We live at a time of great opportunity in the human experience. There are blessings and possibilities open to us today of which our ancestors could only dream. At the same time, our societies have grown so complex and riddled with conflict that we are also living under more stress and chaos now than at any previous time in our history. As I see it, the great flowering of human ingenuity, creativity and the development of the truly astonishing technology in which we are engaged today, along … [Read more...]

I was climbing through steep mountain terrain in the Himalayas with my teachers, Agnes Whistling Elk, Ruby Plenty Chiefs and Ani, a Nepalese hill woman. Below us, a fast-moving river plunged down a steep gorge.Suddenly, Ani signaled for us to stop. Coming toward us were three Red Chinese soldiers. I bent over and held my pashamina shawl across my face, trying to look like a boy from the Nar Valley.The soldiers spoke loudly in Chinese, pointing their rifles at us. Ani spoke to their heavy-set … [Read more...]

Many years ago, a powerful shaman named Twin Dreamers said to me, "We are all born wild like a mountain lion. To live in civilization we become sheep at a very young age. We become tame. But we are not house pets. We are fierce and wild by nature."Are you fierce and wild by nature? What thoughts and feelings do these words evoke in you?Twin Dreamers is a Kuna Indian of Central America. She is also a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields, an extraordinary group of native women who are … [Read more...]