Today, my doctoral supervisor asked me: “what is the purpose of contemplative practice in the midst of this pandemic?” I answered: “To help us remain upright amidst great disruption.” Later, I...
The life of the Buddha is composed of many apocryphal stories. One story in particular strikes at our present situation. Here is the story of the Buddha’s encounter with Angulimala, as described...
News outlets are reporting a significant decrease in air pollution as a result of stay-at-home orders. These reports began to emerge at the end of March, with indications that Nitrogen (NO2)Dioxide...
Health authorities have been issuing stark injunctions to citizen across the world. Stay home. Bend the curve. Contain the spread. Here in British Columbia, Health Minister Adrian Dix has been...
My wife Pam is an Occupation Therapist who works at an Arthritis Clinic. In anticipation of a staff shortage at Vancouver General Hospital due to COVID-19, the administrators have closed the...
Nine years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven Soderbergh’s film, Contagion, presaged the current outbreak. The compelling narrative aside, it was the film’s closing sequence that haunted me when I...
It is now reported that approximate half the world in living in some form of mandatory isolation or lockdown. The dispatches from the U.S. are frightening: New York is overwhelmed, and California...
The COVID-19 pandemic has relegated most people to their homes. In many countries, people are burrowed deep in their nests. The streets are desolate, the parks empty. There are countless others who...
I’ve always been intriqued by the mysterious workings of viruses and bacteria, those invisible microbes that number in the trillions which live on and inside our bodies. The microbiome in the...