Group decision-making is more than leaders pushing solutions through. Image from CNN.

Community volunteers read Moby Dick aloud over three days, for the love of literature and the sea.

Lessons from NPR's/WBUR's podcast OnPoint, a great piece this week called "Is it time to abandon the "tough love" approach to addiction?"

A compelling new short film, Turkey, is dedicated to my brother’s memory. The why is a surprising story.

Community is a tool of transcendence, allowing us to feel belonging, security and joy. Place and space, argues a spiritual organization, is essential for building community.

It is encouraging to think that the elation we feel with an occurrence of awe may be a molecule of anatta, and is available to all of us in the simplest of life events.

A look at how stigma is inhibiting our response to the substance use crisis, generated based on reaction to Beth Macy’s Raising Lazarus, her follow-on to Dopesick.

A highly recommended book. Keltner identifies eight typologies of awe, delivers compelling conclusions, and I give my best understanding of the relationship between awe and transcendence

How do the ideas in the book Awe, by Dacher Keltner, overlap with Everyday Transcendence?

Few things in life feed our souls like friendship. Reconnecting with friends is an everyday transcendence.

A reader posits questions about the post “Killer Disease”, and why the growing prevalence of substance use disorder isn’t more of a crisis.

Substance use disorder is often not mentioned as one of the leading causes of death in our country. This reflects stigma and prevents resources from reaching a societal problem.

Popova and Kafka write eloquently about the impact of a narcissistic parent on a child, in a way that parallels my brother’s experience.

Daniel Levinson identified stages in a man’s life in his 1978 book, and I map those onto Pete’s life.

I’ve always loved the word “paradox”, and hearing it on a recent podcast got me thinking about it.

On Pete’s birthday, I reflect on the year since I've embarked on the project to commemorate Pete's life in a book.

First lessons in transcendence through the written word, thanks to a writing workshop and Toni Morrison.

Part 6 of 6 on Unbroken Brain covers a third category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: education.

Part 5 of 6 covers the second category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: legalization.

Part 4 of 6 covers the first category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: harm reduction.