Intelligent Optimism? Sounds Good to Me!

 I recently came across Ode magazine through some series of articles, blogs and links that I don’t think I could replicate now.  But I am glad I found the website of this still quite new magazine for “intelligent optimists” — “a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.”

Ode was founded in the Netherlands by the husband and wife team of Jurriaan Kamp and Helene de Puy in 1995, but only in Dutch.  But, the couple moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 to launch the English version of the magazine. 

The magazine and its accompanying online community have much to offer Buddhist practitioners with scores of hits from searching, for example, for “Buddhism” and “meditation.”  Sustainable living, social justice, living spiritually and more all get their due.   My “Buddhism” search led to an especially fascinating profile from the Ode 2006 magazine archive on Mr. Dick Grace, a California vinery owner whose personal journey led him to a highly rewarding life of philanthropy and, yes, a Buddhist practice.

I don’t want this post to sound like a commercial for the magazine, so I will simply encourage the reader to check it out for themselves: www.odemagazine.com

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Mapping the Dharma – Book Review Link

I came across an interesting book review which reminded me of a past blog posting of Tim’s awhile back about a graphical representation of Buddhism.

The book is entitled Mapping the Dharma: A Concise Guide to the Middle Way of the Buddha, by Paul Gerhards.  It sounds from Peter Clothier’s review that the book takes the idea of “mapping the Dharma” to a much more detailed and ambitious level. 

You may find Peter Clothier’s bio of interest too, as well as his very interesting Buddhist blog.  He is also involved with a community-contribution Buddhist blog.

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