patricia mou

• the future of spirituality is polyphonicThe Temple after Babel, why the age of the single prophet is ending, and what is possible in its placeaug 2026
• all of creation is striving towards reunionthe hieros gamosjul 2026
• the temple upon a hillin the middle of the world, on top of a hill, there rises a templejul 2026
• a civic hearth for dharmamany paths to self-actualization, with a center that holdsdec 2025
• mystical experience in a secular ageand the infrastructure that supports itjun 2025
• thresholds of the sacredbuddhist interfaces between worldsjun 2025
• the future will be mysticaldesigning the social architecture for post-religious spiritualityapr 2025
• our hearts deepest wantfreedom in surrenderfeb 2023

• 🕯️ Rituals at The Commonsthe steady heartbeat of life in communitymar 2026
• 23 learnings on building community and holding spacere-composting learnings from failure, utopia, and everything in betweenmar 2026
• containers for emergence & pluralismholding complexity without collapse & 2 experimentsjun 2025
• the next evolution of The Commonsopening our doors to playful co-working by day & community meeting house by nightjan 2025
• a publics for beingnot doingoct 2024
• what is a fourth place?neither 3rd space nor social club but another secret third thingmay 2024
• introducing a new vision for The Commons 🏛️finding out who we actually are, in order to express ourselves from that placesep 2023
• introducing "the fourth place" & why "third places" have fallen short on their promisereflections from 1 year of building The Commonssep 2023
• a manifesto: the next era of third spaces as crucibles for meaning-makingmeeting people where they arejul 2023
• going back to "school"Campus 🏛️ at The SF Commonsdec 2022
• the journey+ masterlist of third spaces in nyc, la, sf + bay areanov 2022
• why i'm building The Commons in SFrekindling thoughtful dialogue, playful curiosity, and community in the heart of sfmay 2022
• the future of virtual and physical third spaces (pt.3 of the third place series)how to live a year like it's your last, doing a “universe has my back” audit, and rustic farm lifestylesjun 2021
• utopian cities and disconnection (pt.2 of the third place series)walks in nature, lindy libraries, & beauty in solitudemay 2021
• what is the third place? (pt.1 of the third place series)third spaces, dating different arguments, Japanese morning routinesmay 2021

• reclaiming the utopian visiontoward a new synthesis in urban planningdec 2024
• cities and purposebuilding cities around purpose, not ambitionjan 2024
• when picking furniture becomes spiritual+ before & after photos of The Commonssep 2022
• the spaces we dwell inphilosophy of architecture & musesjun 2022

• 40(ish) pieces of "advice" from 2025a constellation of insights, provocations, and downloadsdec 2025
• 40 pieces of "advice"a smattering of insights, provocations, and downloads from 2024jan 2025
• why everything feels offevolving past individualismjul 2024
• choose self-trust over authenticitywhat hinders us & rethinking our institutionsmar 2024
• musings on the point of lifein 2 waysmar 2024
• 50 pieces of advicenotes to self from selfdec 2023
• dispatch from Indiai'm alive!apr 2023
• 30 pieces of unsolicited advicereflections and wisdom from the past yearjan 2022

• welcome down the rabbit holeif you're new around here, read me 👋apr 2025
• the rabbit hole, issue no.44free to read · resting into winter, relationships as loops, death as multitudesjan 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.56chaos & poetry, imagination as home, beauty as methodmar 2025
• the rabbit hole, issue no.58either way, it's all heavenjun 2025
• the rabbit hole, issue no.55enchantment, theory of vibes, scenius & 4th spacesfeb 2025
• the rabbit hole, issue no.52wind phones, coming home, [un] doing philosophynov 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.51romantic urbanism, second renaissance, heavy dreamssep 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.53re-enchantment, murmurations, cosmic consciousnessnov 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.47perfect days, sci-fi bookstores, speed of the soulmay 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.60life finds a way, so will yousep 2025
• the rabbit hole, issue no.48soft-geometry, anatomy of a hug, the numinousjun 2024
• the rabbit hole, issue no.45kalediscope light, folding laundry, zen poetrymar 2024

subscribe to rabbit holesstep inside

a curation of the most soulful & psychoactive rabbit holes on the edges of the internet

Each issue gathers the images, words, poetry and art that stir the soul, to be savored slowly, like a letter from a friend. A place to step out of horizontal time and into vertical time.

Every issue unfurls as a ritual in six movements: start the ritual, touch the heart, inspire the senses, engage the mind, nourish the soul, and build & create. Before you read, light a candle, make something warm, and press play on the soundscape curated for that issue.

Join 11K explorers who read slowly and feel deeply.

the rabbit holes book

The Rabbit Holes coffee table book comprises curations from over 50 issues over a period of 5 years, alongside personal essays and notes.

the coffee table book

enter the VR worldread the essay

How have Buddhist traditions designed encounters between the ordinary and the sacred? Through a curated exhibition of 18 objects and artworks spanning over two millennia, this project explores how trees, relics, sacred images, architecture, and embodied rituals have served as thresholds between worlds.

Organized into three categories—Nature and Relic Shrines, Visionary Interfaces, and Ritual and Embodied Interfaces—the exhibition traces how Buddhist communities have continually reimagined the ways sacred presence can be encountered: from places of pilgrimage to portable shrines, visionary landscapes, and rituals of embodied transformation.

Together, these objects reveal a central paradox: the sacred is both here and beyond, simultaneously immanent and transcendent. The threshold is not merely a boundary between these realms, but a designed space of encounter where transformation becomes possible.

thesfcommons.com

a community and third space rekindling intellectual curiosity, co-created play, & inner-exploration, in the heart of San Francisco.

themysticalhearth.com

a sunday service for seekers of the sacred across every path.

The Hearth is the simplest sacred technology: a living center we tend to together. It belongs to no one, yet it warms everyone.

We tend to this center at each service through different portals:

• co-creation of a collective altar
• communal meditation
• a sacred passage and sermon offered by a teacher from rotating wisdom lineages
• 45 mins of deep reading of a sacred text of one's choosing (however you define sacred; whether that's a textbook, poetry book, or 1,000 year old text)
• sharing aloud the passages or poems that moved us in our reading

read the magazine (pdf)

Theme: What does it mean to flourish? Individually, in community, and systemically (political, social, economic systems)?

The purpose of the workshop was to create a field where people could share charged truths and stay in embodied presence with difference. The invitation was not to convince or negate others, but to share the life experiences, ancestral threads, and cultural conditioning that gave rise to each person's view.

ritual progression

1. 6:00

   Potluck 🥘

   Everyone contributes one dish

2. 6:10

   Musical intro 🎵🎻

   Gather in circle for a cello performance

3. 6:16

   Introduction

   Orientation to intention

   • Why we’re here: to be seen, and share without judgement
   • Guidelines for group
     • Confidentiality
     • Talk less about your opinion, but the specific life experiences you had that led to that opinion
     • Listen to understand, not judge
4. 6:25

   Meditation 🧘

   Meditation, embodiment, or loving-kindness

5. 6:35

   Participatory co-creation of controversial themes we’d want to discuss

   “What’s an issue you sometimes struggle to share in public or what’s one of your most controversial takes that would be unpopular?” i.e. I have certain anti-capitalist views like limits on wealth,

   • Everybody writes down their opinion and puts it in a hat
   • Hat gets handed around and each person reads themes out loud
   • Theme gets put into WhatsApp for crowd voting
   • Top 2 voted on topics are subsequent discussion topics
6. 6:47

   Round #1: Forming Triads

   Randomly assign people into groups of three.

7. 6:50

   Round #1

   Talk about the 1st issue.

   • What are your perspectives on this topic?
   • What has shaped your perspective to be as it is today?
8. 7:15

   BREAK

   Change groups

9. 7:25

   Round #2

   Talk about the 2nd issue.

   • What are your perspectives on this topic?
   • What has shaped your perspective to be as it is today?
10. 7:50

    Somatic movement 💃

    • Dance, move, loosen up energy
11. 7:55

    Full-Group Reflections

    Regroup in the circle.

    • What surprised you? What did you enjoy? What was challenging
    • What shifted in your understanding?
12. 8:30

    Closing checkout

    • 1 word/sentence on emotion/learning

re-enchanting the pursuit of multiple truths

Council of the Cosmos is a structured role-play workshop designed to help participants explore multiple, often conflicting, ways of knowing through embodied perspective-taking.

learn more on temple upon a hill

thehaumbody.com

an interior design studio creating environments for slow routines around self-connection, creativity, and mindfulness.

Maggie Phillips profiles The Commons as a “fourth place” for the religion-curious: atheists, agnostics, and the spiritual but not religious who gather in Hayes Valley for salons, meditation, potlucks, and concerts. The piece follows how it grew from a 2022 GoFundMe into a campus of courses, guilds, and practicums.

read on tablet

I was the guest curator for this issue of Matter’s newsletter, sharing the words that have mattered most to me, from Joan Didion’s “On Self-Respect” and Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” to Tanizaki’s “In Praise of Shadows” and Christopher Alexander. It also spotlights The Commons and Rabbit Holes.

read the issue

A peek at my desk and the rhythm of a day: coffee and a 30-minute sit at 6am, a morning on whatever feels most alive, afternoons at The Commons, and evenings at a salon, circle, or workshop. My one rabbit hole recommendation: your own answer to “Who am I?”

see the workspace