Blog
Living the truth and the universal family
March 30, 2016
The laws of this universe come from somewhere and from someone. The Creator reveals himself, so we can know him, receive his love, and love him in return.
Hope vs. radiant assurance
March 26, 2016
Hope occupies a place on the spectrum of confidence ranging from despair to radiant assurance. Despair implies that hope has vanished. Radiant assurance is beyond hope, which implies a degree of uncertainty.[1] This reflection on our attitudes toward the future begins with a look at our consciousness of the past. Edmund Husserl distinguished (1) explicit remembering from (2) retaining the past as a receding dimension of the present. Reading or hearing a sentence, we retain… Read More
How to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength
March 18, 2016
There are times when we totally love God, and then there are other times. I grew up with the command to love God with all my heart and mind and soul and strength. The command was not presented in a fearsome and judgmental context, but in a kind and gentle way. It registered on my mind, and I sometimes felt not quite right when I was not doing this. But no one ever introduced me… Read More
This website is under new management by the same person
February 5, 2016
All things are becoming new. I am no longer in the philosophy of living business. That business has been bought out by a new preaching start-up. The former employee will be retained, and intellectual communion will continue, but everything is now subordinated to the proclamation of the universal family—the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, the equality of women with men, and the liberty of each person to choose their own language… Read More
My germinating podcast, Toastmasters, and the drama of public speaking
January 22, 2016
During recent weeks, I have been too involved with other projects to sustain my previous pattern of blogging roughly every week. I have accepted a new teaching opportunity, joined Toastmasters to learn about their program in public speaking, and began working to create a podcast. This combination of new activities has been challenging and growth-stimulating; and I am presently dealing with some unresolved matters that I think are of sufficiently general interest to justify my… Read More
Jesus made the world friendlier
December 25, 2015
Jesus made the world friendlier. He revealed how to live as a child of God, and following in this way, we discover that our Father in heaven is also a friend within. And divine friendship is equally open to women as well as men. Jesus showed us how to transform our consciousness of duty. In morality and ethics, duty is essential; but isolated duty-consciousness loses touch with reality and with God. Duty-consciousness can be stained… Read More
An experiment in growth that you can join
December 19, 2015
Think of starting out from early childhood to grow in ways that are well-developed and well-balanced. Some people do this, others don’t, but we can all build on strengths and overcome deficiencies. I propose an informal philosopher’s experiment, and I invite you to join in, if you would like to do so. You can briefly answer one or more of the following questions by commenting on this blog post, thereby sharing with other participants in… Read More
Immigrants, Muslims, neighbors
December 7, 2015
What should we do if it becomes intolerable to stay in our homeland? In recent decades, the increasingly common answer is to emigrate. People have learned that despite the risks and miseries of immigration, support from various sources frequently arrives to enable people to survive and eventually to make a better life. The political crisis in Syria and the resulting movement of refugees into Europe and elsewhere is the most salient current example. The movement… Read More
Kay Lindahl’s The Sacred Art of Listening
November 28, 2015
This blog post is one of quotes and comments. With fascinating bits of scientific research results, combined with illustrations by Amy Schnapper that gently lead the mind beyond the verbal realm, Kay Lindahl, founder of The Listening Center, distills the wisdom of long experience of study, practice, and leadership in her The Sacred Art of Listening: Forty Lessons for Cultivating a Spiritual Practice—published by Skylight Paths. Listening is also about conversation and spirituality. This is… Read More