A Definition As we continue to blur the lines of right and wrong, it is important to return to the basics and explore the ancient, historical origins of concepts of morality, virtue and even personhood. In this post, I want to explore how we have moved from an ancient, objective perspective of virtue to a subjective, often agenda-based ideology of virtue. Plato and Aristotle are Western pioneers of this school of thought and in the East, we find Confucius... Read more
Is Peace Achievable? There is a lot of talk these days (or every day since time immortal) about all the chaos we are observing. Some would go as far as saying this is the worst it has ever been. I strongly disagree. I am sitting with Thich Nhat Hahn’s 1991 book, “Peace is Every Step” this week and contemplating and meditating about peace. This would be one of the first books I read from him when I was in college,... Read more
Emotional Openness While men and women both struggle with emotional openness, men more often are stereotyped as such, and women are often pathologized. The emotional landscapes and conditioning of men and women can be quite different, often influenced by societal norms and expectations. From my side of the chair, I have found that many men have a harder time being emotionally open due to a variety of reasons: Societal Conditioning: Traditionally, many cultures have conditioned men to view emotional vulnerability as... Read more
Are the teachings and ruminations of John Wesley relevant to today’s society? They were thought of over 200 years ago. How is 18th Century England and Europe like 21st century America and Europe? What can we learn from these old teachings? I came to the United Methodist Church in 1997 to pursue ministry and would attend seminary in 2001 – 2004 to be trained as a minister. While I have not always agreed with the UMC, I still believe in... Read more
What is Apologetics? Historically, apologetics is the task of presenting a well-reasoned, intellectual defense of the truth claims of the Christian faith. In the early church, persecuted Christians defended the faith against paganism, polytheism, and political threats. Over the last thirty years, though, we have observed a new Christianity arise. This new(ish) form has been seen before in many iterations, but this new Christianity that we are observing is more insidious, more rigid, more extreme. Are “apologetics just another “right-wing” tactic to impose... Read more
Psalm 42 My morning prayers, Lauds today had me thinking about Psalm 42. It got me thinking about how this Psalm can teach us how to deal with challenging times. Using the framework I posited in my other post this week, using lectio, oratio, contemplatio and meditatio, let us consider Psalm 42 (From the NIV version): As the deer pants for streams of water, so, my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.... Read more
The process of being present is a spiritual journey. I was talking to a client about the contemplative life this morning. In the world of psychology and therapy, mindfulness is a huge attention getter, and everyone talks about it like it is some magical event. After twenty-seven years of practice, I can say that contemplative practice has been one of the best and the worst experiences I have had in my faith journey. While there are mountain top experiences, these... Read more
Questing is a spiritual practice that helps one clarify the mind and free oneself temporarily from the burdens of life to focus on their own spiritual journey. After about seven months of planning, June 7 finally arrived, and I was on my way to New York to hike the eighty-six-mile section of the Appalachian Trail in New York. The bags were packed, the body ready, the mind sharp. At least that is what I thought when I left on Friday,... Read more
What Shapes Our Humanity? What shapes our humanity? I was having a conversation the other day and this question came up. The idea I posited was that time was a human made illusion. To push this further then, I then suggested that at a basic level, we only need food, water, shelter and satisfy our primal urges to procreate. Everything else we believe we need and is human made constructs. The Beauty of Being Human I was reading about... Read more
Tales from the Holocaust How does a Jewish Ontology inform our Christian faith? This semester, I had my students look at Victor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning to explore the meaning of life using a Jewish Ontological lens. In Frankl’s book, he describes his journey of suffering and his endurance to survive. In his exploration and in his writings, he demonstrates to the reader how we have the power to make meaning no matter even in the worst situations. In Frankl’s... Read more
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