Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Although the title for this inspirational reflection comes from inside the text of a small article I read online, it was the title of that online article that lured me into reading.   I routinely read quite a few religious and spiritual websites just so I can be more aware of what’s going on in the world.   And it is literally in the world.   Once upon a time, you were current if you knew what was going on in your city or state.   Really “with it” people had a good national awareness.   When I was growing up, I don’t think I knew anyone who had been abroad.   In those days on the Indiana farm, to go to New York City or DC was tantamount to going abroad!             With the internet things have changed.   The world is as near as the click of the mouse.   So I try to follow the global news, particularly in the spiritual sense.   If I am dealing with students in my class who may live til...

There are a few people I follow in the sense that I want to hear and read whatever they are putting out there.   My interest in these kinds of people does not parallel the people the general culture follows.   For example, when I go through the checkout counter in the grocery store, I read with some amusement the cover of the various Hollywood-type magazines.   I usually don’t even know the people about whom the magazine is putting forward.   People are pregnant, getting dumped or duped or generally making a scene out of their lives and I don’t care.   I just want to pay for the carrots!            I am not really interested in the sports stars upon whom our culture lavishes so much blabber.   I don’t care about Tiger, LeBron or Michael.   Certainly, they are accomplished in terms of a skill set for a particular sport.   But that says nothing about the kind of human being they are.   Many a...

In my spiritual journey I have learned many things, as would be expected.   Indeed, it would be sad if we were to be on a journey for a period of time and learn nothing.   That sounds more like stagnation than a journey.   One important thing I have learned is to balance working with the new---staying connected to the relevant things happening in our world---with the traditional---things like spiritual disciplines to keep me grounded.             A good bit of what I read comes from the spirituality in my contemporary world.   I do not fall for the illusion that anything new has to be better than the older ways of being spiritual.   But I am not so naïve as to think that most of whatever is new will have no staying power in our world.   For example, there is so much research coming out of our scientific community, we would be idiotic to ignore that.   Neuroscientists are discovering so much abou...

It is obvious that the title of this inspirational message is not in English.   For many of us who do not know any other language, this can be very frustrating.   Suddenly we can feel like the outsider.   It might even bring back memories of being a little kid and being left out of a conversation.   Exclusion is typically not a fun experience.            However, if you know French, you immediately knew the phrase used in the title was a pretty familiar phrase.   In fact, in educated, academic circles, it often is used in an English text and left untranslated.   Again if I am not educated, i.e., if I do not know French in this case, I still feel left out.   I might have a doctoral degree in physics and still not know what the phrase means.             The phrase, joie de vie, means “joy of life.”   Now that we all know what it means, we c...