Faith & Life Inspirational Message

For the past couple of days I have been working on a little paper on my favorite monk, Thomas Merton.   Even though Merton tragically died in 1968, there still is an amazing amount of interest in him and his spirituality.   Somehow this guy who took vows in 1941 in an obscure, rigorist monastery in the middle of nowhere Kentucky became relevant as a spiritual mentor and leader in his own time and still in our time.               Too often monks are seen as those folks who deny and despise the world.   The caricature is some grumpy guy running off to join a bunch of other strange folks to do their religious thing.   In some ways Merton was running away.   But what he was running away from was himself!   He wanted to transform his life.   He was unhappy with the life he was living, although in many respects, it was a successful life.   He was a college professor, had written and had a ...

It was while I was reading a really interesting book that I had an insight.   The insight itself is not what I want to give focus.   Instead I became intrigued by the process of getting an insight.   What happened?   How did the process happen?   Was it a matter of luck or is there really something I could do to enhance my chances of getting insights?   Let’s pursue this idea, especially with respect to spiritual insight.             The word, insight, is fairly simple and straightforward.   It is a compound word, “in” and “sight.”   Literally it means to “see within” something.   It means looking “inside” something (it could even be a person).   In that sense we get an “inside look.”   But it also is a little trickier than this.             If we were standing outside a house and peered into a window, we would not say...

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...

The title of this spiritual reflection is a direct theft!   It is the title of a wildly popular class at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.   Stanford is one of the highest quality colleges in the world---an elite school which sometimes must seem like that for the elite.   It is one of those places which almost never elicits the response, “Where’s that?”   And if you went there, you would never be asked, “Is that a good school!”                I found out about the course at Stanford from a tweet on some site I follow on Twitter.   The article that described the course was fairly long---certainly for a tweet.   Some of the material covered was interesting to me, but not really pertinent to this inspirational reflection.   But one focus I found fascinating and, in some ways, see it to be suggestive of the spiritual journey.   I would like deal with that focus.    ...

In addition to being involved in the world of religion and spirituality, I also have been fairly involved in the world of innovation.   Much of this grew out of collegial work that I have done with a friend of mine.   I will admit that I never thought too much about innovation before he and I began doing some thinking and, then, some writing on the topic of innovation.   A couple things occurred to me in the process.   In the first place I realized that it did not matter too much whether I used the word, innovation.   In fact, I have been fairly innovative much of my life.   When I learned the meaning of the language of innovation and looked at my experience, I recognized there was a match.   Part of my misunderstanding was thinking that innovation was solely a business word.   I knew businesses needed to be innovative---especially in today’s climate.   And since I was not in business, the language of innovation did not apply to me. ...

Anyone who has lived a few years knows that there are times when life is not good.   There are times when things don’t go very well.   We are assaulted by things that are not to our liking.   We can be sick, disappointed, or denied.   We can watch others get what we thought was rightfully ours.   We can try so hard, get so close and still lose.   Some days life is just not much fun.   I also think this is true for the spiritual life.   Anyone who has been involved in the spiritual journey for any length of time knows all days are not equal.   It is not unusual for the early days of the spiritual pilgrimage to be pretty good.   Often there is that initial burst of enthusiasm.   Not surprisingly, God can seem to be right there in your corner.   The spiritual tradition calls these graces of God “consolations.”   Consolations are good.   In fact, there are a bit like spiritual goodies.   The truth of the matter...

Sometimes it seems those of us who strive to live some kind of spiritual life, try too hard.  Saying such does not mean I believe the spiritual journey is so demanding that we need to see it as a herculean effort that only strong folks can manage to do.  Actually, I think the journey may be fairly simple.  Theology can become quite complex, but the spiritual walk itself is relatively simple.  I think that is probably true in all the major religious traditions.  I am convinced it is for Christianity.  I suspect it is also true for my Jewish friends, my Buddhist colleagues, etc.             There are some basic components to the journey.  Faith is surely a beginning point.  Somehow we need enough trust to begin the walk.  There has to be some commitment to develop along the way or we would not continue.  Commitment is formed through a process of discipline.  Surely any journe...

Recently a writer for the New York Times died.   David Carr wrote about culture for that famous newspaper.   He is someone I read sometimes, but I was not a regular reader of his material like I am for someone like David Brooks, whom I very much respect and from whom I learn a great deal.   When Carr died, he was given much press and was lauded as very smart and quite influential.   My interest was piqued, so I read more about him than might be expected.             Carr was still relatively young when he died.   He was born in 1956.   I was intrigued to track his career.   Clearly, he had learned to make a living using words.   Jobs like his fascinate me.   I wonder how many kids think that they could figure out how to use words and make a really good living?   After all, everyone uses words!   He just learned how to use words very effectively.   He learned how to use w...

This inspiration is rooted in a rather serendipitous time I recently had with some athletes, coaches and a professional music composer.   While it is not unusual for me to hang out with athletes and coaches, there typically is not a music composer thrown into the mix!   But he added a tremendous leavening effect to the dialogue and spurred me to thinking about things about which I normally would not.          The intent of the meeting was straightforward.   If people who are not in the same fields or who are not alike spend time together, new and different conversations are likely to happen and, possibly, new ideas arise.   I am sure we would have to do it more than one time, but that one time was enough to suggest the possibilities.   And they were exciting.   And even more, it was a great deal of fun.             I was fascinated to listen to the music composer...

I sometimes wonder what would have been my journey if I had taken the other fork of the road?   I am not being flip.   I assume that we all have come to numerous forks in the road.   We have to choose and when we do choose, heading down one particular way, we know the other road at the fork that we did not choose is lost to us.   We will never know what life would have been like if we had chosen that other road.   I don’t lament lost choices.   I don’t regret any of my choices---although they certainly have not all been good choices!   But I do wonder. One of the good choices I made was to continue being a reader.   Clearly there were choices in my life, where if I had made them, would effectively have meant that I would have quit reading.   Oh, that does not mean I never would have read anything.   There probably are many jobs that people do that entail no reading.   But most people working those jobs are literate.   They c...

I have thought about some topics for decades now.   But it is always wonderful to come across someone who can shed new light on an old subject.   One such topic I have pondered for years is faith.   Anyone who has engaged religion in any form probably has thought about faith.   I reckon I first thought about faith---what it is and how it works---as early as high school.   Perhaps I thought about it even earlier than that, but I can’t remember.   However, I am sure faith was involved in my life long before I thought about it!             To be sure, faith is a word that is usually involved with religion and the religious journey.   I would even use it with respect to spirituality, assuming there is some difference between religion and spirituality.   But faith is not simply a word used in conjunction with religion.   And I would contend, it is not a religious word.   Rather, I migh...

The title for this inspirational piece could also be written in a different way.   I could have chosen to say “alone and together.”   In either case the question in my mind is how people in general and how I in particular practice the spiritual journey.   On one hand the answer is obvious.   My spiritual journey is mine alone.   You cannot do my spiritual journey and I cannot do yours.   From this perspective to pose the question, alone or together, is senseless.   It seems like my spiritual journey is done alone.             There is no way I can speak for the majority of Americans who actually would say they are on a spiritual journey.   However, I would guess that many, if not most of them, are doing their spiritual journey alone.   I would say this even knowing that a significant portion of people on their spiritual journey are folks who go to church, attend a synagogue or mosque. ...