The timeless theme of this latest issue of Parabola is also timely and pressing. In the midst of a pandemic, and environmental, social, and economic disasters, it seems as if our whole world is sliding into imbalance. Can things be righted? What does it mean to be in balance? Rabbi Eliezer Shore invokes the great medieval philosopher Maimonides, who urges us to see “that the slightest movement can make a difference. One positive action pushes the entire world to the side of merit, and one negative action pushes the entire world to the side of debt.” This is a recipe all of us can follow—and for fun this issue includes a recipe on how to bake a “Scripture Cake.”
The essays and stories in this issue reveal, however, that the real cooking is internal and also relational. Contemporary Sufi master Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee guides us to use the dire conditions that face us as an opportunity to awaken to our integral place in the web of life, shedding a life of consumption for a life of community. Opening to the life inside and also around us, we discover that balance is a dance, constantly in movement. In a vivid and touching portrait of his dealings and friendship with an Afghan carpet dealer, James Opie describes a way of life in which interactions are more than business transactions, in which relationships matter as much as goods and gain. That life vanished into the terrible imbalance of war and extremism. The carpet dealer felt this change coming even before the signs were clear, telling Opie: “Often heart know more than head.”
And yet in spite of our imbalance, the universe remains harmonious, “a cosmos, not a chaos,” as Admiral Richard E. Byrd, alone in Antarctica, said as he beheld a winter’s night sky. May this issue help us all to remember that we are part of that cosmos.
—Tracy Cochran
Table of Contents
Finding balance in an unstable world
Life lessons from William Segal: businessman, artist, seeker
A celebration of the great wheel of existence
Dealing carpets with a remarkable man in old Afghanistan
Helping each other to carry the load
How the inner and outer find their places
It gives form to the Milky Way, to a sunflower and more
Art blooms in a San Francisco park
Jewish wisdom on what connects us all
On a polar night, he heard the music of the spheres
A wise path runs between push and pull, effort and surrender
Giving and receiving in a Bolivian marketplace
Cultivating the sacred in your own backyard
"It is possible for mankind to be born again"
Advice and exercises on aligning with the Tao
From the lunar disc, magic comes
Joyful recipes from the Pennsylvania Dutch
epicycle
Retold by Betsy Cornwell
tangent
Tracking Tolkien's Keeper of the Forest
book reviews
Reviewed by Cynthia Bourgeault
Reviewed by Patty de Llosa
Reviewed by Lee van Laer
ENDPOINT
The Natural Order of Things Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Lucky Man Tracy Cochran
Circle Magic Dery Dyer
"Find Noor Sher. Noor Sher knows." James Opie
Distributing the Weight Mark Nepo
Yoga and Life Annie Schliffer
The Golden Ratio Julie J. Morley
Demetrio Braceros and the New Trail of Hope Richard Whittaker
Every Gesture Counts Rabbi Eliezer Shore
The Universe was a Cosmos Admiral Richard E. Bird
To Find the Middle Way Matthieu Ricard, Christophe Andre, Alexandre Jollien
Ayni: Living Life in the Round Patricia Soledad Llosa
Creating Balance in the Garden Martin Mosko and Alxe Noden
To Serve the Future J.G. Bennett
Learning Your Balance Point Solala Towler
Moon Woman Vision David R. Kopacz, M.D., and Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow)
How to Bake a Scripture Cake Anonymous
The Nightingale Hans Christian Andersen / Fairy tale
In Search of Bombadil Keith Badger
Gurdjieff: Mysticism, Contemplation, & Exercises Joseph Azize
The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life David Brooks
Sacred Mounds Jim Metzner
