IT’S ODD, BUT WHEN WELL-MEANING FRIENDS TELL ME, “YOU SHOULD JUST …,” the solutions they offer all too often miss the mark. The effect of the offer can be the opposite of what was intended: the advice can feel like a judgment amplifying a sense of failure. Carl Jung says, “People think you have only …
When Compassion Dies
COMPASSION MUST BE THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR, especially among the instigators of war. And when compassion dies, the soul dies with it. For compassion is the essential core of the human soul. Thus, the loss of compassion is at the same time a loss of soul. Dehumanizing the “Other” is the weapon that delivers …
The Evil Visited Upon Ukraine
ONLY AUTOCRATS FEAR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY ON THEIR BORDERS. When an autocrat acts aggressively and violently against a neighboring nation, for no other reason than such a fear, that autocrat becomes an agent of evil. In the Russian war against Ukraine, now underway, the Russian autocrat is raining down suffering, destruction and death on the …
Creative Tension
IN THE 4TH CENTURY, C.E., MONKS IN UPPER EGYPT BURIED DOZENS OF TEXTS. Why? Because a powerful bishop in Alexandria had condemned the use of non-canonical books. We can assume the texts were buried rather than burned because the monks valued the texts and hoped they might be welcomed again at a later date. Instead, …
When You Feel Like a Stranger
IT’S AN UNCANNY FEELING, WHICH I SUSPECT MOST OF US HAVE from time to time, to wonder whether you belong, to wonder whether you might not be a stranger in a strange land. In fact, it’s a timeless and universal feeling, one that has left traces in our literary history as far back as the …
Spirit, Matter and Soul
THE WORLD’S GREAT SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS ALL AGREE, with a few exceptions, that the material world is at least unreal, if not fundamentally false and evil. To state the case in overly simplistic generalizations, the spiritual is exalted over the material in Buddhism, in most Hindu traditions, in Daoist spirituality, in Christian theological and mystical traditions, …
The Boy Who Would Be King
WHAT THE RISE OF DONALD TRUMP HAS SHOWN US IS THE MAGICAL POWER a massively inflated ego has to attract “wounded” people who fear loss and diminishment, that is, people who have developed the so-called “victim mentality.” Inflation, however, is not enough by itself to explain the magical power of the attraction. An unconscious archetypal …
Now Is a Good Time to Begin Healing
ALTHOUGH THE NEW YEAR BEGINS ON AN ARBITRARILY CHOSEN DAY IN TIME, the possibility for renewal a new year offers is both real and important. A new beginning is always a good time to begin to heal. Healing, however, is not the same as curing. Where curing an illness is a bio-medical procedure, healing is …
Mother and Child – Part 2
IMAGINE YOU’RE IN THE AUDIENCE AT A CHRISTMAS PAGEANT and the oh-so-familiar story is unfolding before you. It’s nighttime in Bethlehem, where a wondrous star hangs overhead. Angels watch over the birth. Because there was no room at the inn, the baby Jesus lies in a manger, in the stable, under the loving gaze of …
Mother and Child – Part 1
THE MUSES BROUGHT PAUL McCARTNEY A MAGICAL BIT OF ARCHETYPAL INSPIRATION to get him started on the song “Let It Be” — (sing along with me now) “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me …” The image evokes not only millennia of Marian veneration, but also our collective affection …
Soul Spirit Wisdom 