In the above illustration I have highlighted in orange a water droplet that has momentarily separated itself from the ocean below. On its brief arc through space-time, the water droplet exists (meaning literally to stand out) as a unique individual – if only by virtue of the fact that it occupies this exact point inContinue reading “You, There”
Category Archives: Post-theism/New Humanism
Crossing Over
If you only knew what’s going on, what’s really going on, you’d probably live differently from the way you’re living now. Not that your life is entirely enveloped in delusion, but it is the case nonetheless that the short story of your personal myth keeps your attention preoccupied with mostly small daily concerns. As aContinue reading “Crossing Over”
The Story That Got You Here
Here’s what I already know about you, even if we’ve never met. You were conceived and developed in your mother’s womb, during which time you were physically attached to her by an umbilical cord that delivered the oxygen and nutrients you needed. That was your paradisal “garden of Eden,” where everything you required was instantlyContinue reading “The Story That Got You Here”
The Mirror of Religion
If god is not “up there” and heaven is not “after this,” then why would anyone get involved with religion? One obvious answer might be to make money – speaking primarily on behalf of TV evangelists and other hucksters who exploit our fantasies of immortality and our craving for absolute answers. They hook us inContinue reading “The Mirror of Religion”
Coming to Terms
To exist is to “stand out” (Latin existere) as an individual ego or “I,” centered in yourself and tracking on your own timeline. Of course, this timeline is not interminable, meaning that it will not continue forever. One day you will die and pass into extinction. Nothing in time is permanent; nothing is everlasting. Now,Continue reading “Coming to Terms”
The Three Stages of Consciousness
In this post I want to play with a big backgrounding idea that’s been shaping my thoughts on human nature and creative change for some time now. It’s about consciousness and how our human evolution and individual development can be understood as progressing through three distinct stages. I’m using this term in both its temporalContinue reading “The Three Stages of Consciousness”
Human and Fully Alive
The attraction of any so-called unified theory is in its claim to bring several previously disparate and unreconciled things into a single all-inclusive picture or account. One of my abiding aspirations over the years has been to clarify a unifed theory of human nature, an “anthropology” that doesn’t reduce us to dumb matter or deifyContinue reading “Human and Fully Alive”
Dropping Into Reality
In More Than You Think I offered a theory that regards mind as more than what’s going on inside your head. Western culture, particularly, has tended to equate consciousness (or spirit) with mind, mind with the brain, and the brain with the body as the central ganglion of its physical nervous system. Granting such exclusiveContinue reading “Dropping Into Reality”
The Problem With God
A friend in the Wisdom Circle I attend asked an important question recently: “How is it that the Religious Right can stand behind Donald Trump and what he’s doing to our country?” For an answer, let’s further ask what the Religious Right is all about. Also known as the political arm of Evangelical Christianity, theContinue reading “The Problem With God”
Breaking the Frame
Let’s play a game, called “Breaking the Frame.” The Frame refers to what defines right behavior and good character for a specific group of people. For each of us, The Frame began to take shape when we were very young and the family was our original group. As we got older and more involved inContinue reading “Breaking the Frame”
Tracts of Revolution 