It doesn’t get much better than the right kind of sad song that somehow leaves you, all at once, feeling like you’ve been stripped of your armour, yet you’re stronger, braver and more hopeful. For me, the music must fit, must open me up, stirring something deep inside. Good words, […]
First, don’t pay any real attention to yourself. Try hard to distract your thoughts and emotions while doing as little meaningful activity as possible. Certainly don’t pay any attention to other people either, but assume that they are there to hear you voice whatever you happen to say. Assume that […]
The more I study human sexuality, the more I am convinced that it is a uniquely beautiful gift largely because of the range of paradoxes that are (or can be) integrated through it. The sexual part of being human is magnificent and deeply passionate. It is also odd and messy. […]
Perhaps you’ve appreciated that somehow Easter has largely escaped numerous attempts to turn it into a massive excuse for more consumerism. (The article, “Holy Crossmas” in Slate does a good job of summing up some reasons.) So far, the commercial side is largely limited to the mildly pagan Easter eggs […]
I think there are all kinds of signs that Christianity (at least in its currently dominant forms) is crumbling. Yet, I think there are signs that paying attention to and following Jesus, and gathering together to help each other do that, is increasingly popular – and important. I am suggesting […]
Sometimes the paradoxes that seem most obviously contradictory are the ones that are so deeply true. One of the these significant contradictions is the apparently simultaneous truth that everything matters and nothing matters. At times, it would seem, wisdom leads us to clearly lean toward one or the other. Perhaps […]
Imagine two kinds of people who live passionately: The first type live lives of wild freedom. They hold onto everything lightly, knowing no single thing comes with a guarantee. Yet they believe that life itself is good and beautiful. They are fully present in the moment, open to caring for […]
The ways that most of us gather information these days keep us “grazing on the same side of the fence.” We read or watch thinkers and commentators who reinforce our own somewhat entrenched positions. If we do peek over the fence, it might be to mock the laughable stupidity of […]
Ever since John of the Cross immortalized a certain kind of spiritual crisis in a poem called “Dark Night of the Soul,” people have used that term to refer to a time when it has particularly felt that God has been absent and unreachable. When I think of the darkest […]
I’m so tired of people using the words of the “prince of peace” to justify attitudes that lead to violence. And I would suggest that any time we assume that certain people are bound for hell, we are halfway down the road to war; after all, how much can it […]