“To be with the world, to have wealth, to be involved with the world, with the entirety of the world, and not drown in it, and not be mastered by it, and not be controlled by it—that is the way of transcendence. That is how you transcend the world. By transforming it, you transcend it.” —Michael Gottlieb Do you remember one clear moment when you thought, “I’ve made it!” The college acceptance letter. The job. The deal. The marriage. The luxury vacation. That deep sigh of

What is maya? Maya literally means illusion. It is a Hindu term for an ancient concept in Indian spiritual philosophy that suggests that there is a veil that covers our true nature and cloaks the world around us with illusion. At its heart is a fairly simple question: Are the things we see and experience around us the ultimate reality, or is there something deeper? Here is one practical way to look at maya: Have you ever been convinced that if you could just get one particula

The concept of oneness—the understanding that we are all one people, one planet, one universe—is profound and beautiful. But it has been so overused that it borders on cliché. We hear sayings like “We really are all one,” or “We are the world.” Then there’s the old joke about the monk who approaches a hot-dog vendor and says, “Make me one with everything.” While there’s nothing inherently malicious or damaging about these examples, they’re sorely lacking in depth. The reality