Spiritual wisdom traditions of East and West have distinct accents in their respective characterizations of what awaits the individual who is finally ready to break past the constraints of personal identity and a conventional life. Conventional refers to the system of assumptions, habits, values, and agreements that define the worldview and way of life forContinue reading “Life on the Ladder … and Beyond”
Tag Archives: life
Ascending the Cosmic Mountain
The illustration above captures in a single image a grand view of the Whole Shebang. It is the dialogical product of our two traditionally complementary systems, science and spirituality. Unfortunately, the metasystem of religion which historically served to hold these two in coordinated balance and mutual support, made the fateful mistake of defending a literalContinue reading “Ascending the Cosmic Mountain”
Keeping It Real
What is it for something to be real? Let’s go even bigger and ask, What is reality? Presumably something is real when it has reality, but what does that even mean? Are we just tripping over terms but getting no closer to genuine insight and understanding? Not surprisingly, we’re not the first to ask theseContinue reading “Keeping It Real”
Living By What We Know
I’m going to make an argument that will likely seem strange to you, at least at first. It applies to our current situation as a species on this planet, specifically to our apparent disorientation and confusion when it comes to knowing how to live and get along. Add to this a chronic frustration over soContinue reading “Living By What We Know”
One Song
An important challenge for contemporary cosmology – referring to our present-day theory and general picture of reality – involves finding a place for the higher mysteries of mind, ego, and spirit. Like Odysseus steering his ship between Scylla the six-headed dragon on one side, and Charybdis the crushing whirlpool on the other, we need toContinue reading “One Song”
You, There
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”
Homecoming
The process of becoming somebody – someone with a separate center of personal identity – is a long and complicated affair involving many others who are also undergoing their own individuation. We are busy trying to figure out the game as the game is shaping who we are. Actually, the process of becoming somebody hasContinue reading “Homecoming”
Christian Mythology Through A Post-theistic Lens
After leaving Christian ministry as a church pastor my journey has taken me deeper into the frontier of post-theism, and it’s been my new “calling” since then to clarify the meaning of this emergent form of spirituality. I have worked hard to distinguish post-theism from its progenitor (theism), as well as from its much youngerContinue reading “Christian Mythology Through A Post-theistic Lens”
One to Another
Now that you’ve completed the major work of becoming somebody – (I realize it’s an ongoing project and that construction may be stuck in a phase right now, but let’s pretend anyway) – the question of what’s next needs your attention. Of course, popular culture wants you to believe in yourself as an end-game: the highestContinue reading “One to Another”
Why Spirituality and Religion Need Each Other
In their effort to distance themselves from irrelevant and pathological forms of religion, many today are identifying themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” This general move across culture has also tended to brand religion itself as inherently irrelevant (outdated) and pathological (extremist and/or delusional). The so-called New Atheists have promoted this identification in their advocacyContinue reading “Why Spirituality and Religion Need Each Other”
Tracts of Revolution 