Tag Archives: identity
Our Holiness Is God’s Holiness
Love: Week 2 Our Holiness Is God’s Holiness Sunday, November 4, 2018 Self-hatred is also the hatred of God, because God and ourselves are united. —Thomas Keating [1] There is only one thing you must definitely answer for yourself: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If you can get that right, the… Continue Reading Our Holiness Is God’s Holiness
The Most Essential Thing
Love: Week 1 The Most Essential Thing Sunday, October 28, 2018 The most powerful, most needed, and most essential teaching is always Love. Love is our foundation and our destiny. It is where we come from and where we’re headed. As St. Paul famously says, “So faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of… Continue Reading The Most Essential Thing
Primordial Light
Islam Primordial Light Wednesday, September 26, 2018 What is this precious love and laughter Budding in our hearts? It is the glorious sound Of a soul waking up! —Hafiz (c. 1320–1389) [1] Sufism is the mystical arm of Islam. Mainline Islam, like most organized religions, largely emphasizes practical expressions and behaviors, whereas Sufism developed and… Continue Reading Primordial Light
Theosis
Eastern Christianity Theosis Wednesday, September 12, 2018 The Orthodox teaching of divinization, or theosis, according to Pope John Paul II, is perhaps the greatest gift of the Eastern Church to the West, but one that has largely been ignored or even denied. [1] The Eastern fathers of the Church believed that we could experience real and transformative… Continue Reading Theosis
Unitive Consciousness
Taoism and Buddhism Unitive Consciousness Wednesday, August 22, 2018 Paul Knitter, a theologian and colleague of mine from my days in Cincinnati, wrote an insightful book called Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian. In it, he explains that Buddhism teaches “practices that will help Christians draw on the mystical contents of our faith. Buddhism can… Continue Reading Unitive Consciousness
Walking toward Heaven
Justice: Week 2 Walking toward Heaven Thursday, June 21, 2018 Summer Solstice Yesterday I explored the fundamental importance of discovering and living out of our True Self, our imago Dei, the image of God that we are. In the Center for Action and Contemplation’s most recent edition of Oneing, “Anger,” actor, filmmaker, writer, and personal… Continue Reading Walking toward Heaven
Swallowed by a Whale
Vocation Swallowed by a Whale Wednesday, May 30, 2018 The gift you carry for others is not an attempt to save the world but to fully belong to it. It’s not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you… Continue Reading Swallowed by a Whale
Who Am I?
Vocation Who Am I? Monday, May 28, 2018 Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. —Dr. Howard Thurman (1899-1981), theologian and civil rights leader [1] As conscious human beings, our life purpose is to be… Continue Reading Who Am I?
Collective Consciousness
Relationships Collective Consciousness Friday, May 4, 2018 The dynamic relationships in a family, classroom, workplace, or grassroots movement can have an evolutionary effect, creating new ways of thinking and being. Louis Savary and Patricia Berne share how Christopher Bache, a college professor, noticed what he called “collective consciousness” emerge when he gave assignments to small… Continue Reading Collective Consciousness
The Essential Self and the Passing Self
Gender and Sexuality: Week 1 The Essential Self and the Passing Self Wednesday, April 18, 2018 As I shared in my meditations on human bodies the last two weeks, Western Christianity owes our separation of body and spirit to Greek philosophy much more than to Scripture or Jesus. Social psychologist Diarmuid O’Murchu suggests that Plato… Continue Reading The Essential Self and the Passing Self
