“I Read the News Today, Oh Boy”

This chapter was originally written almost twenty years ago. Today (March 16, 2020), we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, underscoring both our universal vulnerability and our deep interconnectedness. Wherever you are, I wish for you and your family and community and for our deeply interconnected world that this terrible occasion helps us to wake up to the need for selfless wisdom and kindness and taking care of all that is most important for our survival and wellbeing, which clearly entails ensuring the wellbeing of all. The invitation of this moment is to not lose our minds and hearts when we most need them. The cultivation of mindfulness/heartfulness as our essential interface with everything that arises inwardly and outwardly in experience may very well be the key to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the body politic and our world going forward. May all be safe and free from inner and outer harm. …