Author: Julie A. Nelson

Julie A. Nelson is a Professor of Economics, Emeritus; a writer on gender, ethics, economics, and ecology; a Dharma Holder and Interim Spiritual Director at the Greater Boston Zen Center; mother of two grown children; and, when energy permits, an avid dancer.

Stopping the Mind

Part 1 of a reflection on birth, death, and the Linji Lu

 

“Once there is right view, birth and death can no longer touch you. At that point, whether you stay or go, you do so as a free person…You should stop the mind that is always wandering around, running to the neighbor’s house to study Zen…[and] achieve the state of having nothing to do…”

–from the Linji Lu (The Record of Master Linji) Parts 3 and 11, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh in Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go.

The phrase “being free from birth and death” crops up in many Zen teachings. I first took “birth” and “death” as referring to the bookends of a human lifespan. I tended to associate “being free” from them with metaphysical doctrines that tell us that the cycle of being born and dying is a bad thing. Drawing from Hindu metaphysics, some interpretations of Buddhism tell us that the goal of spiritual practice is to extinguish such reincarnation.

That never felt right to me. Continue reading “Stopping the Mind”

Buddhism, Climate Change, and Economics: Video

On February 18, 2016, I had the honor to be invited to speak, along with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, at a colloquium on “Buddhist Responses to Climate Change” at Harvard Divinity School. This is the video of the event. My talk was titled “Beyond ‘Small is Beautiful’: Buddhism and the Economics of Climate Change.”

Neither young nor old

…some reflections on transitions and transience

dandelions small

When I was young, I thought of age as something “out there” somewhere. I had my healthy, active, young self, with all the things it could do. And I knew that some day, if I were lucky enough to live so long, I would have an old self, with a different set of possible activities. I pictured her with snow-white hair, sitting in a chair. That didn’t seem so bad.

But what I hadn’t foreseen was the nickel-and-diming process of loss that marks the transition between being young and being old. This was for some reason a surprise. Continue reading “Neither young nor old”

Love and Resentment

I wish that, as a child, someone had told me that it’s OK to feel love and resentment at the same time.

Mom and me 1985 for web
Mom and me in 1985

I was a child caregiver, my mother having developed rheumatoid arthritis when she was in her twenties. I can barely remember her driving our old red-and-white station wagon. My older siblings can remember her riding a bicycle. Continue reading “Love and Resentment”

Feminine and Strong

“Muliebrity”: An important word to add to your vocabulary.

old-woman-yoga
Source: The Daily Mail

Muliebrity. I bet that’s a word you don’t know.

Our minds like to put things in easy categories, and gender is, for most of us, a very handy way of defining these categories. We tend to perceive “strong” as going in the “masculine” pile. A word like “soft,” on the other hand, goes in the “feminine” one. Continue reading “Feminine and Strong”

Surgeon and ?

So here’s a riddle for you: A man and his son are in a car accident…

surgical mask (1)

So here’s a riddle for you:

A man and his son are in a car accident. The man is killed instantly, and his son is rushed to the local hospital. The emergency room personnel see that the boy will need to be operated on,  and call for the surgeon. But, looking at the boy, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate. That’s my son!” How can this be? Continue reading “Surgeon and ?”

Mixing It Up: Introduction

How is a cupcake like a gorilla?

483117025-grey-and-black-piled-pebble-stones-gettyimages
Credit: Getty Images

We humans like to think in tidy, distinct categories. Things are different, or they are the same. If they are different, we put them in different piles. If the same, we lump them into the same pile. Life is easy.

Or maybe life isn’t easy. Life can be tough, when we have problems in our relationships. Life can be tough, when we think of big issues like the economy, or climate change. Continue reading “Mixing It Up: Introduction”

Why this blog?

Thoughts on economics, ethics, gender, climate, language, Zen, and a few other things…

wintery spring

Dear friends,

I’ve just started a blog that has the tagline, “Thoughts on economics, ethics, gender, climate, language, Zen, and a few other things…” What in the world could those things have in common?? Continue reading “Why this blog?”

Really Radical Economics

Many have argued that the current economic system must be dismantled, and replaced with a “new economy” of local, well-being-oriented, cooperative, and compassion-inspired communities. You’ve probably read articles along these lines.
This isn’t another.

juggernaut
Credit: http://www.darkroastedblend.com.

Socially equitable. Ecologically sustainable. Personally and spiritually satisfying. What sort of economic transformations are needed to achieve societies like these?

Many writers including Gar Alperovitz, David Loy and David Korten argue that the current economic system of global, profit-oriented, individualistic, and greed-driven corporations and markets must be dismantled, and replaced with a “new economy” of local, well-being-oriented, cooperative, and compassion-inspired communities.  You’ve probably read articles along these lines – or perhaps you’ve written them.

This isn’t another. Continue reading “Really Radical Economics”