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, …
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 …
Confronting a Cosmic Revenge Fantasy
IMAGINE WHAT IT MIGHT BE LIKE TO DIE AND DISCOVER YOU’VE BEEN SENT TO HELL. Never mind the fact that in the cosmos, as we now understand it to be, there’s no “below” for hell (and no “above” for heaven). In the Western tradition, hell is believed to be an infernal, fiery place for eternal, …
Mist on a Breeze #7
Confusion …Disappointment …Rejection …Loneliness … is the question. Love is the answer. Betrayal …Loss …Violence …Fear … is the question. Love is the answer. Joy …Blessing …Ecstasy …Being … is the question. Love is the answer. Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoyed this post or found it insightful, please share it with …
Into the Cloud, Whereabouts Unknown
WHILE I AM NOT A MYSTIC, I HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY ADULT LIFE STUDYING (directly and indirectly) both religious experience in general and mysticism in particular. Right now, I’m re-reading, for at least the fourth time, The Cloud of Unknowing, a classic 14th century English manual of Christian contemplative prayer. This will be the …
Hide and Seek
Alan Watts told a remarkable story about God playing hide-and-seek. It was a playful presentation of key ideas from Hindu philosophy. The Upanishads say, "You are That." Watts said, "You're IT!" The story goes something like this ...
Mist on a Breeze #1
You and menot-beingPerfect as isNot-you, not-mebeingPerfect as is—R. Neuwoehner Mist on a Breeze, Words in Mind – a periodic series of quotes and insights
Carried Away in the Watercourse
LEFT ALONE TO FOLLOW ITS NATURAL COURSE, CONSCIOUSNESS EBBS AND FLOWS like the tides, rises and falls like waves on the sea, rolls and tumbles like a mountain stream, wanders like a meandering river. Over the past month or so, I’ve re-read the Zhuangzi (also known as the Chuang Tzu) in two translations, one old, …
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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On Being a Musician the Spirit Plays
“LOOSE BUT SPIRITED” HAS BEEN MY MOTTO, for decades, as an improvisational musician. It affirms the value of letting the spirit play — not because precision is a bad thing, but because getting music “tight” too often pushes out the spirit entirely. In improvisational music, the magic happens when the spirit plays the musicians. To …
Soul Spirit Wisdom 