Brother David's
Articles

Would you like to learn about gratefulness step-by-step? 
Visit this special index of articles to help you begin
and build your understanding.

• A Deep Bow
  Gratitude as the root of a common religious language.
• About the Heart
  Out-pouring and in-gathering, journey and home, are inseparably united in the dynamic reality of the heart.
• All in the Same Boat
  More than 20 years old, this interview about mysticism and social action is surprising in its contemporary relevance.
• A New Reason For Gratitude
  Five simple steps towards gratitude offer us strength even when we're endangered by violence. (Deutsch: Ein Neuer Grund Für Dankbarkeit )
• A Revolution of Authority
  In a fear-inspiring time, many people wonder whom to trust. This interview with Brother David looks at sources of guidance and the nature of true authority.
• Are You Thankful or Grateful?
  Losing our life to Life itself is the secret of gratefulness.
• Art and the Sacred
  An exploration of awe -- that inexplicable fusion of fear and fascination -- through poetry and a painting.
• The Artist at the Crux of Community
  We are “mindful makers,” and within each one of us that realm of the artistic mediates between daily chores and religious aspirations.
• Awake, Aware, and Alert
  What happens at the start, in the middle, and at the end when we experience gratitude?
• Become What You Are
  What do we need in order to pull ourselves together? Jack Loudon from Parabola magazine explores this question with Brother David.
• Caught Red-Handed
  From a child stealing a robin’s egg, to the systemic thievery of governments, theft takes many forms.  Brother David takes a candid look at his actions and his responsibility for them. 
• Contemplative Community
  Contemplative community is solitude-community for the sake of leisure. To live leisurely means to take things one by one, to single them out for grateful consideration.

• The Cosmic Story
  Many ancient myths sound like wild stuff, but what could be wilder than the scientific assertion that we came out of the stars?
• Dishwashing with Reverence
  Ever wonder what gratefulness has to do with everyday chores?
• Ever Deeper Roots in Love
  In a time of great change, we depend on unchanging love.
• Faith and the Path
  Discords are somehow part of a greater harmony and make the harmony more interesting, complex, and beautiful.
• A Few Tips for Offline Practice
  How to incorporate gratefulness into each and every day.
• Fullness and Emptiness
  This alphabetical collection of words, to which we will add over time, points beyond any fullness words can convey to an emptiness in which we can silently recollect all that matters most.
• Giving Thanks for All the Little (and Big) Things in Life
  Learn how gratefulness grows from the seeds of surprise.
• The Great Circle-Dance
  Brother David explores the relationship between the great religious traditions of the world, using personal experience as a launching pad.
• The Heart of Prayer
  Different human beings follow different paths to find that oneness which we all have — with other human beings, with animals, with plants, with the whole cosmos.
• Heroic Virtue
  Like us, the saints had human shortcomings.  But they had some outstanding quality that redeemed all the rest. 
• The House of Hope
  The house which hope builds combines in a unique way the security of love and the adventure of faith.
• How Big is Your Family?
  If we consider ouselves members of the Earth Family, our opportunities for belonging, gratefulness, and love are limitless.
• Insights into Truth
  What is your attitude towards truth? Brother David explores the dynamic nature of understanding.
• Lay Monasticism
  Ram Dass, Brother David, and Swami Satchidananda explore the value of vows.
• Learning to Die
  "Whenever we do give up a person or a thing or a position, when we truly give it up, we die – yes, but we die into greater aliveness."
• Meditation on the United Nations
  What do you say to a group of the world's most prominent spiritual leaders as they come together to meditate on world peace? Read Brother David's poignant and motivating words.
• The Monk in Us
  A child’s spontaneous play, our peak moments, and learning to let go:  All these experiences can open us up to the truth.
• The Mystical Core of Organized Religion
  "All religious doctrine can be traced to its roots in mystical experience."
• Narrow is the Way
  Once we discover that narrowness is the way,
  we participate in the joy of understanding that it is so.
• The Now That Does Not Pass Away
  What do we do with the fact that our human life, in the only form in which we know it, is bound for destruction; and on the other hand the fact that “all joy wants eternity,” as Nietzsche puts it?
• O Gaia: Nature and the Poetic Intuition
  Who is your favorite poet?  How many neighbors do you know by name?  And how can questions like these help make your intuitive knowledge of the sacredness of nature an effective force in the world?
• Paths of Obedience
  Have you ever felt that you were being tried beyond what is humanly possible to endure? If so, you may find help in a surprising source: Fairy Tales.
• Practicing Gratitude
  In interview reprinted from Sacred Journey, Brother David describes how gratitude cultivates creativity, aliveness, and harmony with nature's rhythms.
• Praying the Great Dance
  Brother David describes ways to be "anchored in lasting joy" through prayer.
• The Price of Peace
  "If we allow our hearts to be broken they will be broken open not broken down, open to embrace everyone."
• The Price of Wholeness
  "Is there a wholeness that goes beyond the point where the Buddha enters Nirvana?"
• Questions about Gratefulness
  Dozens of responses covering everything from genetic engineering to jealousy's good side to why religions go wrong.
• Recollections of Thomas Merton’s Last Days in the West – Drawing connections between Buddhism and Christianity, Merton reflects on the universal meaning of prayer.  
• Religion of the Heart
  In our innermost heart we can tap a source of power strong enough to counteract the forces that threaten this good green earth.
• Sacramental Life
  "There is only one condition for seeing life sacramentally: 'Take off your shoes!' Realize that the ground on which we stand is holy ground."
• The Shadow
  The more we suppress the darkness within us, the more it leads a life of its own. Brother David's reflections help guide us out of this trap.
• Shared Spirituality
  The integral practice of grateful living unites Christianity, Buddhism, and all religious traditions.
• Spirituality as Common Sense
  "To live a spiritual life means to act as one acts in one’s own house where one belongs together."
• Twelve Moons
  Just as we can meet the angels of each hour, so we can discover angels who bless us month by month.
• User-friendly Lent
  Too often Lent has been misunderstood as a time of grim repentance, but it is meant to be a time of joy, the joy of a fresh start.
• Views of the Cosmos
  "The human heart communicates with the mystery in which the universe is embedded, like those inland lakes that communicate underground with the ocean."
• Well-Balanced
  How do we balance contemplation with our responsibility to care for a world in need?  Eido Shimano Roshi and Brother David explore their respective Buddhist-Christian viewpoints with a mix of laughter and somber awareness.
• Word, Silence, and Understanding
  The quest for meaning is the adventure par excellence, and happiness lies in the thrill of this adventure.
• Work and Leisure
  A person who lives only at the active level is like someone who only breathes out, or like a heart that only releases blood. That would be a strange kind of life, if indeed it were even possible.
• Yes, With Thanks
  "Gratefulness is the great task, the how of our spiritual work, because, rightly understood, it re-roots us."
• Rule of St. Benedict
  In the wake of September 11, Brother David introduces a conference, and opens a dialogue between East and West on the basis of the foundational text of the Benedictine order.