We are less than ten days before Christmas and the 2025 is nearly finished. Here are some past Christmas posts that you might like to read between all that you need/should/ought/want/and don’t want to do. During this time of year full of darkness, I hope you can find a moment to reflect on the beauty, light, and love that is also in our midst.
After graduating from the University of California Berkeley in 1987, I moved to Fukuyama, Japan—about 400 miles south of Tokyo—to teach English. People often ask why I decided to go to Japan, but the reality is that Japan chose me. At that time, I longed to take a year off and travel abroad. Having applied for English teaching positions in more than fifty countries, the school in Fukuyama was the one that invited me to come.
I arrived knowing only three words in Japanese: hajimashite (nice to meet you), arigatoo (thank you), and sayonara (goodbye), thanks to a Japanese friend who helped me learn some helpful phraes before I left. I practiced constantly.
The author at the Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto in 1987.
I ended up staying two years in this beautiful country. I learned to speak Japanese and to read enough of the language to decipher grocery labels and train schedules, and I was blessed with making many Japanese friends, some of whom I am still in touch with 35 years later.
You can read more about my time in Japan and the transpersonal experience that I had while visiting Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto. This story was published as a “Spiritual Journey” by Unity Magazine (September/October 2023).
Feel free to enjoy and share “A Glimpse of Infinity.” (Note that the graphic makes more sense if you open the pdf and view it in two pages!)
The Journey of the Three Magi. Postcard from Assagioli’s Archives (ID# 010305)
Desire, in all its dimensions, is beautifully woven into the Christmas story. This word desire can evoke so many different images and feelings. Assagioli saw desire as an integral part of ourselves and subject to both our personal will and the will of the Higher Self.
In fact, the word desire fundamentally holds this idea of a higher or transpersonal will. I was amazed to learn that the word comes from the Latin roots dē, which means to “come from” and sīdus which means “heavenly body.” In other words, our longings literally “come from the heavens.” This idea may have originated from astrology, which attempts to understand how the heavenly bodies – stars and planets alike – can define who we are and what we want to become. Continue reading →
Love and Will 