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Religion Talking in Its Sleep
2008-05-11 06:30:00
Agitation and annoyance when others don?t share one?s beliefs is the surest sign, and not from above, of a hollowness to one?s convictions. It's a sign strikingly visible to others and yet not to the shrill and agitated themselves, almost as though it had been emblazoned across their foreheads while they slept like a kind of Mark of the Beast of Unexamined Doubt.
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Magnifying Suffering
2008-05-04 05:30:00
Unhappiness about being unhappy is a tremendous source of human suffering. It magnifies suffering of every kind. It can turn potentially small and transitory discomforts into torments and can make major pain unbearable. It can even refract and distort light from odd angles, so that we are unhappy not about unhappiness but about lacking things that we only imagine would make us happy.
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God Be Praised?
2008-04-27 06:14:00
A note to regular readers/commenters: If lately I seem slower than usual visiting your blogs/replying to comments, I am ? my condition?s progressive and it?s cutting into my time online. I appreciate your patience and the fact that you keep on reading/commenting.___________We find that we exist; we don?t choose existence.This is to say that we are not the primary source of either the good or the evil that comes from us.Therefore: No one is blameworthy ? or praiseworthy?Therefore: All praise ? and blame ? belongs to God?Therefore: Praise and blame are problematic concepts?

Babies & Being: A Spirit of Non Judgment
2008-04-23 06:14:00
How can any of us possibly be in a position to judge being for being being?A baby?s born ? a unique set of genetic predispositions enters a unique environment. Even identical twins growing up with the same parents don?t end up becoming identical persons. The complex paths of their experiences over time, even within the same family, are nowhere near identical, and result in the creation of two unique human beings despite their similarities. In infancy, a person?s potential is vast.Now, picture Adolf Hitler as an infant. Yes, I know ? it?s hard to get around the moustache. Yet surely it wasn?t congenital?And surely that baby only could have developed into the Adolf Hitler the world has come to know and hate under the specific familial, social and historical circumstances in which he found himself.Or picture a William Wordsworth or Robert Frost born one or two centuries from now, when the likelihood of finding woods to stop by on a snowy evening will be remote. Someone with the potenti...
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Forgiveness: Closing Thoughts
2008-04-20 05:24:00
Thanks for your thoughts about forgiveness last post. Here are a few additional ideas that impress me:Martin Luther?s Attitude AdjustmentForgiveness is not an occasional art, it is a permanent attitude.I found this online attributed to ML. It calls to mind the Buddhist concept of compassion and the Christian concept of agape or universal love. It also places forgiveness in the larger context of overall spiritual development.St. Paul and the Beatles: ?All You Need Is Love?Love? does not take offense. ?from I Corinthians 13There would be nothing to forgive if we didn?t react to others with bitterness and resentment when personally wronged. ?But how could a person not react that way?? anyone might ask. That?s because living from beyond our egoism is often an unfamiliar idea. Although I think that every one of us has at least had intimations of it, ?picking up our cross and following? ? or walking the walk ? is often emphasized much less than worshipping the person of Jesus Christ for h...
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Forgiveness: a "How-To" Spirit, Sort of...
2008-04-16 04:41:00
No How-To ManualThe preceding posts and comments suggest that forgiveness is a process and often a major struggle, but one that?s worthwhile. If we can let go of resenting someone who has wronged us, then our freedom from bitterness enhances our own quality of life and can only improve our ability to relate to others. So how do we do it?The kind and degree of wrongdoing, whether we were close to the wrongdoer prior to the harm done, where we happen to be in our present circumstances and overall view of life ? such variables assure that a ?one size fits all? approach to forgiveness won?t work.Your Practical ThoughtsWhat are some things you?ve told yourself that have helped you let go of resentment and bitterness? Your thoughts may be useful to someone else.Conversely, what are some things you?ve told yourself to help hang onto bitterness and resentment? How has hanging onto it help you ? or hasn?t it? If it has, can you identify how it's helped?
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Forgiveness: Why it?s Hard to Do
2008-04-13 07:47:00
Forgiveness is something that people can struggle with for years, decades or even a lifetime. Recent posts have included looking at factors that can affect how hard we find it to forgive ? for example, whether the harm was serious and lasting or whether the person is someone with whom we continue to interact.Psychologically, perhaps what makes forgiveness so hard is that if we have something to forgive, then someone?s gotten the better of us. If someone has in fact managed to hurt or wrong us, then the other guy?s ?won.? And the more certain we are in our judgment that this individual should have known better or in fact did know exactly what he or she was doing, then the more we experience the matter as a full frontal assault with victory by their ego over ours.We feel like striking back ? and at least as hard. There?s nothing like serious one-upmanship to fuel our own ego reactions.___________Thought for Today . . .Few of us possess an encyclopedic knowledge of anything; yet each o...
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Religion, Spirituality, God, Faith, Interfaith ? & Wikipedia
2008-04-09 05:31:00
Forgive Me, but I Don?t Feel Like Thinking TodayAnd so I just wanted to mention that if anyone hasn?t noticed by now that the words ?religion,? ?spirituality,? ?God,? ?faith? and ?interfaith? are crammed into as many post titles as I can manage, it?s because I don?t know what I?m doing, but somebody else does. That is, my webmeister tells me she?s optimized my whatever for these words ? my search engines? Browser? Cache? Cachet? Tricorder? Anyway, I?m told that for technical reasons, it?s a good idea for me to use those words in blog post titles, and so I do.Like most semi-bedridden guys trying to launch a book, I want to do what I can to help people who might be interested in my topic locate this site. But those particular words for titles are becoming so much mental mush. Some days I have to wonder if I can come up with another bunch. I feel out to lunch - or sometimes, in my darkest hours, like I?m alone on the decks of the Titlanic.Normally, I like doing titles; but who likes th...
More About: Religion , Faith , Spirituality , Wikipedia , Interfaith

Forgiveness ? Religious and Irreligious
2008-04-05 17:36:00
To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine ? Unless it?s Pretentious...?Forgiveness ? has religious connotations for many Christians as viewed from the perspective of believing that Jesus died to save humankind from its sins. In person-to-person forgiveness, we participate or reflect the grace of this divine forgiveness, which is seen as closely related to a love that is unconditional and even undeserved. By forgiving, we also follow the example and teaching of Jesus in the New Testament.For others, the word has irreligious connotations of egocentricity and hypocrisy. To take on the role of the ?forgiver? has the feel of asserting an untenable loftiness over the one that we forgive. This reminds us that if we bear even a passing resemblance to Jesus Christ, no one?s happened to mention it lately. To forgive another seems a grandly altruistic gesture that we?re not especially well suited for.Forgiveness and AltruismSpeaking of altruism, that?s a word whose connotations ring false to me. It se...
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Forgiveness ? A Spirit of Clarification
2008-04-02 05:14:00
Here?s toward conceptualizing forgiveness ? after giving it some thought while looking over comments to the last couple threads.To forgive is to let go of a form of anger ? specifically, resentment. Even more specifically, the resentment we feel toward someone who has wronged us is a deep and long-lasting blame. Blame is based on judgment: he or she shouldn?t have done that because they should have known better; or because it was unjust; or because, in the same situation, I wouldn?t have done that?In most cases where we struggle with the issue of how to forgive someone, the primary motive is our own peace of mind, not how to help the person who has wronged us. This is because the odds are that we, as the wronged party, remain disturbed over the incident long after the person who wronged us has moved on.Forgiveness is related to love. To understand just how, we?d need to know just what we mean by love ? a big topic. But to briefly mention one angle on this, we can easily see that for...
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Forgiveness and Probably Not
2008-03-30 05:46:00
Looking at comments to the last couple posts leads me to think that forgiveness is something that requires effort and volition. If it happens automatically, then whatever it is and however helpful it is, it seems to me that forgiveness may not be the right word for it. Forgiveness is something that we struggle with; that we may need help or encouragement with; and that we may even fail to do.Here are a couple examples of constructive changes in our attitudes toward others that to me don?t sound so much like forgiveness:Someone mentioned responding favorably to a sincere apology or a relationship that had changed for the better. If that response is pretty much automatic, so that now, despite past events, we feel positively about the other person because he or she has changed, then to me this sounds essentially like a matter of liking another person because that person is behaving well toward us ? a relatively straightforward matter. It?s true that if the offense had been great, then ...

Forgive Me: A Spirit of Plagiarism
2008-03-27 15:01:00
For this post, I just organized everyone?s comments from the previous thread. Here?s what I came up with ? I?ve paraphrased at times, sometimes turned statements into questions and added a few questions of my own.Toward Conceptualizing Forgive ness: Forgiveness is?1. Not taking revenge; this involves a healing process.2. A release of anger and resentment that can become a habit (Beth?s link).3. Letting go with no expectations. (Letting go of what?)4. ?Giving completely? ? as based on the word?s etymology. (Giving what completely?)5. Recognizing that everyone makes mistakes and not judging others.6. A way of expressing love.7. It?s one way of not clinging or attaching to the egoistic self. Forgiveness can be viewed as part of the larger process of personal growth.8. It?s for one?s own sake and not others. {I added this one since it usually comes up.}Forgiveness-Distinctions1. Forgiving vs. forgetting: we don?t forget in order not to get hurt again in the same way.2. Forgiving self vs....
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Deconstructing the Spirit of Forgiveness: So What Is It?
2008-03-25 05:07:00
Forgiveness is a topic that comes up a lot on religion and spirituality blogs.What is it?What do we do when we forgive ? how do we feel, what do we think, who is it for? Does the word ?forgive? cover a host of sins, so to speak, so that it means different things under different circumstances, or does it refer to something quite specific?I?ve seen this subject approached from lots of different directions and may construct follow up posts from your comments . . .
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Good Friday: God-Forsaken, and Not
2008-03-22 01:41:00
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? --Mat 27:46I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! --Luke 12:49CrossingHis head was lifting; then painShot from underneath both armsInto his contorted palms. He slumped and slippedSome fraction of an inch, hearing himself moan.Like an animal, he thought,Feeling his two feet curled in upon themselves,Tangled in the burning. With every breathHe felt a tearing through the tighteningLength of muscles in his chest, between each separate rib,It seemed, when in another half-dream, he found himselfA child again, running to his mother?s armsFor safety; but there were soldiers and he knewHe?d taken his last step, then slept a second time.He woke to find his breath constrained;His chest felt flattened in the starving air,A pressured pain, submerged and weary.The gray sky drizzled intimately, drowningHis whole skin. Eyes on the horizon, distant white shapes ?Houses; and yet he thought of sails againstThe sea and slumbe...
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Metaphor: God as Nature or Being-Itself
2008-03-19 00:23:00
AnthemInverted needs, and one?s between another?s knees.What?s steeped in sleep becomes submerged awake,Beyond our understanding and below beliefTo steal an ancient instinct kiss more real than scripture;Rapture proved without a prophecy or doubt,Speechless teaching of a Breath made fleshFrom long before it learned to speak a single word.Unheard below the broken surfaces,All unselfknown,Moans lose themselves in other moans.No wave knows anything but water.Two shocked faces in a one and only holy placeCan meld.Sleek images of doe and cat,Stern images of steed or stud,Fall like falsehood fossils in sediments like mud.All sentiments of human scent, subservient or dominant,Reveal themselves irrelevant?obscene, brief human themesThat stay within the solitary self?s own dream:Carnal without knowledge.Our dreams are meant to meet, mate, marry, and evaporate.Strong?s made gentle, gentle strengthened;Playful leveled is how level plays.Both stop and stay. This is the wayOf galaxies and light ...
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Metaphor: God as Father
2008-03-16 00:59:00
I Know Where My Father Lives?I know where my father lives,? she said ?Near as a poem or a warm handSafe and close as a child?sSoft breath against the sheetNear as this lithesome flowerBedazzling the new lightSurprising the world with the wonder of her blossoming ?Like every good thing,Like every well-made child of earth,Fragile, but insistently becoming,Delicate, but unswerving in herLight filled, sun bound purposes.?I know where my father lives,? her dark eyes said ?Far, far as the faintest fleckOf waning half light on the blackened brink;Distant, distant like a vast expanse of continentThat lies between a father and his little girl,Distant even as the father?s clouded faceThat sees a daughter?s need and turns awayCompassionless.I know where my Father lives:Near as the loving heartThat, young or old,Seeks kindred warmth,Creates well-being;Distant as the human face averted,A child?s letter returned, markedMoved, no forwarding address.- Paul Martin(The previous post describes the inc...

God the Father and Fathers ? the Jerks...
2008-03-13 18:06:00
The previous post included looking at God conceived as person vs. God conceived of as Nature or Being itself. It?s possible for people to feel and express spirituality either way ? or both. Here?s some background on a poem I wrote that employs the traditional Judeo-Christian image of God the Father .Amy, let?s call her, was a first-grader whose teacher brought her to me one morning because she?d been crying non-stop ever since she?d arrived in class. It took some time for me to get Amy?s attention focused on me to the point where her tears subsided enough for her to talk. When she finally did, I was able to figure out that her father had left ? suddenly and recently. Amy had tried to send him a letter, and it had been returned because the jerk (I, uh, avoided using this word with Amy) wasn?t at that address. The returned letter was the immediate cause of her tears.She was practically inconsolable ? this was a really bad day for her ? and all I wanted to do was make her feel a little ...
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A rose is a rose is a Rose is God?
2008-03-11 22:09:00
When God is conceived in personal terms, God is still thought of as being vastly transcendent of human nature. Do we know enough about the nature of all-nature and the nature of God to be able to distinguish their two characters, one from the other?It?s true that nature as we can examine it through microscopes and telescopes appears non-affirming of our human lives, both individually and collectively ? if you forget about the fact that its laws and properties allow us to exist. Setting that aside to focus on the fact that in natural terms, life ends with death as far as we can see? How far can we see? Do we already know the full extent of all-nature? Has science already grasped the fullness of the biggest picture to know that all-that-is does not ultimately affirm us in some way?To paraphrase St. Paul: with regard to the One in whom we live and move and have our being, how do we know whether to call that one God or Nature? Would it make a difference?
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I Wanna Hold God?s Hand - ?
2008-03-08 20:15:00
?Yeah God?s/Got that somethin?/I think you?ll understand . . .?The Beatles, I Wanna Hold God?s Hand , 1963 ? first draftAtheist readers, please bear with me; you?re included below even if you don?t really believe that this was the original lyric from the first draft of I Wanna Hold Your Hand.A theme that comes up from time to time both here and on other religion blogs is the distinction between a personal God and God as pointed to by contemplative or ?mystical? traditions (not crazy about that word, but don?t want to digress).But is the distinction truly meaningful?In meditation or contemplative prayer, the experience certainly isn?t ?impersonal.? It doesn?t feel cold. There?s no sense, say, of waiting at a divine deli counter with God indifferently having you take a number to stand at the back of the line. Rather, it?s an immense experience, more than can be described ? the opposite of feeling left out or dehumanized.For those who conceive of God in personal terms, isn?t this concep...

Something Else
2008-03-07 06:24:00
Nora was a student on my school counseling roster. This is the last in a series of posts that can be read either individually or sequentially.Mrs. Siegel was waving her arms broadly to get my attention from back near her desk where she was standing ; my eyes fell back to Nora. She?d opened the door back up six inches or so. Tears were streaming down both sides of her face, and she was looking at me with an imploring expression I?d never seen before, combining, ?Take me with you,? and, ?God, I?m sorry about this.? She wasn?t making a sound.I stood back and made way for her. She slipped silently into the hall, turning to close the door softly behind her with her left hand, which she then used to cradle the bleeding finger of her right hand.?Let?s get you to the nurse?s office,? I said.It was back downstairs and at the opposite end of the building. We walked side by side. Nora remained perfectly quiet, and I was having trouble thinking of something to say. I glanced over a couple times...

June Afternoon
2008-03-06 06:02:00
Nora was a student on my school counseling roster. I?ve made each of these posts self-contained; they can also be read sequentially.I never did become involved with Nora?s family. Despite my growing sense of her difficulties with her stepmother, it would turn out that I would soon leave for employment in another school district. If I?d stayed, I like to think that I would have tried to intervene; looking back, I believe that at the time I left, I'd underestimated my potential for this.True, Nora?s situation fit the profile of a student who would normally fall low on a busy counselor?s priority list for the reasons I?ve given. However, it was also true that our relationship was especially close. Although I was aware of this, I was still inexperienced enough to underestimate the advantages this might have given me in meeting with her parents. I expect they would have sensed that I had their daughter?s best interests at heart. Perhaps I would have been able to help Nora talk with them...
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Lightly Serious
2008-03-05 05:31:00
Nora was a student on my school counseling roster. I?ve made each of these posts self-contained; they can also be read sequentially.It happened that the year after that, with Nora in grade four, I transferred to the big school too, where we reconnected. With the more detailed narrative that the older Nora could provide of day to day life with her dad, stepmom, and three or four stepsiblings in their crowded-sounding mobile home, I found what she had to say compelling. Nora never said so directly, but it was clear that she didn?t feel loved by her stepmother and that this had become a source of continuing pain and self-doubt.We began to meet regularly again, on a biweekly basis. We didn?t need the toys or games. Nora just seemed to look forward to having someone to talk to. Once in a while I would find something to question or point out, but mostly I just listened. Nora knew I took her perceptions seriously and that I believed and liked her. I?m pretty sure she knew or sensed that I ...

Bright Gray
2008-03-04 04:44:00
Nora was a student on my school counseling roster. I?ve made each of these posts self-contained; they can also be read sequentially.The informal conversations were a good thing; all the children felt they knew me. And one day, when Nora was in grade two, Mrs. Peters took me aside and over to her, saying that there was something she wanted to talk to me about. She left Nora and me to discuss it at the low round table where I met with students.A window and a doorway offering glimpses of trees and the backyard made the little nook off the main room I used for a counseling space warm and bright, even on a gray November afternoon. It turned out that Nora lived with her father, his second wife, and her children. Dad had remarried several years earlier; her stepmother was the only mother Nora had known. And that day, Nora felt that her stepmom had done something to treat her unfairly.From then on, Nora continued asking to meet with me now and then. Soon I sent a permission form home for co...
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New Light
2008-03-02 06:09:00
Nora was a student on my school counseling roster. I?ve made each of the posts to follow self-contained, but they can also be read sequentially.It was first day of school, first thing in the morning, and I was the new itinerant counselor for three small elementary schools in a district at the edge of New Hampshire?s White Mountains. I?d driven along a northern stretch of state highway through a rising mist that blunted the outlines of the rolling landscape to introduce myself to Jeannette Peters, who taught first- and second-graders in a one-room village schoolhouse.We spoke congenially at the front of the playground as children arrived to play before the bell rang. This bell was real and not a buzzer or alarm: polished metal with a long black handle whose clapper Jeannette held silenced by the thumb of one hand.Under the blue sky the air was clear now, and brisk enough to hint of fall. Bands of sun and shadow fell crisp and clean as the lines on a page of a child?s new notebook. Th...
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Mixing Religion & Politics
2008-02-27 01:01:00
Or at least doing a segway from one to the other . . .(Medical complications ? for at least a week after today I won?t get out much into the blogosphere. I do expect to continue posting.)Beyond Reward & Punishment Spirituality:In traditional Christian terms:Jesus gave his life for the sake of the world, not for the sake of getting to sit at the head of the table at the right hand of the Father.The Father sent his only begotten Son into the world because God loved the world, not because God wanted to sit with himself forever at the head of the table after the ascension.If Christians focus on something as narrow as scoring points for personal salvation, how can they claim to be followers of their God? Maybe God?s looking at placing a want ad for followers that at least bear him a vague resemblance.If we were made in God?s image, maybe the reference wasn?t to a nose, mouth and white beard. Besides, not that many of us have the white beard.And speaking of true leadership without a w...
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Panel of Stem Cells Meets to Discuss Religion and Medical Research
2008-02-23 16:58:00
Announcement? Right here on this very blog, a panel of leading stem cells has agreed to discuss the contemporary stem cell tissue with none other than ?us truly? ? that is, my own personal cells, particularly the neurons, usually known in the collective vernacular as ?me? but by most collections of stem cells as ?whatever.? Best of all, despite their great distinction, these stem cells have agreed to a poetry-slam format.Thanks to Hayden for inspiring (?) the ?poem? with informed comments about stem cell research on my recent discussion threads. However, it isn't her fault; she couldn?t possibly have known that her comments would excite my brain cells in this manner. In fact, my own brain cells withheld information that the poem was coming until they started prompting my finger cells {?fingerus cellulose?} along the keyboard. Don?t worry; the poetic debate will use less scientific terminology.The debate is in process now, even as your cells are left to ponder the results while you ...
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Hell III: The Human Animal in Hell
2008-02-19 22:41:00
?Blessed are those for whom pain is a metaphor.? Of course, there are metaphorical pains that are bad too, and can even prove fatal, as when they lead to suicide. But to riff off the old jazz ballad, nothing says ?My pain is here to stay? like the intractable physical pain connected with an untreatable progressive illness.Remaining who we are can be tough. Real pain that is severe and protracted enough can make an animal lose sight of everything, including, at first, the human animal.The human animal has one essential advantage over other animals when it comes to hell: we can keep our eyes open longer. When other animals would have reached the point of growling and groaning huddled in a corner of the room, we can still rouse the convolutions of the cortex and raise our fat heads, so to speak, to notice things around us and about ourselves, even as hell deepens.We can overhear the happiness of others ? and eventually, most of the time, with little to no jealousy. We can remember the ...
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Hell II: Beyond the Costume Party
2008-02-16 06:00:00
So finally you say something like, ?Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?? ? but after that, there?s just this long silence lasting until the end of your life. One of the things about hell is that it defies your expectations, especially the religious ones.In irreligious terminology, this is called, ?really getting nailed.? But if you?ve managed to survive this long, you come down from your cross. And again, since you?re only human and this is hell on earth, you just quietly walk away. For you, there is no ascent into heaven or saving the world.However, you now begin to be governed by the instinct above instinct. It tells you to stop howling. You walk slowly and carefully, picking your way over the flaming logs, trying hard not to stub your toe even though it?s on fire, or to unnecessarily hurt others by throwing flaming objects at them. You start being kind again and smiling sometimes. People think you are becoming yourself again. In reality, your self is dying back there on the cross....
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Hell Trilogy, I: Going to Hell
2008-02-12 22:32:00
Hell is where nothing is as it should be, and all your concentration has to start going into remaining your most simple self.Hell is where you let go of every expectation, every ideal - the way you would have wanted it, your personal favorites ? in order not to let them weigh you down and drown you in the flames. Hell is the place of places in which to say: what the hell.In hell, everything is instinctual and reflexive. Even this thought is instinctual and reflexive. Even your thoughts about your thoughts are instinctual and reflexive when you?ve been in hell long enough.At first, however, you are ungovernable, governed by the instinct below instinct. You jump over flaming logs, your feet on fire, tripping, nearly falling off ledges. (Some do.) You are the anti-human animal, ranting and raving, threatening to bite off their faces ? anyone and everyone?s. Because the world has let you down by sending you down here.You roll around the hell-forest floor howling tears of abandonment and...
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Nobody?s-Listening Spirituality: When Hell Isn?t Just a Place for Others An
2008-02-09 17:44:00
People don't generally like to hear about stuff like this. Still...Hell o HellImagine a disease progression in its 15th year that affects your nerves, muscles, connective tissue and bones and that by now has you mostly bedridden and in widespread, intractable pain. Picture the associated losses, the least of which include career and friends. You?ve been unable to leave the house for over 3 years. You can?t sit to use a wheelchair and you almost can?t walk, spending your upright time kneeling at a keyboard, a lot of it holding your bladder because you can only make so many trips to the bathroom each day. Your reach has deteriorated to about the length of your forearms, and to make a long story a short metaphor that often works literally, your physical state puts most of life?s comforts as well as pleasures out of reach.Helpful idea? You?ve tried it. Prayers, words of hope? Whatever you have - it's eluded diagnosis even at NIH and Johns Hopkins - is innately progressive, similar to M...
More About: Spirituality , Place , Listening