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 …
Perfection Isn’t Really All That Perfect
WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT TRYING TO BE PERFECT? Not much, according to the highly influential Jungian analyst, Erich Neumann. In 1949, Neumann published Depth Psychology and the New Ethic, arguing that the “old ethic” of perfection was doing so much damage to individual well-being and human survival, that it had to give way to new …
A Moon Shadow Dancing
TWICE, JESUS TELLS THE CROWD, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE” (Jn. 6:35, 48) — and the image glows with the radiance of moonlight, giving us a surprising glimpse of the feminine face of Christ. The twin proclamations reveal the essence of the “Bread of Life Discourse” (Jn. 6:25-59). The evangelist has Jesus deliver this …
“Life is change. How it differs from the rocks.”
In 1968, Jefferson Airplane released Crown of Creation, their fourth album, in which the political facet of their psychedelic rock became clearly visible. The album’s title track, written by Paul Kantner, blends philosophical insight with countercultural attitude in a song that, in the end, turns out to be a love song. The song’s closing lines …
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Let’s Not Neglect Justice and Mercy and Faith
“HYPOCRITES! HYPOCRITES! YOU HYPOCRITES!” This past weekend, while watching the news about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and the Republican response, these exclamations (and a few other choice words) kept screaming into my head — and occasionally out through my lips. Eventually, I realized I was responding, appropriately, in biblical terms. In the Gospel …
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Reading the “Secret” Language of the Word of God
BIBLICAL LITERALISM VIOLATES BIBLICAL TRUTH. Retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong calls it heresy. Literal interpretations of biblical texts miss the mark because they assume most of the texts are straightforward reports of facts. In doing so, such interpretations ignore the literary genres of the texts they interpret. Let’s consider the literary genres present in …
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Moonlight Shines in the Darkness
FOR THOSE WITH EYES TO SEE, the symbolism in the Gospel of John invites us into remarkable, even transformative encounters. The gospel’s prologue, for example, proclaims a light in the darkness, a light the darkness doesn’t overcome. Many see this to be an image of the sun and the invincible solar hero, but I feel …
Living the Questions
Lurking in the background, behind our everyday concerns, are those “big questions” about the meaning of it all. Who am I? Who are you? Where do we live? What lies ahead? What are we supposed to be doing? Answers to these deeply human questions are offered by our wisdom traditions, by our spiritual giants, and …
Soul Spirit Wisdom 