Any inventory of the cosmos that omits us is like a survey of the body that overlooks the brain. In evolving the human mind, the universe has fashioned an instrument capable of understanding itself and empathizing with others. We are that instrument, and since we are part of the cosmos, we err if we judge it to lack kindness, love and compassion.

Our lives begin to end the day we fall silent on the things that matter. Like Mahatma Gandhi once said, we do not need to wait to see what others do, but we ourselves must to be the change we want to see in the world.

If science and religion cooperate to uphold and extend dignity, and left and right remove the inequities that thwart fair competition, we can build a global society that's as close to heaven as we need.

One reading of the human story emphasizes war and domination. Another telling highlights overthrowing tyrants and progressively emancipating ourselves. The key to deciding which of these perspectives is predictive of the human future lies in a paradoxical property of power.

Many insist that man's predatory practices are undiminished and ineradicable. But an opposing trend is becoming visible. While admitting that "the arc of the moral universe is long," Martin Luther King Jr. believed that "it bends toward justice."

What people really want in relationships is dignity, not domination. While it's not hard to understand why people who have suffered oppression might fantasize taking a turn at domination, to actually do so is to over-reach.

Buddha, sitting with one hand raised to show he's teaching, the other reaching down to touch the Earth below. With that one act, Buddha stopped the march with a single gesture. He taught us to look for the timelessness within time.

When we become a servant of God, who loves unconditionally and gives selflessly -- when we align our will with the Infinite will -- then we see that the power of Pharoah is an illusion, the door opens for miracles and we become free.

In my reading this week I came across a fascinating story about St. Francis that speaks deeply to that last commitment to work toward the repair of an ailing church. This story is a challenge for us all.

Jefferson, much the deist, held to the idea of a "designer" to explain the scientific origin of the universe. Enlightenment thinkers called this designer the "great clockmaker," but he was not the same God that interceded in the cosmos.

Siddhartha's choice led to his Enlightenment, to Buddhahood. When you face your choice, how will you answer? Which path will you choose?

I just got back from leading a 9-day meditation retreat in the wild and cactus-filled desert of Arizona. And I feel exuberant, inspired and powerfully awake to the presence of immanent and seemingly infinite potential.