Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching: How to Live, Love, and Lead
While teaching English in China, Jim Teeters received a copy of the Tao Te Ching from a student. Jim writes that he was drawn to Lao Tzu’s ancient meditations on what it means to be a human instrument guided by the power of the right way. Drawing on his Quaker experience of submission to the Inner Light, “the voice of Christ who speaks to my condition,” Jim waited with each of Lao Tzu’s eighty-one wisdom poems, reading them over and over, listening both for meaning and for how he might respond.
In the first section, “How to Live,” Jim notes that we strive for success, we strive for satisfaction, and we strive for peace. But we can’t earn God’s blessings. We must simply accept them. In the second section, “How to Love,” Jim focuses on the importance of listening and of empathy, showing warmth in a nonpossessive way. In “How to Lead,” Jim suggests that seeking control results in loss of control, but trust empowers people to move forward together.
Keep your mind and heart open as you read and react. Peruse, ponder, and discover.
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What we seek
existed before
the universe.
Calm existence.
Inexhaustible Source.
True guide
for soul’s journey.
We call her Mother,
unfathomable and comforter.
We arise from and return
to Her.
Available from Fernwood Press: http://www.fernwoodpress.com/2018/01/10/because-of-this/
Available from Barclay Press: http://www.barclaypressbookstore.com/Because-of-This.html
Suzie and Orbs are in their thirties and have been together for a couple of years. Orbs reluctantly makes a living in the City and Suzie is a respected financial journalist, but each has another life hidden from the outside world.
In death will come, poet Bill Denham attempts what is nearly impossible, coming to terms with the approaching end of life without nostalgia or sentimentality. And in this collection, he succeeds, offering his astonishing gift to the world, a testament to a life lived, suffered, and loved in open-hearted service and wonder. The poems are interrelated confessions that speak directly to Denham’s mother, to his father, to his estranged daughters. They reveal with painful, lyric candor, what it is to struggle with self-knowing in the face of death. A must read for anyone who will someday pass from this world.
Raised on a prune farm in rural Oregon, in a family with deep religious roots, Dr. Norval Hadley thought he might be a pastor someday. But after the farm boy and his friends won a barbershop harmony contest, everything changed. That foursome is remembered as the world-famous Four Flats, and in 1956 the quartet signed on with World Vision. They appeared with Billy Graham, performed on the ABC radio network, and led two evangelistic tours of Asia. Dr. Hadley made his way around the world, working with World Vision, Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, Evangelical Friends Mission, New Call to Peacemaking, and the National Prayer Committee. In this collection of recollections, Dr. Hadley tells the story of how his decision to follow God no matter what took him into seventy-five countries and on a lifetime of adventure.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the effort to keep outside influences from impacting Quaker spirituality was clearly failing. Many Friends were impressed by the Enlightenment emphasis on reason in religion and commitment to religious and political freedom. Many others were caught up in Evangelical enthusiasm and commitment to social justice.
Our love songs have no shadows. We dare not acknowledge the deep love that can coexist with loss. But in this timely and timeless collection, Peg Edera offers what we didn’t know we needed: a proposal in the dark, a squad car filled with lilacs, tears saved for the right time, toast and honey.
A tiny institution that drew a mere handful of students on its first day may have seemed too inauspicious to garner local media attention. Indeed, the unpretentious training school opened with little fanfare. And yet, a century and a quarter later, the school endures—in a new location, with a new name, and with an expanded mission.
Did you know that a group of boys is called a noise? Or that a group of girls is called a giggle? It makes perfect sense that a group of family members is called a mess! This collective noun book celebrates the anticipation of your birthday and the uniqueness of your family. Celebrate your next birthday with a Mess of Relatives!
The world hungers for peace. People are starved for peace. No doubt this points to a universal, timeless hope, but now it seems acute. We see peace rallies and vigils, blogs, workshops, internet activism, relief work in war-torn areas, mediators working with families and nations, and ordinary folks everywhere trying to reduce the effects of racism, discrimination, and economic injustice. What Howard R. Macy offers here is an exploration of important biblical ideas about peace. They center on the Hebrew word and concept of shalom. That vision of shalom can deepen our thinking and shape our living for peace because the Bible speaks to our despair. It gives us some goals for peace and a basis to hope that peace will be achieved. The hope we see in the Bible does not come from the idea that humans are terrific. Instead, peace will come because God is good, trustworthy, and free and faithful to act.