Every child who is asked the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” knows one thing for sure: They want to be something different than who they are now.
The yearning for transformation informs our lives. As author J.G. Bennett points out in this Spring 2023 issue of Parabola, that is because we all harbor an ideal. We can never match it but the deep, often unacknowledged wish to do so—to change ourselves into something other, more—manifests in myriad ways, from donning a Halloween costume to amassing wealth to pumping iron to ascending the spiritual ladder.
All the traditions teach that transformation is possible, with self-knowledge being an important first step—as recalled here by Tibetan Buddhist master Phakchok Rinpoche, prodded toward wisdom by his boyhood teacher. There are numerous paths to transformation, and teachings on it. Among the many explored in this issue are Zen origami, fairy tales, solitude and prayer, love, cooking and cleaning, Vedanta, and Jungian analysis. All arrive at the same startling conclusion: that the ultimate transformation is for us to become who we really are all along. To escape our cocoon of grasping and delusion, and to emerge, as teacher John Roger Barrie puts it here, so that “Our inner transformation produces outer transformation. Darkness gives way to light. At that wondrous stage, all apparent barriers are broken. Where there is no division, all is one.”
Parabola mourns the loss of Jacob Needleman (1934-2022), teacher, author, and friend. In this issue you will find a tribute to “Jerry” by Roger Lipsey and the Parabola editors.
Due to inflationary pressures, after years of resisting we are forced to raise the single issue price and subscription prices of Parabola. We trust that you understand and will continue to read, enjoy, and benefit from our offerings.
—Jeff Zaleski
