Faith & Life Inspirational Message

There are so many different ways to think about the spiritual life.   And of course, in our country there are so many different variations of religious experiences.   There are liberals and conservatives.   There are fundamentalists and Pentecostals.   Besides the dizzying variety of Christian traditions, there are many different non-Christian traditions.   There are the major traditions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on.   There are the slightly more obscure traditions, such as Sikhism, Jainism, etc.   And then there are more fringe groups and, even, pseudo-religions.   There are defining doctrines and religious practices.   Some of these are specific to a particular tradition or a few traditions, such as the koan , which is used in Zen Buddhism for example.   Other defining doctrines or practices are common across the religious board.   Something like meditation would be a good example.   Christians meditate; B...

Recently I had the occasion to return to some readings that I did long ago.   Because of an article I am writing, I needed to go back to my Quaker roots for some ideas and Quaker way of putting those ideas.   I returned to one of my favorite Quakers of last century, Douglas Steere.   I knew Douglas as an acquaintance, but not well enough to call a friend.   He was a long-time professor of philosophy at Haverford College in the Philadelphia area.     In some ways Douglas Steere became a role model for me.   He was one of those seasoned veterans who come along early in one’s career.   Douglas was an academic---a good academic.   But he also was a man of the Spirit and a man of the world.   Douglas was involved in the ecumenical movement long before most of us knew what the word meant.   He read Catholic literature, much of which today we would talk about as the Catholic spiritual literature.   He chose to spend a month in a ...

Recently I have been doing some background research for a paper that I have agreed to write.   The paper offers a comparative look at my favorite monk, Thomas Merton, and the Quaker perspective on contemplative spirituality.   Certainly, Merton thought and wrote quite a bit about contemplation.   In fact, his monastery in Kentucky is rightly called a contemplative monastery.   Without going into a full explanation of contemplation, let it simply be understood here as a way of trying to live life in the Presence of God.             Quakers historically have not used the language of contemplation.   That meant that I would not have know much about the topic and would probably have answered negatively, if I had been asked whether Quakers were contemplative.   Now I would say that Quakers share much of what contemplation means without using the term or the normal contemplative language.   I had j...

I enjoy getting a new book and diving into the ideas contained in it.   Sometimes I have a fairly good idea of what I will get; other times I have little to no clue what I will read.   A recent read is a book suggested by one of my favorite columnists, David Brooks.   I read Brooks in the New York Times online.   One of his columns mentioned a book by an editor of a poetry journal.   It was a book that was intriguingly religious in Brooks’ estimation.   I became intrigued, too, and jumped into My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman. I had never heard of Wiman, so I had no idea what to expect.   The book is very engaging, but not an easy read.   The are ample examples of poetry, which is fun for me, since I don’t know that much about poetry and probably don’t understand and appreciate it like I could.   I feel like I am growing.   I feel like I am learning and being challenged.           ...

When I find a phrase or sentence in a book that arrests my attention, I feel like I just found a diamond.   Of course, it is not materially valuable, but a great phrase or sentence adds value to my life and the way I understand life.   In fact, I wish I had started collecting these “diamonds” early in my life---maybe from college to today.   I wonder how many of these I would have in my treasury?              I am sure if I were to cull the various things I have written, I would have a minimal list of these phrases and sentences.   They would fill many pages in a notebook and would be a wonderful reservoir of inspiring thoughts.   Even though I don’t have that notebook, I still go in search of the phrase or sentence that stops me in my tracks and lets me exclaim, “Yes!”             I found one of these sentences recently when I was re-reading ...

Today is the beginning of the season of Lent.  The theme of Lent is preparation for Easter- preparation for real life.  Lent is a special time for me because it allows me a chance one more time to re-engage a process of making something out of life.  Maybe you are like me.  I get disgusted at myself when I make life worse rather than better. Too often it is appalling how easy it is to make life worse!  Lent is always that time and opportunity to listen to God saying, “Oh, you really can do better. You really can do better.  Come on, now!” A key to this process is to let God come into our inner world and reshape us – remake us.  In fact, one of the good things about Lent is that it calls us to consider again our inner life.  It is so easy to live life every day without any attention to our inner world.  So much of life deals with externals…with the demands of others, the expectations of those who care about us, our own concern for reputatio...

Most people I know have a home.   I have a nice enough home.   It is not luxurious, but it is more than adequate.   If you were to visit me, you would know that my home has that “lived in” feeling.   It is not the kind of place with dazzle and formality.   I have been in those kinds of homes.   I always feel slightly uncomfortable and on edge.   I hesitate to sit down or touch anything.   Even though I am fairly athletic, in those kinds of situations I temporarily become a klutz! It is pretty commonsense to differentiate house and home.   Many people know the experience of moving into a new house.   In fact, we usually say it precisely that way.   We can buy a house and move into it.   But it takes a while to have the house become a “home.”   That process is likely different for most people.   And the process typically has no time frame.   Some may know how to become “home-makers” much more quickly than the ...

Much of the time I get material from the things I read.   But sometimes I hear interesting things.   Such was the case yesterday.   I was with a group of people whom I very much like.   They are gracious.   They are warm and quite hospitable.   I like to sit back and watch them do what seems very natural.   I long ago concluded that people who live in the Spirit do what comes natural to the Spirit.   I think people of the Spirit naturally begin to focus on others, rather than themselves.   People of the Spirit know the first thing you do is to welcome the other.   They do this even if the “other” is stranger.   I am sure they see a stranger who has not yet become a friend.   That is a neat way of looking at the world.   It certainly is a way of peace making. It is a way that begins in trust and hopes for the best.   Some would call this naïve.   The bolder critics would call it stupid!   It is naïve an...

A friend of mine sent me an interesting article on improvisation.   I know what improvisation means, but I admit I never thought too much about it.   Probably like you, when I do think of improvisation, I think of nightclubs and television.   Those are the usual venues where actors of some sort entertain people by “winging it.”   That is probably the street definition of improvisation: the ability to wing it.   That is a decent beginning understanding of improvisation, as I begin to think about it more.   The article that I read gives this street definition a little more clarity and development.   Kip Kelly, the author of the article, begins his definition in this fashion.   “In essence, improv, short for improvisation, is performing without a script; it is spontaneous invention…that is often needed to create something entirely new and unique.   Improvisation is often thought of as ‘off the cuff’ activity, with little or no preparation or ...

I confess to liking the way columnist, David Brooks, thinks and writes.   I read almost every piece he writes in the New York Times.   I have never met him nor have I been to hear him speak.   I would enjoy doing both, but until then, I am left to read what appears in newspapers and other media.   He recently wrote a piece entitled, “The Devotion Leap.”   I had no clue what the title might mean.   I suspected it was something on politics or the global situation.   Even in these ponderings, I find what brings to bear philosophically and, even, religiously is fascinating.   But my guess was wrong.             The first line of the article immensely surprised me.   “The online dating site OkCupid asks its clients to rate each other’s attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5.”   Wow, I did not see this one coming!   I was tempted not to read further.   I am at the age where datin...

One of the things I have learned from my involvement in the world of innovation is to be open and attentive to what might come from unexpected places.   I don’t see myself as highly creative, but I do think I have been innovative.   Certainly, being innovative is one form of creativity.             One thing I have done for much of my life is to read papers, magazines and other resources.   Recently, I heard an innovator say that he spent a half hour each day just reading things that had little or nothing to do with his area of work.   In my case that would mean spending a half hour each day randomly reading things that had nothing to do with spirituality or religion.   I am not sure I spend a half hour doing it, but I do spend some time.             Another thing I have done is to expand the resources that I read.   Thanks to a younger friend...

“Friendship is an adventure and a journey that changes us over time.”   That is the first line of a group paper the folks in my class on Spiritual Friendship are writing.   It is an interesting project.   They have been a good group, they are working hard and I respect that effort.   So instead of the normal classroom assessment protocol, i.e. exams, we are in the process of writing together a paper defining and detailing what the students have learned about friendship.    The focus is on the nature of friendship.   This is the simple question, what is friendship.   Most people could offer an answer to that question, but I am confident the students could add some depth and breadth.   They have centuries’ worth of thinking from other luminaries of the past.   They can cite Aristotle and Augustine.   They have read people like Cicero and a medieval monk that virtually no one has ever heard of, namely, Aelred of Rievaulx.   Ael...