Author Archives: Dee Osto

Emerson and Donna stepped out of their car at Kelvin Grove Cemetery in Palmerston North, New Zealand, on a sunny but cool autumnal morning in May. It was Friday, and Emerson was playing hooky from nursing school, while Donna had … Continue reading →

When we walked into the room of the Emergency Department’s Children’s Ward at Palmerston North Hospital, Andromeda was sitting up in bed, staring off at some faraway horizon. Mum sat next to her and took her right hand. Her little … Continue reading →

In Self-Defense of Our Children This week I spent an hour on the cold ground in the rain under a tarp with my injured ten-year-old daughter waiting for an ambulance. There are moments in life when time stops behaving like … Continue reading →

Care under capitalism is always care under contradiction, because you cannot, in the final analysis, prioritize both profits and people. You can say you do. You can write it into mission statements. You can print it on glossy posters with … Continue reading →

Colleagues, I speak not as an economist or politician but as a nurse who feels the pulse of the world through the pulse of my patients. Something enormous is dying in our hands. You can hear it in the endless … Continue reading →

Chapter 1: The Gathering Storm In a realm beyond comprehension, an alternative Earth existed within a vast simulation. This world was a tapestry of vivid imagination, where fantastical characters from various dimensions converged. Among them were Alice, the inquisitive girl … Continue reading →

Composed sometime around the third century C.E., The Supreme Array Scripture (Sanskrit: Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra) is one of the most psychedelic Mahāyāna sutras ever composed by Buddhists. Nearly every single one of its 500+ pages describes some type of cosmic vision … Continue reading →

What is Classical Sāṃkhya? Sāṃkhya is one of the most ancient of India’s philosophic traditions and its influence was widespread in Indian thought for centuries. The Sāṃkyakārikā, composed by Iśvarakrṣṇa sometime before the mid-sixth century, is the one and only … Continue reading →

In the practice of mindfulness of the breath, one lets go of obsession with the conceptual realm of thought and becomes aware of the nonconceptual realm of the REAL. Thoughts and concepts are necessary and important for us as human … Continue reading →

Nonsectarian Mindfulness Classes in Palmerston North every Tuesday at the Theosophical Hall (304 Church Street) from 6pm-7pm. Come and experience the power of mindfulness!  With Maitri, Doug