It is good to reflect about whatever forces us to come out of ourselves. - Simone Weil[i] We all have our motivations. Even irrational acts have reasons. We may not understand some of the things we do, but that’s because we don’t understand ourselves. The nature of self-awareness makes us complicated creatures. Perhaps, as some... Continue Reading →
What’s A Person To Do?
My first experience with God occurred when I was fourteen-years old. My mother, after finding racy pictures and lingerie pages from the Sears catalogue hidden under my bed, confronted me about them in the middle of family dinner. The trauma has largely erased all specific memories, but lasting guilt about masturbation was one of them. ... Continue Reading →
Being Born
He not busy being born is busy dying. - Bob Dylan[i] Have you ever wondered why birth is viewed as something over and done once we emerge from our mothers? We may struggle with everything that comes after, but that part of things is out of the way. The gauntlet has been endured. It’s as... Continue Reading →
My Unsuspecting Prayer
God, Reveal to me what is true. Remove all falsehood from me. And make me wise. When I think back on that prayer now, I’m a little embarrassed. It was a prayer I devised during my freshman year at college. That’s what accounts for the mixture of earnestness and insecurity, flavored with a need to... Continue Reading →
Spiritual Practice
There is much about the world to which we are blind. It is estimated that humans can only see about 0.0035 percent of the electromagnetic spectrum, otherwise known as light. Spend a day at the beach and your skin may turn red, but your eyes won’t notice the ultra-violet rays that cause it. If dogs... Continue Reading →
Listening
Even though listening to someone is a foundation for any loving relationship, the act of listening is surprisingly difficult. We could even say, like unconditional love, that paying full attention to another person is not a natural human behavior. Instead, due to our egos and their constant yammering, we usually pay more attention to ourselves... Continue Reading →