AS DIFFICULT AS it is to learn to trust a mentor, it is even more arduous to break down our self suspicion. Do we have what it takes to break free of the entanglements of the Dark Wood - to melt with feeling-intellect the icy encrustations of Hell that keep us paralyzed in our self defeating patterns? We stare eyeball to eyeball at the antagonist within, sizing up our character and our chances of restoration.
MORE THAN A fact or doctrine, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth embodies personal and historical hope. While reading a variety of viewpoints on the resurrection, I have been alternatively confused, comforted, restored and unexpectedly devastated by this theme. Internally and subjectively the resurrection is an encounter with the epicenter of meaning and significance. Without a living encounter and reliance on the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, spirituality amounts to little more than armchair speculation. This strikes at the root of my fears because my intellect hesitates to believe that a person whose bodily functions had ceased, whose tether to
We can't help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water. Milk drinkers draw close to the mother. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, shamans, everyone hears the intelligent sound and moves with thirst to meet it. - Jeladuddin Rumi (1207-1273) The Image Unveiled James Hillman, the founder of Archetypal Psychology, has become convinced that individual and corporate spiritual growth is made through the meditation on images. The image of what I refer to as Watershed Spirituality comes from the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. It has to do with rejuvenating waters which make stagnant things fresh, have healing properties, and perpetuate life
Lovers of books often complain that we read too slowly and wonder if we will ever take the time and effort to master the The Art of Speed Reading. My difficulty is that sometimes, strike that - often, that I need to acquire the Art of Reading Slowly to integrate what I read. I don't do that nearly enough. My habitual approach is to read a book with my mind and my hand outstretched to the read. I read distractedly often merely to get the basic gist, get through to book, and then add another book to my growing list
We're going to start with Spirit in Creation. The bible is usually considered a story of redemption, with creation being a background or secondary story. But Clarke Pinnock argues that they are two very close and intertwined and both very important stories that are there. Even when we're reading redemption stories and parables in the Testament we're seeing the creation story is right beneath it. The Spirit is involved with both stories and we cannot take one without the other. This is what Pinnock says: “Creation is related to the reality of the Son and by incarnation the Son becomes
MOST OF MY adult life I have asked, "How can I know this is true?" concerning whom or what I put my trust in. It's a broad, maybe naive, question, applicable to any discipline from science to history, up through hard-to-fathom philosophical doubts and down to our need for assurance in our friendships and ethics. Ken Wilber's integral philosophy spans every conceivable discipline but the way he applies his own unique "testing" method to spirituality is particularly important to me.