The Sacred Bard

“The growth rate of Christians in Nepal has been rising sharply after Nepal became a republic and a secular state. There are unverified reports that in the recently conducted population census, the number of Christians is between 1.5 and 2 million which is more than 5% of the total population.”

“The message from Confucius on this season of love and giving is that which we can all strive for, the goal of the Noble Person. After all, even the Grinch and Scrooge come to recognize the goals of love and giving, transforming themselves toward the teaching of jen, goodness and humaneness, for all!”

“Many thoughtful people feel a need to almost apologize or assume a somewhat ironic pose when warning of material excess, especially at Christmas time. This is not just understandable. It’s refreshing, given how the discussion of consumerism seems to perennially devolve into handwringing and dour pontification. The headmaster and the grad students realize that people are tuning out the crankier critiques of consumerism. And that’s partly because people are consumers, although that’s not all they are. Most of us hunt for values, in both the retail and moral senses of that word.”