Troubles and Transformation in Turbulent Times
Dear Friends: We live in an intensely dangerous period of time–for ourselves and for the world. The turbulence continues to accelerate. This is the polycrisis–the quickening interaction of environmental, social, technological and economic stressors–leading to...
Would Knowing Make A Difference?
Dear Friends: This morning at 8 a.m., four of us from Commonweal went down to Agate Beach in Bolinas. We went to visit an extraordinary whale rib that had washed up with the tide. I estimate the rib is about twelve feet long and as thick as my thigh. Since it is only...
Changing Times
Dear Friends: This essay, or working paper, is my latest effort to explore how we may live as best we can in the global polycrisis that we have entered. I use the terms global polycrisis and polycrisis throughout this working paper. But I hold no special brief for...
Time to Slow Down
Dear New School Friends: No doubt you have noticed the world is in disarray. No doubt COVID has affected your life. No doubt the signs of war and climate change and political strife weigh upon you. Tonight, as I reflected on what i might say to you, an inner voice...
Integrative Suggestions for COVID Prevention
Dear TNS Friends: Thanks to so many of you for supporting The New School this giving season. We are so grateful. If you didn't get around to making a contribution, no worries! Just make your contribution here. Start the new year supporting our unique approach to...
Fall Letter: Stones and Souls
Dear Commonweal Friends: I hope this letter finds you well. You will soon see the Commonweal Year End Report. This is my personal letter to you. I’ve organized the letter around seven topics: What Oren Slozberg has brought to Commonweal. The 212th Cancer Help Program...
Ask for a Miracle
Dear New School Friends, How do we live in this time? It is a question I ask myself again and again. For many, there is little choice. It is a time of such anguish for uncounted millions around the world. But what of those of us who have a sufficiency? Food, a roof...
Sources of Hope in the Face of COVID and the Polycrisis
Dear New School Friends: I hope this finds you well. I've been thinking about sources of hope in the face of COVID and the polycrisis. **** COVID COVID isn't going away any time soon. In fact COVID will be with us for the foreseeable future. I've started a little...
Work on the Side of Angels
Dear New School Friends, First of all, I want to thank all of you for staying with The New School through the past year of extraordinary turmoil. The pandemic, the politics, the disruption of our lives, and all the rest. I want you to know that The New School is...
Spring Letter from Michael Lerner
Dear Commonweal Friends: I hope this finds each of you as well as you can be. What a year this has been. While the whole world wallowed in the anguish of the pandemic, the Forbes list of millionaires increased their net worth from $8 trillion to $13 trillion. There...
The Rainbow Sign: Resistance, Resilience & Restoration in the Global Polycrisis
We founded Commonweal 44 years ago. Our vision was to support healing ourselves and healing the earth. We have worked toward that end ever since. Healing differs from curing. A cure ends a disease. Healing is a movement toward wholeness. Healing can take place when we...
Inquiry into the Nature of Jewish Faith
Dear New School Friends: Many of you know that just over six months ago I had a life-saving surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. The six-month recovery was often arduous. The whole experience catapulted...