Welcome to The Suture!

Suture (noun) - a medical device used to hold body tissues together after an injury.

We live in a wounded world. Almost everywhere we look we see this truth. The climate is in crisis, and our willingness and ability to address this crisis are sorely lacking when compared to what is required. We are deeply divided politically, awash in misinformation, filled with distrust of our fellow citizens, and at risk of losing our democracy. Injustice and inequality are pervasive, with the wealthiest sliver of society seeing their net worth skyrocket while the middle class shrinks and the suffering of those in poverty increases unabated. In spite of ever increasing interconnectedness, we face an epidemic of loneliness. Addiction and mental illness are also at epidemic levels. In the midst of these challenges trust in the institutions that formerly served to unite us is badly eroded. We are coming apart. We need new ideas to bind us together.

The Suture is a newsletter that seeks to play its own small part in addressing these and other challenges. Each week, we will publish sharp and incisive articles that look at how contemplation, technology, science, and culture can be tools for reunion and renewal. Almost all of the articles related to contemplation and Buddhist-Christian dialogue will be free. Additional in-depth articles available only to subscribers will look from broader perspectives at the sources and solutions to some of our problems.

Don’t be discouraged at the challenges listed above. Hope is the foundation of all of the articles that The Suture will publish. I believe that when our wounds are taken seriously and tended via contemplative practice, these same wounds become sacred, carrying within them the answers that we seek and need. In this time of great woundedness and distress, the dual gifts of contemplation and action are essential to bring together what is asunder. Please check us out and see if you are nourished to play your part in this healing process.