Erik Davis on the Fact of Death as a Liberator

The reason you don’t know is because you’re going to die, and nobody is going to wrap their heads around death. You can’t do it. It’s impossible. You can’t conceive of your own death. You don’t know what it means. Any religious person who tells you, “Well, this has what happens when you die. When … Read moreErik Davis on the Fact of Death as a Liberator

Memoria 2024

My Memoria symbolically began very early, with the inaugural Sky Meadow Mystery School event in Vermont; at that time there were just the first hints of change, tiny patches of russet in an arboreal sea of green, spreading almost imperceptibly during our magical week in the mountains. Now Fall has finally fallen; an exceptionally dry … Read moreMemoria 2024

“You Are Going to Die”: Oliver Burkeman’s “Four Thousand Weeks” and “Meditations for Mortals”

Hillary Kelly interviews author Oliver Burkemann for The Atlantic: Burkeman cheerfully acknowledges that repetition is vital to his message—and to the way we self-reinforce it. A favorite tweet, he told me with a hearty laugh, goes something like this: “Four Thousand Weeks is basically just Oliver Burkeman shouting You are finite; you’re going to die … Read more“You Are Going to Die”: Oliver Burkeman’s “Four Thousand Weeks” and “Meditations for Mortals”

Nightfall: Time Flies (October 17-18 at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NYC)

Amidst the serene backdrop of weathered gravestones and trees whispering in the wind, this year’s Nightfall invites you to reflect on the fleeting nature of time itself. As dusk settles and darkness fills the cemetery, explore tales of lives lived and moments lost, revel in nostalgia for a grand past, and grieve for all the things that … Read moreNightfall: Time Flies (October 17-18 at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NYC)

The Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images

Taking place during late August of 2024, the inaugural Sky Meadow Mystery School was a free, week-long, residential immersion into wholesome permaculture practice and the mythopoetic mysteries of Life and Death. As an experiment in countercultural community-building, the Mystery School was also a time and place to learn new skills and perspectives. One of our … Read moreThe Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images

“When Death Comes”

When death comeslike the hungry bear in autumn;when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;when death comeslike the measle-pox when death comeslike an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:what is it going to … Read more“When Death Comes”

Walking the boulder field

Part of my morning ritual walk, which is undertaken partly for exercise, partly as a kind of moving meditation practice, is to navigate this stretch of several hundred feet of shoreline adjacent to the local river. Because of its position, slightly downstream of the point where two branches of the river meet, tree trunks washed … Read moreWalking the boulder field