I have been contemplating the next step to take in my Buddhist Services on Death Row. My groups have grown from 1 to over 50 men, all of who are deeply interested in pursuing any spiritual knowledge they can find in order to explore and expand their inner lives. Many of them attend the other faith services there as well, so though I provide the Buddhist teachings, I always ask them to identify where and how the topics we are talking about show up in the other traditions.

Yesterday was my day to see Yard 11-which, for years, was just one man, I’ll call him Ron. Ron and I had many conversations over the years about getting older on Death Row, about his early “spiritual” days listening to the many teachers from the East who visited the US in the 60’s, about his crocheting hats for the homeless, but most of all about being lonely there on The Row.

I was days before my 14th birthday when Jethro Tull’s album Aqualung came out in 1971. Hearing the songs for the first time gave me full permission to raise my voice and question what I had been force fed about organized religion. The songs spoke to the religious ideals of high culture, which I felt as distrust.

This is a piece I wrote for some chaplains on the topic of integration. It was inspired by the reality of our fast-paced life these days, and how it is so very difficult to fully integrate all that life deals us when we don’t build in the time to slow down and let the ground of our being rest in nature for awhile. I hope it offers a reflective moment to you and that you are inspired to STOP and reflect now and then.