Each of us is called to particular work, according to our biography and talents and circumstances. Answering that call is to lay claim to our deepest truth and our kinship to each other.

Our fear of death is based on a fundamental misconception about who dies, and what is deathless.

The purpose of culturally endorsed puberty rites is to end childhood and start personhood. These rites forge an ability to prize life and begin a kinship with death that says, ‘Your life has limits’.

To save a life is to save all of humanity.

THE ROAD FROM DAMASCUS by Dan Gaffney

One of the unique and troubling challenges of being human is our separation from nature. We harbour this separation in our heads, hearts and souls, a quandary that has rendered us homeless in a most profound way.

Old myths taught people respect and reverence for life and the natural world. Like poetry and parables, the myths were pointers to a deeper wisdom about the nature of life, love, death and the unique privileges and burdens of being human.

Our pursuit of pleasure and fulfilment is costing the earth. Yet our needs are small compared to what the world needs from us. Learning the wisdom and ways of reciprocity mean answering the call to become elders.

The idea of doing our bucket list before we grow old and die raises the question of whether we can live a full and happy life without satisfying all of our desires.

Death disrupts the habits of a lifetime. It’s arrival grieves us because it reminds us of what we’d shared, what we haven’t, and what has ended.