Massachusetts, with a parade of others, picking up trash. It was the first Earth Day, a joyful celebration of the beauty of the world, and a pledge to clean it up. It was such a...
