A WHOLE IN ONE The flag fluttered in a light breeze. With the swing, the ball rose then dropped as if it had eyes for the target. As he approached the cup, there was a rising exhilaration like nothing he had ever felt. A symmetry of desire and fulfillment, wiping clean past and future with… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s Notes in Passing, Blog Post #8: “Welcome to the Human Race”
This is a story about a global culture that can enrich our lives, transcend geography and generations, when it’s not leading to total confusion. A decade ago, I was Chair of the Global Reporting Initiative’s Stakeholder Council – 50 elected representatives from every continent except Antarctica, the full spectrum of race, color, and the sectors… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s NOTES IN PASSING Blog #7: “I Like This Ending Better”
I was having lunch with Ralph Nader, shortly after the 1992 elections where Ralph made his first Presidential run. I asked him about the experience. He replied it was awful, and not to be repeated. What if he had applied his own advice to a Presidential candidacy in 2000, where there was plenty of evidence… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s Notes in Passing, Blog Post #6: “Getting In and Out of Hot Water”
Enjoy this link to a wonderful film about what can be done in even the poorest of conditions with the will of a community and creative leadership. The story jumps from the mid-’60s with the contributions of a Peace Corps Volunteer in a poor El Salvador rural town to 2011 when he returns at the… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s Blog, NOTES IN PASSING Post #5: “Divorcing Reality, The Case For Separation”
DIVORCING REALITY: THE CASE FOR SEPARATION The two worst case scenarios for the 2020 national election are that Donald Trump wins the election or that he loses. If he wins, we’ll have four more years to invite a terminal catastrophe or wallow in the trough of arrogance, ignorance and greed. If he loses, don’t expect… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s Blog, NOTES IN PASSING Post #4: “Immortal Remains”
Question: “What do you think of euthanasia?” Answer: “I guess they’re a lot like kids everywhere.” — heard in my youth on the radio program, “Youth Wants to Know.” On St. Patrick’s Day, 2000, my wife, Margaret, our son, Rob, and I were at the local pub with her 89 year-old father. Ben had just… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s NOTES IN PASSING Blog #3: “CERES, For a Living Planet”
POST #3: “CERES, For A Living Planet” We were sailing along the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts, our annual CERES Board retreat outing. It had been several long days, with yet another to come. The ocean was blue to black, unfathomably environmental, resting our fervent struggles for the fate of the planet in its embrace. But… Read More
Paul Freundlich’s NOTES IN PASSING Blog #2: “Other Voices”
In 1982, while putting together an issue of “Communities” about spiritual change, my travels took me to Eugene, Oregon. I was invited to appear on a radio show on the subject. Afterwards, the host, sharing her own dilemma, told me this story: “For years, I had an interior voice. We would have long dialogs about… Read More
Notes in Passing: Blog Post #1 of a weekly exploration
Persephone’s Quest: BLOG POST #1 For this first Blog, I turn to a story that begins like this: Queen Hera has convened a noisy and contentious cohort of Goddesses on Mount Olympus. Hera: “Girls, ladies, simmer down.” As they settle, she continues, “On the occasion of the vernal equinox, as we enter… Read More
Marco! Polo!
by Paul Freundlich “Marco Polo during his travels to the Orient…recounts a story he heard, of the “Old Man of the Mountain” who would drug his young followers with hashish. After being drugged, the devotees were said to be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young maidens. Here, they were told that they were… Read More
EXEMPLARS 