Arlene Goldbard

I’m not much of a believer. The notion of belief incorporates a leap of faith: we don’t “believe in” gravity or the beating of our hearts; instead, we know these things through observation. Rather than believing, my interest is in noticing, whether what I notice confounds received beliefs or reinforces them.
Here’s something I noticed [...]

I spent Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) with my Jewish Renewal community, a cohort that prizes creative liturgy, ecstatic chant, guided meditation and socially conscious sermons—just my style. Because one intention of the holiday is to turn toward life and away from whatever embitters it, many of the leaders talked about the terrible suffering [...]

I’ve been chewing over a problem—an especially tough esthetic-political-spiritual problem—and I wonder if you can help. Let me explain.
Whether you look at the news or at the new TV season, at the local multiplex or the art gallery, at the nightclub or the bookstore, there’s no denying that our culture is generating boundless imagery of [...]

Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, begins Friday night. As readers know, I’ve been working on my cheshbon hanefesh—soul accounting—in preparation for the deep rituals of t’shuvah—reorientation—that mark the period of the High Holy Days.
One part of that work requires searching my heart and mind for knots of unfinished business: do I need to [...]

Last month I quoted Gandhi on inner guidance. “For me, he wrote, “the Voice of God, of Conscience, of Truth or the Inner Voice or the still small Voice mean one and the same thing.”
The Torah reading for the week just ending underscores the same truth, exhorting the people to follow what they know deep [...]

At this time of year, when I am doing my cheshbon hanefesh (soul accounting) in preparation for the High Holy Days that herald the New Year, I become especially attuned to reminders and signs.
My everyday world is cluttered with ordinary reminders. I would not say I am particularly forgetful–in fact, I’m still pretty [...]

“Don’t scare yourself. Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts. It’s a dreadful way to live. Find a mental image that gives you pleasure (mine is yellow roses), and immediately switch your scary thought to a pleasant thought.”
Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank, Meta-Siddur
According to the secular calendar, this coming Monday is the yahrzeit–the anniversary of the death–of Rabbi [...]

It appears that we are in a time of spiritual convergence. The rapid expansion of communications technologies has propelled the writings of countless spiritual traditions through cyberspace, making it clearer than ever that beneath their differences, they speak of the same profound truths. As Gandhi said, “Even as a tree has a single trunk, but [...]

Do you hear a faint crackling sound? Don’t be alarmed, it’s just a paradigm shifting. And about time too.
Today’s New York Times carries a report on policies proposed by the Association of Art Museum Directors; AAMD says museums should take care in exhibiting sacred objects. A particular focus is on indigenous objects, such as [...]

When I was first learning to drive, every movement of the steering wheel caused the car to veer too far in one direction, and when I attempted to correct by steering the other way, I often went too far back. Until I’d practiced a few times, I drove like a drunken skater.
And so we [...]