Hints and Guesses

Hints and Guesses episodes:

• 04.10.2024

  The God of Wild Places: Tony Jones

  We discuss Tony's new book, which is great (www.reverendhunter.com).  We talk about theology, leaving the church, Tao and redemption, sacred places, and some personal things. Enjoy!

  
• 03.22.2024

  When the World Breaks: Jason Adam Miller

  I hope you'll appreciate this conversation with Jason Adam Miller about his new book on Jesus' most paradoxical and misunderstood words at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.  I loved this book, When the World Breaks.  I've not...

  
• 03.11.2024

  The Journey

  Here's another shorter podcast in my series, where I turn to poems, prayer, passages that have been important to me.  I hope you'll hear your own hints and guesses.  This week, we turn to Mary Oliver's classic, The Journey.  Enjoy!

  
• 02.19.2024

  When We Are Lost

  I'd like to explore the possibilities, the postures, and the terrain, of feeling lost, a certain kind of lostness.  Rather than being prescriptive, I hope to just describe a little of what it's like, and a few hints and guesses...

  
• 01.25.2024

  Church in the East

  Here's another shorter mediation on Rilke's passage about leaving home, about following a calling, the cost and terrible possibilities hidden in walking toward the East, toward a church forgotten, a sacred place ignored.  Enjoy.

  
• 01.18.2024

  Coleman's Bed

  For my 100th episode, I'm introducing a new dimension of the podcast, shorter mediations based on poems, passages, and prayers.  Thanks for all your support, can't believe I've made 100 episodes.  I hope you'll hear some hints and guesses in...

  
• 01.05.2024

  The Dream: A Bridge Between Worlds

  In this episode, we turn our attention again to the language of dreams, particularly the ways in which the dream experience seeks to have an effect on the dreamer.  This is really part 2 of a podcast series on dreams,...

  
• 12.21.2023

  The Language of Dreams

  On the longest night of the year, I'd like to explore dreams, dreamwork and surrendering to the intelligence of the dream.  "We have forgotten the age old fact that God speaks primarily through dreams and visions" (C.G. Jung).  Enjoy!

  
• 11.20.2023

  Are You Alive? A Conversation with Eloise Skinner

  Eloise Skinner's new book is called, But Are You Alive? How to Design a Life Worth Living.  In this conversation about her book, we discuss existential therapy, ancient practices, work life, monastic possibilities, and questions of meaning.  You can find...

  
• 11.06.2023

  Complex Moral Minefields: Israel and Palestine

  Here's the second conversation with my wife Mandy about Israel, about the troubling questions we think this conflict raises, the hyper-charged language being used, a bit of historical context, the cultural climate of oppressor and victim, plus a few hints...

  
• 10.27.2023

  Living in Israel, a Conversation

  Here are a few thoughts and reflections about out life in Israel with my wife, Mandy.  We thought we'd share a few personal reflections about out time there, what we learned, and a bit of what we find troubling, plus...

  
• 09.12.2023

  Soul as Relationship

  "People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in other to avoid facing their own souls" (C.G. Jung).  Here's the most recent way I've been thinking about Soul, along with some very personal stories.  You can check my previous podcasts,...

  
• 06.29.2023

  The Father Wound: Part 2

  This is a further exploration of the unique ways the masculine, or the unhealthy patriarchal world, wounds the son and the daughter.  We'll explore the nature of these wounds using two ancient myths, one about a rat, and the other...

  
• 06.15.2023

  The Father Wound: Part 1

  This episode is an investigation of the father wound.  I'll be exploring our own wounded fathers, the kind of wounds the masculine receives, and the shape of our own wounds as sons and daughters in a "time of no father,"...

  
• 05.31.2023

  Blessing in the Dust

  Some personal reflections on public/private life tensions, moving to another state, thresholds spaces, and a few other things going on in my life.  Thanks for all your support.  The title is a reference to a poem by Jan Richardson called...

  
• 05.02.2023

  The Mythic Masculine: Ian MacKenzie

  Check out my conversation with Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker and creator of The Mythic Masculine Podcast.  We're experiencing a current renaissance in men's work right now, which is so important for the health and healing of our culture.  Ian has been...

  
• 04.12.2023

  Listening as Prayer

  "I do not know exactly what a prayer is.  I do know how to pay attention...how to kneel" (Mary Oliver). What do you think about prayer now, with the unraveling of religious categories, and traditional practices?  Does prayer still have...

  
• 03.13.2023

  Wild Yoga: A Conversation with Rebecca Wildbear

  Here's my conversation with Rebecca Wildbear about her new book Wild Yoga.  She's a guide with Animas Valley Institute, she also teaches Wild Yoga, and other soul-oriented offerings.  We discuss the art and craft of listening, the nature of prayer,...

  
• 02.01.2023

  Are We Ready for Psychedelics?

  Psychedelics is the hottest topic in spiritual and therapeutic circles.  Are we ready?  What are the dangers and opportunities?  Ryan Meeks and I have been wrestling with these questions for the last few years.  This podcast is an unscripted conversation...

  
• 01.20.2023

  Rituals: Meaning and the Too-Muchness of Mystery

  Here's a conversation about rituals in the modern world with my friends at Eastlake Community Church, outside of Seattle. We talk about meaning in Target, our human craving for transcendence, the Starbucks holiday cup, the Vatican, and wonder together whether...

  
• 12.08.2022

  Radiant Center: Divine Child and the Soul

  Turning to the archetypal patterns of Advent, the birth of the Soul, the Christ, and the forces that try to cut us off from our radiant center, our possibilities, our creative incarnation.  Special thanks to Jordan Gilliam for the original...

  
• 11.14.2022

  Sacred Feminine Sacred Masculine

  Here are a few ideas, images, stories, hints and guesses, about the Feminine and Masculine, as sacred, as archetypal realities, as something we all carry in the psyche, and as something to be honor and respected.  Enjoy!

  
• 10.06.2022

  We All Worship Something

  This episode is about the religious instinct, our proclivity to worship, the fact that we bow down to something, and what might happen if we consent to the inner compass which seeks ultimate meaning.

  
• 09.07.2022

  ”There is no such thing” as God

  Merton, Nietzsche, Buber and a few thoughts on the opportunities when we no longer know what we mean by God.

  
• 08.05.2022

  The Cult of Identity and the ”True Self”

  I'd like to turn to Thomas Merton's writings on the True Self.  I find his mystical understanding of identity to be counter-cultural, challenging and ultimately hopeful.  I hope you hear a hint or guess from Merton, as I am, for...

  
• 07.18.2022

  Thank God I’m Not Like Other People

  Some reflections and an unorthodox reading of an old parable of Jesus.  Enjoy!

  
• 06.13.2022

  Approaching Deconstruction, Dark Night and Emptiness

  What is deconstruction? Or the Dark Night for that matter?  And what is it that we are being invited into, during certain seasons of life? These are only hints and guesses.

  
• 05.19.2022

  Eros and the Lost Art of the Feminine: Kate Joyner

  In this wide ranging conversation, we talk about the lost art of the feminine, eros, the divine, the needed work in the world around a more sacred view of the feminine and the masculine, among other things.  This was originally...

  
• 05.02.2022

  Ancient Compost: The Trees are on Fire

  This week is about the sacred, the holy ordinary, trees lit from within, Annie Dillard, Moses, and a few suggested practices for deepening our quality of attention.  Enjoy!

  
• 04.25.2022

  Ancient Compost: Pilgrimage and the Absence of God

  A podcast about the golden calf, the absence of God, the center which has no center, and the nutrients left in the compost heap of our spiritual ancestors.

  
• 03.14.2022

  Ancient Compost: Babel and Borders

  The first in my Monday series on ancient texts, Biblical images, and the compost heap of the wisdom tradition.  This episode is a musing on Babel, power, greed, pride, Putin, borders, invasion and the Wind.  Enjoy!

  
• 02.17.2022

  The (Re)Rise of Fundamentalism

  A conversation about the resurgence of fundamentalism, on the left and right, and how to spot it.

  
• 01.20.2022

  Brie Stoner and the Gates of Unknowing

  Excited to chat with Brie Stoner.  We chat about courage, art, motherhood, divorce, unknowing, mentors and geography.  Enjoy!

  
• 12.17.2021

  Wound-Gift

  This episode is about the mysterious relationship between our wounds and our gifts.  Perfect for the holiday season.  Enjoy!

  
• 11.02.2021

  Born for these Times

  What stories are we carrying about human purpose, or destiny, or about the how any of us are actually here, right now, in this life, in this era?  Are we mere accidents, among countless accidents? What needs to be remembered...

  
• 09.20.2021

  Surprise! Rob Bell

  I hope you enjoy our unscripted conversation about surprises, form and creativity, what is currently speaking to us, and finding a life-giving pace in the madness and anxiety of our age.

  
• 09.09.2021

  Tony Jones: Epistemic Humility and Memento Mori

  In this wide-ranging chat we talk about Tony's story, being canceled, the Emergent Church, epistemic humility, not losing faith, finding wild places, hunting, contact with death, Israel, and whether or not the Jesus story still has power.  I hope you...

  
• 08.09.2021

  You Cannot Mock the Stars

  Abraham Heschel, unflinching awe, Yellowstone at night, sublime grandeur, and what happens when the only value system we have is the market.  Enjoy!

  
• 07.02.2021

  Iron John and the Sacred Masculine

  More in my series, Stuff That Helps! This time, Iron John by Robert Bly.  In this episode we explore the opening of the myth Iron John and what it has to teach us about growing up.  It's very challenging right...

  
• 06.10.2021

  Peter Rollins: The Not-at-Oneness of Reality

  The death of God, the unconscious, Freudian slips, why you can't find your keys, are all in this wide ranging conversation with my friend Peter Rollins.  You might have to listen more than once.  Special thanks to my Patrons for...

  
• 04.29.2021

  Shouldn't I Be Further Along?

  How long does this whole spiritual transformation stuff take?  Shouldn't I be enlightened by now? Why is all this old stuff still getting dragged up?  Well, let's talk about it.

  
• 03.29.2021

  The Immature Hero and the Second Garden

  Here's my Holy Week offering.  Enjoy! #hintsandguesses

  
• 03.23.2021

  The Forum (from Jerusalem): Danny Kopp and Gary Alley

  Just before the pandemic shut down the world, I recorded a conversation with two friends from Jerusalem while I was leading a tour there, both pastors at the small congregation I attended when I was a student.  We dive into...

  
• 02.20.2021

  The Forum: Paul Moore

  Back to the origins of the podcast with Paul Moore!  Hope you enjoy another unscripted conversation, from racism, to meditation, to the nature of how the ego changes.

  
• 02.10.2021

  Mass Intoxication

  What do we stand to learn from 2020?  What sort of spiritual stance is needed in 2021?  These questions keep turing over in my heart and mind.  Part of the answer seems to require some curiosity and clarity about mass...

  
• 02.01.2021

  The Forum: Bill Plotkin

  Check out my interview with the eco-depth psychologist Bill Plotkin! We discuss his new book, The Journey of Soul Initiation, and the challenges of growing into a true adult.  I'm so grateful for his books and the time I've spent...

  
• 01.19.2021

  The Forum: Ryan Meeks

  The Forum is a place for conversations with inspiring people. Ryan Meeks is a friend, guide, and a former Mega Church pastor (just like me)!  We talk about what threads we started following later in life, and what the current...

  
• 01.04.2021

  Searching Spiritual Inventory

  Join me in starting off the New Year with some needed self examination.  Enjoy (perhaps)!

  
• 12.21.2020

  Advent 4: the Messiah

  The final advent reflection, based on the traditional scripture readings.  Merry Christmas and happy Solstice.

  
• 12.14.2020

  Advent 3: Are You the One?

  Episode 3 in my short Advent series.  What the nature of the Messianic kingdom that Jesus embodied?  Enjoy!