Hopeful Thinking

We might as well face it. Humans love drama. We spend millions to consume dramatic stories on film, television, and myriad other forms of media. We eat it like a last meal every day. So much so, that we often unconsciously perpetuate drama in our own lives. Many seem to thrive on stirring the pot.  Pretty much all of us have a hard time not getting sucked into little dramas here and there among our friends, family, and coworkers. We love to put our two cents in. We love to gossip. We love to talk smack about people. It’s like a drug. It’s almost irresistible. We can all go easily find ourselves in the middle of a drama in which we had no place. That is, until we made one for ourselves by joining in and thus perpetuating it.  Many spiritual practices appear to emphasize a need to dispense with drama in our lives. It’s interpreted by some as a need to dispense with any unlikable people and live a de facto socially monastic existence.  It is not the point of the human experi...

  I’ve been dieting lately. Of a sort. I lost a few pounds, but I haven’t really gotten very far. And then an old prayer idea popped into my head. I don’t remember where I heard it, though I immediately resonated with the idea.  The prayer is: Please help me see what you would have me see. Please make me attracted to the directions I should journey. Please make me hunger for the food that will make me well. Please make your light sparkle for me. Amen. The theology behind this prayer is twofold because part of it is an investment in faith and the other is the physics of asking.  To make good use of this prayer, we must be open to assuming that what we want/need is always hovering around us in the periphery. It’s just a matter of connecting with it. This belief is an investment. For some it’s a risky one. It implies that God provides all the time, and that we are somehow doing it wrong.  But remember that learning is not shameful. Growing is a process. Thinking of our ...

What type of light are you? Are you a lighthouse? I tend to be a cross between a spotlight and a candle, I think. Are you a blacklight? Are are you laser? Or perhaps you are moonlight.  The type of light that best represents each of us is derived from a combination of who we are naturally, and what we hope to be.  In my case, when I was a performing arts youth mentor, I loved creating a space to shine a spotlight on other people. I loved to find out what people were good at, and give them their best shot at doing it well. I really wanted to give them opportunities for appreciation. Not just appreciation of themselves, or of the opportunity. But to receive appreciation from others for their efforts. As a Minister, I take great pleasure in continuing that practice. I love it when I’m given an opportunity to showcase someone’s gifts in a way that encourages a sense of belonging and fulfillment. That to me is a spotlight. Something that, in its own ephemeral way, draws all of the ...

I’ve always been fascinated by symbolism. It’s my observation, backed up with some considerable evidence, that symbols evolve over time. The shapes change a little, their meanings adapt to the needs of the times in which they are used.  These symbols find their ways into other cultures and become other things. What was once solely a symbol of well-being in the ancient east gained a dubious fame in the 20th century as the Nazi swastika. Clearly not all symbols mean the same things to all people.  One of the things I like about the Jewish Star of David, for instance, is that it’s an overlay of two triangles. One pointing above and one pointing below. Superimposed upon one another to signify that they both exist in the same time and space. That symbol is far older than Judaism, however. It is an ancient symbol of protection. And then we look at the Christian cross. Though it has many variations, the predominant version we see today is that of a T with a vertical protrusion. Known...

Beginning occasionally two years before, but then with a great deal more frequency during the pandemic, I’ve been making and handpainting 7’ x 11’ canvas banners which I suspend from the columns of both my churches from their positions at the head of each town square. It’s my little community service attempt at instilling a bit of inspiration and hope. I’ve painted 40 of them so far.  The current banner opines, “Be at peace. Zen you can do anything.” Yes it’s trite and unapologetically cute. It also very nearly over-simplifies Zen Buddhism. But perhaps that’s the point of Buddhism in the first place. If you choose the right words, you can say an awful lot with very few letters. That will not quite be so in this column, but it’s still good advice.  The banner I am painting over the next few days will read, “A pound of opinions is not worth an ounce of knowledge.“ Everything I ever write in this space is just my opinion. And it really should be taken for that. All spiritual and ...

When stuck in a cycle of rumination, how do we find an exit ramp? Sometimes I get really stuck in my thoughts. I, like many people, have a tendency to trap myself in little emotional spin cycles that feel as long to end as if I were standing in front of the washing machine willing it to finish spinning already.  Knowing that I’m not alone, I ask the question on behalf of us all: How the heck do we manage to just chill out once in a while instead of letting things get to us? Where is the peace? And why isn't it available on demand? Those of us who make a point to study spiritual practices have a tendency to get even more frustrated with ourselves, thinking we should be better at this kind of thing than we are. But added perspective doesn’t always mean added results.  It’s a source of frustration for me because when something gets under my skin, I have a tendency to talk to myself a lot. I continually refine my arguments against the person who miffed me. Out loud. I do it for se...

One of my favorite characters in all of literature is the Bishop from Victor Hugo‘s 1862 novel Les Miserables. Also referred to as Monseigneur Bienvenu (meaning, welcome), Bishop Charles Myriel was suddenly elevated from parish priest to his high clerical rank by Napoleon himself after paying him a complement in passing. Having originally learned the basic story of Les Miserables as a stage musical in the 1980’s, I discovered the Bishop in more detail once I read the book upon which the musical was based.  In the musical, Les Miserables , the Bishop plays a minor but still crucially benevolent role. It was presented in the stage production rather like backstory exposition rather than the fundamental ingredient to the entire novel’s raison d’être; its literal reason for existing. All of the moral choices made in the entire novel by its lead character, Jean Valjean, are based upon his singular night’s exchanges between himself and Bishop Myriel.  In short summary, out of despe...