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January 2025

January 02, 2025

Are We Interconnected, or Are We Separate?

We are essentially interconnected and apparently separate, too. This is a real-life paradox, "both/and," not...

December 2024

December 27, 2024

Serving Others Can Transform Us

Serving others can transform us. There is a Bible story about a rich young man...

December 18, 2024

The Pendulum Swings: Historical Cycles and Interdependence

In The Way, I wrote about historical cycles and interdependence. Do We Really...

December 13, 2024

Zen, Connection, and Mindfulness: A Journey Beyond Doctrine

Mindfulness and spiritual practice help us to realize our connectedness to everyone and everything. ...

December 05, 2024

Creativity Meets Spirituality: Finding Flow in Everyday Life

Creativity and spirituality have a lot in common. My wife, Jill, an artist, recently spoke...

November 2024

November 29, 2024

Compassion and Wisdom from Other Traditions

I am impressed by the compassion and wisdom of other traditions. Different beliefs and practices...

November 22, 2024

Myths About Religious Deconstruction

Do you wonder why people leave church? Just ask them. Do NOT rely on the...

November 14, 2024

Challenges of Religious Deconstruction

Readers teach me a lot about the challenges of religious deconstruction. These conversations help me...

November 08, 2024

Open-Hearted and Open-Minded Spirituality

Spiritual inquiry requires open-heartedness and open-mindedness. My work is more reporting than apologetics...

October 2024

October 31, 2024

What Can We Learn from the Rise and Fall of Communities?

Cities change. Churches change. How will we accommodate change, while retaining what is worthy in our...

October 24, 2024

Is Mysticism Just Mumbo-Jumbo—or a Door to God?

Do we actually know Ultimate Reality or do we we only know ABOUT it? On...

October 19, 2024

When Churches Close: The Consequences of a Declining Faith

Should we be concerned that society is becoming more secular? This is something that I...

October 10, 2024

“Turn Out the Light, So We Can See!”

We may see more by the light of the moon than by the light of...

October 04, 2024

The Way of Life, Not Just the Way of Belief

What did The Way look like to the early followers of Jesus? My...

September 2024

September 26, 2024

Why Churches Should Focus on Values, Not Just Beliefs

Some people want churches to focus on values, not just beliefs. In last week's post,...

September 19, 2024

What if Seeking Truth Means Letting Go of Beliefs?

Our spiritual practice should focus on our interrelatedness. In The Way, I described my search...

September 12, 2024

Can Understanding Opposing Views Lead to Greater Compassion?

Do we consider the other side of the story? Sometimes, we feel pretty strongly about...

September 05, 2024

Do We Really Believe What We Think?

"Don't believe everything you think." Do we have good reasons for our beliefs? Sometimes, people...

August 2024

August 30, 2024

How Do We Distinguish Between Beliefs and Facts?

Everyone has beliefs, and beliefs are not inherently good or bad, in and of themselves....

August 23, 2024

We Should Hold Our Beliefs More Loosely

In The Way, I suggest that we should hold our political and religious beliefs more...

August 15, 2024

What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus?

Recall that there are 45,000 Christian denominations, who almost never agree. Imagine that all 2.4...

August 08, 2024

All Morality is Relative

In theory, moral relativism is the worst kind of morality. However, in practice, it is...

August 01, 2024

How Are We to Treat Others?

Ramana Maharshi, a Hindu mystic, had the following exchange with a student: "Q: How are...

July 2024

July 25, 2024

The Future of Christianity

What is the future of Christianity? Can Christianity be more experiential, more nuanced, and more...

July 18, 2024

The Benefits of Exploring Other Traditions

The benefits of exploring other traditions are numerous. So, it is helpful to understand both...

July 12, 2024

Zen and Spiritual Practice

Zen is not concerned with prescription or speculation. I wrote about Zen here and here...

July 04, 2024

Zen and Interdependence

Dogen Zenji encourages us to remove the barrier between self and other. So, the beginning...

June 2024

June 27, 2024

Zen and the Self

Buddhism does not believe in a permanent, unchanging self. Of course, each of us has...

June 20, 2024

An Introduction to Zen

Buddhism embraces a different worldview than most Western religions. Buddhism developed in response to Hinduism,...

June 14, 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way that we live and work. Increasingly, AI presents...