Concrete acts of loving-kindness
byThe religious traditions were in unanimous agreement. The one and only test of a valid religious idea, doctrinal statement, spiritual experience, or devotional practice…
Share our pain
by the daily asteriskWhen we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead…
What the poor have to carry
by the daily asteriskHere is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather in judgment at how…
Ubuntu
by the daily asteriskUbuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language. It speaks of the very essence of being human. When we want to give high…
Common duties and common interests
by the daily asteriskFellow-feeling, sympathy in the broadest sense, is the most important factor in producing a healthy political and social life. Neither our national nor our…
Loitering
by the daily asteriskAs children get older, this incidental outdoor activity—say, while waiting to be called to eat—becomes less bumptious, physically and entails more loitering with others,…
A playful revolution
by Catherine WoodiwissEditor’s note: Each Thursday, we feature a throwback piece from Topology’s predecessor, catapult magazine. In this essay from 2011, Catherine Woodiwiss discovers how play can…
Means of conversion
by the daily asteriskPlay so powerful it can absorb adults, becoming their way of life, may have a meaning that children’s play lacks. While there is an…
Foragers
by Amanda HilandChasing crickets through alpine meadows, my sisters and I stumble over bones sprawled in a grove of blackberry vines. Alone. The ants the flies…
Through other eyes
by the daily asteriskThe magic and the danger of fiction is this: it allows us to see through other eyes. It takes us to places we have…