The sacred shouldn’t suck. For the past decade, I’ve been asking, “Why spiritual community? Is it worth the hassle?” I mean, it’s pretty obvious that religious organization tends to be full of problems and pitfalls. Nobody has to look…
I’ve had Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf” going through my head this week. Psychedelic funk has seemed an apt soundtrack for Life lately. And this song has got it going on in so many…
I keep returning to the search for Clarity. In my own practice as well as in what I say and write about the spiritual journey, I circle back to this theme because it always seems like the necessary first step…
It dawned on me recently that all my commitments, convictions, and cares have piled up and hardened up and gotten in the way of me having as much fun as I used to. I mean, I’m still looking for a…
For years, since first encountering it, I’ve loved the beautiful Rumi saying: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” The concept is so touching and inspiring — the possibility of relationships that…
I’ve had the iconic Doors song in my head for two weeks, since rocking it at karaoke. I think I chose the song because I was inspired by something I read in Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, which we are…
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”John Muir Travis and I went to see a documentary at the Guild last week: John Muir, Unruly Mystic. The film ambled…
Meister Eckhart, 13th-century mystic, wrote: All beings are words of God. God’s music, God’s art. Sacred books we are, for the Infinite camps in our souls. Every act reveals God and expands God’s Being.I know that may be hard to…
The world can be terribly discouraging. Systemic injustice, institutionalized inequality, corruption and greed, lies and spin and manipulation are a freakin’ drag and drain. Most people I know, myself included, are feeling run-down and spent these days. Some of this…
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ” - Søren Kierkegaard I’ve always prayed. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a conversation with Life…