The first act of bad faith is to flee what it cannot flee, to flee what it is. - Jean-Paul Sartre Faith can be dangerous. In 1997, thirty-nine members of the Heavens Gate UFO cult happily killed themselves with drug overdoses, leaving behind upbeat suicide notes on videotape. The believers were liberating their consciousnesses from their... Continue Reading →
Faith Part 1
Faith begins precisely where thinking leaves off. – Soren Kierkegaard[i] One day, during a discussion about religion in a sociology class, I irritated a student. While writing on a whiteboard, with my back turned to the room, I casually mentioned there was no proof that God exists. Immediately, a voice behind me yelled out, “That’s... Continue Reading →
The Silent Song
Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. - Anonymous One Saturday night, many years ago, I attended a dinner party hosted by a married couple in one of my churches. Since I didn’t know the other invitees, after we were seated, the wife made... Continue Reading →
The Nameless One
The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things. – Lao Tzu[i] One day, while shepherding sheep somewhere in the Sinai desert, Moses saw... Continue Reading →
Love Is A Verb
Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he/she incurred the disorder. -Ambrose Bierce In his book, The Devil’s Dictionary, Mr. Bierce classifies love as a noun, since it identifies a type of mental disorder. People in love have an illness typified by transitory... Continue Reading →
The Physics Of Miraculousness
God doesn’t play dice with the universe. – Albert Einstein In the rough and tumble world of theoretical physics, there are two opposing parties. On the right, as represented by Albert Einstein, is the law and order crowd. Their platform states that certain rules must be followed, by dictate of the universe, and that nothing... Continue Reading →
Be Like Buddha
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 →
Heaven
Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens. – David Byrne[i] Heaven is a peculiar idea. Nobody has ever visited and come back with a report; for all we know, it’s a myth like Atlantis. Nevertheless, lots of people are planning to reside there, and even brag about it. The general consensus about heaven seems... Continue Reading →