Spirituality

Apr162019 by Terri1 Comment

Reflecting on Sacred Responses to Taxes

prayer, Sacred Writing, spirit, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spiritual practices, Spirituality

Yes. You read that right. I am writing this on April 15th in response to a sacred response to taxes that I found written by Diana Butler Bass on Twitter. I am sharing it here: She prays as she mails her taxes. (Prayer below). I wonder what our world would be like if we approached even taxes as a sacred response? Thank you, God, that we live in a nation wise enough to understand that when we share goods we create more good, especially for the poor, those suffering, and those in need. Multiply this tax payment so hungry people will be fed, prisoners will be treated justly, students educated, our parks and natural resources cared for.Lift my heart toward gratitude today. That my family can contribute to the good of this land. That we have a small part in making a great country. Forgive...

Apr112019 by jrcowles1 Comment

Joy And The Absurd — A Meditation On Buridan’s Ass

"Life" Issues, Abrahamic Traditions, Advent, Atheism, autonomy, awareness, book review, C. S. Lewis, Challenge, Change, Character of God, Christianity, Christmas, contemplation, Creator, critical judgment, culture, December, existentialism, Ezra Pound, faith, God, Holy Mystery, Human Condition, Jim Cowles, Kierkegaard, Literature, Numinous, Religion, Secularity, Skeptic, Spirituality, T. S. Eliot, Theology, Thinking, Uncategorized

Full disclosure: as I have said elsewhere, I never got the “hang uv” being a Christian, and consider the multiple decades I spent beating my head against that particular brick wall as time merely pissed away. I still believe that. But that is only half the truth. The other half is that it is equally true that I could never get, have never gotten, the “hang uv” being an atheist. I am no more successful as a “creedal” atheist than I was as a “creedal” Christian. My admiration for, e.g., Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Julia Sweeney, and Daniel Dennett is undiminished. Nothing I say in what follows should be interpreted as disagreeing with their contention that religious statements should be subject to the same critique as other statements. Religio

Apr92019 by TerriNo Comments

Reflecting on Sacred Responses to Trauma

meditation, spirit, spiritual practice, Spirituality

I've been thinking that I'm in a time of transition. The church is weird. My job is weird. Things are sliding and changing. I think that I'm going to refocus my thoughts here on art and trauma. Beginning today! Daily Haiku Ever watchful She perches gracefully A throne of thistleI did this watercolor painting yesterday inspired by @dearannart on Instagram. As I did it, I was processing physical pain. One of my ribs was twisted a little bit and it was setting my rotator cuff on my left side on fire. This had been going on for a bunch of days. I am used to almost always being in pain but I was ready to be done with it. When I was painting, the pain receded and I didn’t think about it anymore. And I didn’t consciously NOT think about it anymore. This painting took a while for