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 →
What Belongs To Us
When I worked in substance abuse counseling, I quickly learned the difficulties involved. People in early recovery can be grumpy, horny, enjoy power struggles, and frequently fail to make it beyond the word “early.” In my five years as a counselor in an outpatient clinic, I saw one client three different times. On his fourth... 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 →
Unexplainables
“The greatest of all illusions is the illusion of familiarity.” G.K. Chesterton[i] When I was in the ministry, I got to know a retired Methodist pastor named Edgar who was a spiritual healer. I’d visit with him at his house, from time to time, to talk about prayer and his understanding of healing. Edgar had... 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 →
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 →