Gary Snyder
Book Bits

Gary Snyder on Radical Social Change

There is nothing necessarily natural or inevitable, argues Gary Snyder, about repression, violence and frustrated personalities, and the more we are able to practice and connect with our deeper natures, the more apparent this becomes. Snyder's vision for a more enlightened society stems from his conviction that the 'joyous and voluntary poverty of Buddhism' is… Continue reading Gary Snyder on Radical Social Change

Book Bits

Ursula le Guin and the Importance of Imagination

This essay by Ursula le Guin - a talk given at a meeting of Oregon Literary Arts in 2002 - is one of the longest posts on The Dewdrop to date, which is perhaps appropriate given that the subject of the piece is the merit of reading and the importance of nurturing the imagination. In… Continue reading Ursula le Guin and the Importance of Imagination

Ben Connelly
Book Bits

What Love Looks Like in Public: Ben Connelly on Cultivating Intimacy

Intimacy is an indispensable partner to mindfulness, says author and Zen teacher Ben Connelly whose book, 'Mindfulness and Intimacy', argues that mindfulness practice requires the parallel cultivation of intimacy in order to enrich our empathetic engagement with the world around us and with ourselves. In this extract, Connelly addresses the need for deeper relationships within… Continue reading What Love Looks Like in Public: Ben Connelly on Cultivating Intimacy