Better Than That

New, on The Buddha Diaries' blogroll.

We have been updating our blogroll these pas couple of weeks, and in the process have come across quite a number of wonderful, previously unexplored blogs. Here are a couple more recommendations:

Check out this sculpture by Juan Munoz at Tasting Rhubarb, and its inspiration in a painting by Gentile Bellini, a wonderful correspondence between a modern artist and the Renaissance. (Sadly, Munoz has now left us, much too soon...) Jean, at the London-based Rhubarb site, has a fine ear for language as well as a truly refined eye for works of art. She comes up with some highly individual photographs, too. A recent post indicates that she's off on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I for one am already looking forward to her return.

Also from England--and a small town near the village where I myself grew up--Mike Cross posts at Errata--a blog with the provocative subtitle "Who Turned Freedom Into Its Opposite?" (I can think of a candidate or two.) Mike brings a subtle intelligence to bear on Zen Buddhist concepts and linguistic constructs, inviting us into the space where mind and body co-exist and examining the thoughts of masters ancient and modern with astutely skeptical and self-critical humor.

Katia, at IAMKATIA, is a must-see, must-visit photojournalist, whose compassion for the homeless youth of Seattle, Washington reaches way beyond the sharp eye of her camera and into the streets themselves. I believe her absolutely when she describes the young people in her pictures as her teachers. Her photographs are mine. Teachers, that is.

Every time I wander off into the blogosphere, I'm struck by the intelligence and goodness and humanity that I find there. I know there's plenty of mean-spiritedness, too. I come across it in the political blogs. But even many of the political blogs are evidence of people getting together to talk out some of the urgent issues of our time. It suggests to me that there's still hope for "democracy" in this world, despite the rhetoric of politicians and their subterfuges. I like the sentiment that has cropped up like a flutter of hope in the current presidential campaign: We're better than that...