A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
Tell us what you love.Hi! I’m Claudia Dawson, Editor of What’s in my NOW?, co‑writer of Recomendo, and writer of Many‑Worlds Vision, a newsletter of shamanic dreams, visions, and channelings.
I also write poetry, play with altered states, facilitate psychedelic and dream integration, and practice energy healing with sound and light touch.

Ubuntu Philosophy: “I am because we are”
Ubuntu is an African philosophy of relational personhood and shared humanity, often expressed as “I am because we are” or “a person is a person through other persons.” Ubuntu reminds me that my becoming is not a solo project—it happens in the space between myself and others. When I feel challenged in relation to someone, I remind myself of this, telling myself some variation like, “I become a person through other people.” This helps me remember that growth in this lifetime often means participating in uncomfortable relational dynamics, even when I’d rather detach or dissociate.
I don’t think I’ve ever been a fully embodied person, having spent most of my time in etheric realms and dreams. But now, in my forty-second year of life, I realize that spiritual growth doesn’t happen only in the higher realms or with the angels—it happens here, in the 3D, in the mundane, in the uncomfortable, in the relational.
I’ve learned to love sitting with people in shame, guilt, and fear, in the mud and in the hard stuff, because life is hard and it takes effort just to remain a hopeful, happy, loving person. If I can stay in that state while deepening my capacity to sit with sorrow, misunderstandings, and these human injury games we play, then I’m also deepening my capacity to love.
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