Ego sucks. I don’t mean that as a judgment, but as a simple statement of fact. I happen to believe that our separate center of self-conscious identity – ego (Latin for “I”) for short – represents a transformational breakthrough in the evolution of human consciousness, and we need it to get around in the world.Continue reading “Four-Square Spirituality”
Tag Archives: power
First Things
If we don’t really understand ourselves, how can we know what we need to be healthy, happy, and whole? In our ignorance we are left groping for what feels good, for what might help us get ahead of the game, or at least distract us from the anxiety of not knowing what “the game” isContinue reading “First Things”
Post-theism and the River of Fire
In the nineteenth century a German philosopher and proto-psychologist named Ludwig Feuerbach argued that theology, or god-talk (theo+logos), is really a projection outward and upward of our higher human nature. We spontaneously imagine our own dormant virtues as existing separate from us in the deity, and then we aspire to be like god, which graduallyContinue reading “Post-theism and the River of Fire”
Life on the Ladder … and Beyond
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”
Intentionally Human
In Next Steps I presented the “map” to a more authentic and fulfilling human experience, according to the perennial tradition of wisdom spirituality (Sophia Perennis) which has been active now for several thousand years across numerous cultures and religions. The spirituality and its map are the shared product and collective property of homo sapiens, andContinue reading “Intentionally Human”
A New Look at Family Values
Conservative politicians and preachers frequently say that the health of society is a symptom of marriage and family health. For them, marriage and family are the foundation of everything else. Class tension, racial strife, and tribal conflict are both the sign and fallout of dysfunction at that primary level. I’m not sure the politicians andContinue reading “A New Look at Family Values”
Life in Balance
Do you know why anxiety and depression are so prevalent in our day? Why more and more drugs are being invented (or repurposed) for their treatment – with an efficacy hardly better than the placebo effect? Why, despite multi-billions of dollars spent each year on research and treatment, and on the side-effects of that treatment,Continue reading “Life in Balance”
And So It Goes
It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on what makes grownups act like children, but with the US presidential campaigns kicking into high gear, this seems like a good time. Our conventional idea of an “adult” is a person who is rational and reasonable, reflective and responsible, who is emotionally centered, well-adjusted, and gets alongContinue reading “And So It Goes”
A Mandala of the Spiritual Life
When you were still in the womb and for some time after you were born, you were entirely dependent on the provident support of your taller powers for the protection, nourishment, warmth, and loving attention you needed to thrive. Being helpless and defenseless, and having no sense of yourself as an “I” in relation toContinue reading “A Mandala of the Spiritual Life”
Virtues of the Centered Life
Western and Eastern approaches to spirituality differ in their accents on what to do with the ego – that separate center of personal identity that each of us cherishes as “I, myself.” The challenge in both cases is presented in the condition of duality, which is a consequence of separating into our own identity, knownContinue reading “Virtues of the Centered Life”
Tracts of Revolution 