Leeland Cole-Chu
My blogs
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Industry | Law |
| Occupation | Attorney, Mediator, Writer, Retired Judge (Connecticut Superior Court) |
| Location | Salem, Connecticut, United States |
| Introduction | My name is Leeland "Lee" Cole-Chu. (I combined my family name, Chu, with that of my late wife, Ruth Cole, when we married in 1979.) I am a member of the New London, Connecticut, Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, called Quakers. In our church, we have Meetings for Worship, which in our tradition are unprogrammed: instead of a service, ritual or sermon, there is silent meditation except when someone is moved to say something. This blog began as a collection of things I have said in "Meeting:" entries with a date as the title were spoken on that date in a Quaker Meeting. I now include other thoughts on spiritual matters and life in general. I share these thoughts in the hope that people will find them interesting, even helpful. How can our species develop, and our communities, economies and cultures around the world flourish if individuals do not grow in wisdom and responsibility? If what you find here is worth sharing with others, please do so, with my thanks. If you wish to do more, I invite you to donate to the Charles River Watershed Assn. at https://www.givengain.com/project/leeland-raising-funds-for-charles-river-watershed-association-105017. Thank you! |
| Interests | Spring, 2024: I aim to edit and compile the thoughts in this blog into a book. If you'd like to support me actively, such as by reviewing a draft or considering an endorsement of the final, please email me at leelandcolechu@gmail.com - or just follow this blog. Thanks! I think selfishness is fundamental to human behavior and integrity - and a potent antidote to self-righteousness, which is another pandemic. See #confessionofaselfishman, my 1991 essay in The Hartford Courant in this blog, and a 2022 TEDX-Youth talk entitled "On Living Selfishly" I gave at Choate Rosemary Hall School: https://events.locallive.tv/events/78964 (Scroll forward to about 37 minutes for my talk.) |
| Favorite books | The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James (1902), Penguin edition; Whole Brain Living, by Jill Bolte Taylor, The Holy Man, by Susan Trott, The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck, The Power of Vulnerability, by Brene Brown (audio by Sounds True 2013), When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron. |