Hopeful Thinking

Ah, to be open. To be free. What must it feel like to be unrestrained by our past, our fears? How does one behave when balanced? Of whom are they not afraid? I wonder about my fears. I wonder what purpose they have. My first leap of faith growing up was the adoption of the belief that everything happens for a reason. What if it were true? I’ve lived my life by that thought for as long as I can remember, longer even than understanding it was really my faith I was declaring in the concept. I ask again. What if it were true? What if everything happens for a reason? Then what? Where does that thought take us? Shall we decide that by ‘reason’ we mean ‘purpose?’ I have decided that for myself, but you should decide your own opinion on the matter. Not all reasons are good. What have you decided about the nature of purpose? Is the purpose good? Decide. Could you live your life as if literally everything you see, touch, know, understand and misunderstand has a purpose? What does that c...

What is the difference between morals and ethics? A look in the dictionary provides no meaningful distinction. Various entries for the word ‘ethics’ often utilize the word ‘morals’ in their own definitions. Philosophers describe each in nuanced, often poetic ways. Since the definitions themselves are moving targets, I’ll offer my own based on their word origins. Morals are human. Ethics are humane. Cultures tend to define what is “moral” for their own purposes. Sometimes these purposes are truly beneficial, sometimes they are primitive, or restrictive beyond prudence. It might be helpful to think of the term moral by contrasting it with what we consider to be immoral. Literally, the word immoral means non-conforming to standards. Early uses of the word referenced the importance of manners far more than the value of goodness. The word ethics, however, has a different provenance. Ethics derives from the Greek word ethos . It’s a conceptual term regarding our character...

    The struggle is real. It’s not in your imagination. You have not failed at anything. You are not being punished. This is a universal experience. Being human is painful. A faithful heart feels the pain while sensing the purpose. Nothing is in vain. No time is being wasted. All shall be well.     Yet…     We addict ourselves to things and people and circumstances to forget the pain of being human. To obliterate it from our cerebral cortex for just a few moments at a time. That bliss. It’s false, but so close. It’s junk food, not veggies. But the drive to forget can be so strong, the fear so profound, we make tragic choices in the effort to just taste — however briefly — our connection to Source. When we suffer, we seek it even more.     On some level, I feel we know we are more than we appear. We are larger than we can see. Science understands electromagnetic fields at least to the point where they can detect them an...

As much as we like to think of it in these terms, ignorance is not a crime. Nor is it a sin. Ignorance is a condition. A treatable condition, at that. It exists as a self-sustaining vacuum, which is, of course, unnatural. It has to be falsely perpetuated. Much like the idea of cigarettes being good for your health. Humans are curious. More so than probably any other life form on the planet. We often give credit to our opposable thumbs for our progress as a species, but our ravenous curiosity far outweighs thumbs in terms of usefulness. As much as it is our strength however, curiosity is also our most profound vulnerability. In service to our thirst for data we allow ourselves to be constantly filled with information and have nothing but our principles to filter it. But principles, ethics and values are in a tenuous position. They thrive only in the absence of fear. Once we have been triggered by fear, the fight or flight mechanism engages and our principles often fly right out t...

    Humanity’s relationship with and understanding of God is based on a limitless supply of limited information. All we know of God is what we can see through the keyhole. It seems impossibly dark in here. A bright light is definitely on in the other room. All we can see of it, however, is the narrow band of photons which miraculously hits the impossibly small target of our eye.      It’s not much information to begin with. But worse, we’re all trying to see through the same keyhole at once. Crowding around it. The sides of our faces pressing hard against one another. So many trying to see. To verify. Each of us gets so little. Just a thin pinstreak of light. But our slender beam is entirely our own. No other eye can see through the opening at the exact angle we can. Just like no two views of a rainbow are exactly the same. What each looks like depends upon where you’re standing. In fact, each rainbow is in reality a series of individual rainbows in an amount...

    I am fascinated by the concept of holiness. First, I have to say that I do believe some things, places, even people, can accurately be referred to as “holy.” Still, I expect the concept to hold up to scrutiny. What does the word holy actually mean? Who, or what, confers holiness? Do we correctly infer God’s favor? Do we assume God more deeply approves of this person or that? Upon what criteria? What’s the checklist of “holy person?” What about holy spaces? Who or what decides these things? The answer can only be: People.     People declare holiness. They deem it to be on the authority of an outside higher power, but how can anyone confirm that? If God is as mysterious as tradition tells us there is literally no way we should maintain certainty. Divinely inspired or otherwise, holiness is a human construct. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s less special, sacred, or even less divine.     Why do we try so hard to read God’s mind? Why do we insist upon delving...

    What are you afraid of? Think about it for a minute. Sort through the obvious ones like losing a loved one or of dying ourselves. Get to the weird ones. Or the unexplainable ones. I personally know someone who is afraid of red nail polish. Get to the fears you don’t really mention to anyone because you hardly notice them yourself. I still flinch when driving through intersections and it’s been many years since my very minor accident.     I wonder about these fears. I wonder what they can tell us about ourselves. I think of them like symbolic dreams, but worse. We often know exactly what our fears mean. And yet feel so powerless against them. I’m sure scientists have come up with multiple categories for different types of fear. I deliberately chose not to look them up.     Many years ago I decided to have a little ceremony on the bow of a cruise ship I was singing on as it headed east from the island of Ibiza where we had spent the day. It was a new mo...