Hopeful Thinking

I admit, I’m terrible at remembering to ‘say grace’ before a meal. Of course, that statement, in and of itself, is quite self-judgemental. For, after all, who says we need to say grace in the first place?  Remember that, despite those who’d prefer we obey without question, questioning has value too, so long as it is done with an open mind. I’ve always been curious about the physics behind religious obligations. I approach them with an assumption that there’s some potentially intrinsic human benefit to be discovered. Often, when exploring various rituals, traditions, and ceremonies, I remember the things I’ve learned about quantum physics. Granted, I’m no expert, but some of it is quite rudimentary and accessible to even a non-scientist such as myself.  In particular is the evidence that an observer’s expectations influence the outcomes of atomic particles. That seems hard to believe, but it’s proven to be the case. Atomic particles behave differently when observed, and when th...

  A long-held pet peeve of mine has been rearing its prickled head a bit more than usual lately. I’ve gotten into a few religious debates with people, both online and in person, about the problems with making concrete interpretations.  To assert that something is true and factual, and that others must also believe it, despite that it cannot be proven, for instance, to a court of law, or by repeatable scientific processes, is both irresponsible and dangerous. Great harm has occurred through the misuse of scripture in this way.  Now, this is not to say that some things people hold to be factual yet remain unprovable aren’t true. There are many likely true but unprovable facts out there. How does one prove love, for instance? One could say we prove our love through our actions. But is that definitive proof that love exists? How does one point to love? Or measure it? We could point to actions which we deem loving and declare that to be proof of love itself. But is it? To say ...

It’s funny the words we see all the time and use regularly, yet when called upon to spell them, we blank.  When I decided to write about ecstasy I misspelled it. I could have sworn it had an X in it.  Which made me laugh to myself at the irony of it because we do often equate ecstasy with X-rated things. Perhaps it revealed a bias in me.  Conversely, when one describes having an “ecstatic experience,” many first think of religion and spirituality, or a view from the mountaintop.  I would argue that, at some level, they might all be the same thing. I say this by way of making a belated New Year’s resolution for myself. And perhaps suggesting one to you as well. Have more ecstasy this year. A lot more of it. The word ecstasy comes from the Greek ekstasis meaning to stand outside oneself; to leave one’s body. I also read that it was a removal from one’s “proper place.” Ouch. That almost seems like religious judgment against potentially religious experiences when put tha...

Did you know that for all our talk about the ‘pursuit of happiness,’ we actually take a very dim view of people who seek it? We see the pursuit of pleasure as hedonistic. Old religious paradigms that encourage austerity and sacrifice and suffering as the only path toward true salvation have caused us to doubt the relevance or even the spiritual safety of just being happy.  We are taught to be of service to humanity, but what good is raising the level of the water in the harbor so that all boats go up if your anchor is still tethered at the old water level? Everyone’s boat goes up but yours. Is that what we are meant to do? Where’s the logic? If I consider you to be more important than me, how is that a respect for all of creation? Aren’t I a part of creation, too? These are the ideas we have been ingrained with which confuse us when it comes time to express our compassion for others.  We have become infected with a belief that we do not matter. And how is that a good posture f...

Who decides if a word is racist or not? How do we know when discrimination is happening? When is it possible to know if gender plays a role in how professional decisions are made? These are among the questions of our Great Human Reckoning. Society has increasingly made decisions about these things every day. Lines get drawn in the sand. Sometimes the lines move as we discover greater details about what should lie on which side. We can look at the history of the n-word, for example, and the birth of the idea that it represented hatred. A hatred we slowly decided was no longer appropriate. That gradual decision drew a line in the sand. A line that our society would increasingly turn to over the years and decades which followed, and continues to this day. A line beyond which were placed other non-loving, and non-inclusive words, and terminologies, and phrases, and eventually even product logos depicting the oppressed, and team mascots that unfairly portrayed whole races of people. That is...

Nearly all of us have been affected in one way or another by what has been dubbed “the Great Resignation.” Since the return to work following the lockdowns of the early pandemic, people have left their jobs in droves.  Many have wondered why, theorizing often that the federal funds added to state unemployment benefits given as a stimulus to help get us through the most trying financial times of this experience were making it more appealing to stay home than to return to our jobs.  To me, that seemed too simple an answer from the beginning. And it didn’t correspond to the realities as neatly as people wanted to believe. It turns out I was correct. As those benefits phased out, people were not returning back to their old jobs. There had to be other reasons.  My suspicion all along was that the pandemic was giving our civilization a serious “come to Jesus moment” with regard to our satisfaction and purpose. In other words, we were ‘mad as hell not going to take it anymore.’ ...

Back in the early 90s I attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City. I enjoyed nearly 20 years of being a performing arts professional.  I learned an incredible amount about the human experience in the process of learning how to emulate it. But it was of the craft of acting itself from which I learned a cornerstone idea about life. Namely, that stuff always goes wrong and how you face it is all that matters. Of course I don’t say this to be a pessimist. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. This prayer is more of an idea about non-resistance. Because things always do happen. Rarely does everything go according to plan. On stage or in real life. And sometimes surprising things occur when our expectations have not been met. There are many ways of reacting to a sudden change of plans. We can certainly overreact. We can also thoughtfully respond. How easily are you thrown by a sudden change? In the process of acknowledging that stuff always goes wrong, th...