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I have recently finished my 14 day self-isolation upon returning hurriedly from India due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic.

We are living through deeply sobering times. The novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head. The pandemic鈥檚 potential for chaos and destruction has created 鈥渢he most profound emergency since the Second World War.

Like so many others, the Victoria Multifaith Society connected online this month, holding our March board meeting online, using Zoom. We started with a check-in to see how each of us is doing, and how our different faith communities are all coping.

In trying to describe the zen meditation mind, Suzuki-roshi (founder SFZen Center) once asked us to attend to gifting others with absolute freedom and at the same time being awake to the present and the absolute independence such a zero-point represe

Here is my Buddhist-inspired initial, ironic thought; there is a uniquely human way to process time, being and change. Other beings do not anticipate or plan for change and do not consider changing themselves.

鈥淔latten the curve鈥� is the Covid-19 mantra. We have been watching in amazement as new and even more drastic measures are taken each day. Does one dare to have hope in the midst of so much fear? Hope has always been at the centre of Christianity.

In my early days as a Christian (I did not 鈥済row up鈥� in the faith, but came to it in my forties), I started to realize that Christmas, for all its beauty and mystery, had been supplanted by another holy day as my 鈥渇avorite鈥�.

The character Father Guido Sarducci (a/k/a comedian Don Novello) sometimes offered this piece of advice: 鈥淲herever you go, there you are.

For one hour every Tuesday, we follow a beautifully orchestrated pattern based on random selection, with magical consequences. The Spirit Walk starts with a couple of virtues picked blindly from a beautiful set of cards and read aloud.

I have a hard time with labels like left, right, atheist, religious鈥� They often just don鈥檛 fit very well. They can be awkward, misleading and not very flattering.