About Nathan Thompson
Nathan Thompson blogs at dangerousharvests.com, which features writings about zen Buddhism, yoga, social justice and politics, the arts, and life in general.
Nathan writes: “It is difficult to summarize who I am, given that the "hats" I wear are diverse, and life itself is always changing. I have been a student of zen meditation for over eight years, and a yoga practitioner for a good part of the last decade. I am an ESL teacher, an editor of an on-line literary journal, a nearly year round bicyclist, a gardener, a non-profit board member, a political questioner, a life questioner, and sometimes a dreamer.”
The Zen of Conflict and Trust
The world of appearances is filled with the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Sometimes, our closest people have betrayed us. The world as it appears in conditioned reality and ordinary life, is filled with unpredictable and … Read more →
You Probably Weren’t Born Like This
The following is a wide ranging post on gender roles in response to this post and the comments that followed. When women are taking on masculine roles (doing, conquering, competing), it’s very difficult to transition into a feminine role (being, … Read more →
Hope Isn’t a Buddhist Teaching
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. ~ By Thich Nhat Hanh I disagree with this statement. It panders too much to the stickiness … Read more →
Transactional Thinking in Relationships
Healthy, fulfilling relationships are not based on transactional thinking. When I think of my best friends, for example, there isn't any thought about what they will give me, or not give me. There isn't this sense that they owe me something, or that … Read more →
What is Truly Necessary for a Liberated Life?
“We should not have anything that is not necessary.” San Francisco Zen Center founder Suzuki Roshi. This quote got me thinking about stuff. Literally the things we claim ownership over. What fills our houses and apartments. And what often gets … Read more →
Wasting Time
People, myself included, seem to do everything in our power to resist liberation. It’s like we are addicted to punishing ourselves.
Failed Relationships
I think a lot of people are secretly in love with failure. We know that having a stash of traumatic, broken romances to trot out amongst friends and colleagues is often instant cache. Even more so if the stories include a current one. A train already … Read more →
India Patents Yoga Poses
Trying to claim ownership over ancient spiritual practices is a pretty sick business. But it’s been a quite popular one. In the United States alone, the patent authorities have issued more than 130 yoga-related patents, 150 copyrights and 2,300 trademarks related to the ancient practice.
Dating While “Fat”
The majority of women I have been in relationships with have had insecurity around their weight. It hasn’t mattered whether they were actually larger or decidedly thin, the perception of being “fat” – and thus unattractive – was often palpable.
The Community Change Maker Revolution
I want to spark conversations about what we value as work, and what we collectively support financially as work. Specifically, I’m hoping to inspire more people to re-center serving and giving back in the communities we live in. And that we need to find creative ways to help each other be able to afford to serve more, as opposed to treating service, volunteering, and the like as something “extra” people do when they can. Or as something only the financially privileged are able to do.
