Universal Family

From Dante's Divine Comedy to 12-Step programs to the Enneagram, insight is mixed with overemphasis on the negative and a failure to recognize the new and better way: we (at least we non-addicts) can first be transformed by the Spirit of Truth before we go on to cleanse ourselves from all evils of mind and body.

Along with a revised version of the Serenity Prayer, this episode offers an outstanding spiritual practice of Stephen Post, and shows how to cope when we are relating to a person we find difficult to love. These examples make the philosophy of love come off the page.

The kingdom of God, the spiritual family of God, is open to all who seek it in the faith of a child. But a living faith is a growing faith; and as challenges rise, we may need to re-enter. But we may need more than a child's faith; we may need the spiritual force of the faith of a mature adult.

Christian teaching mingles life-giving teachings of Jesus with other teachings, some of which are needless obstacles for those who need to enter into the family of God. On a handful of key controversies, here are questions with contrasting possible answers.

Werner Herzog's film Huie's Predigt (Huie's Sermon)--the film is really in English with a few German subtitles) presents a worship service in an urban black church. The sermon which asserts over and over that God is in control--which seems to be refuted by images of the utter bleakness of a trashed out slum. A reflection on what it means for God to be in control accounts for the success of the sermon in its hearers.

Spirituality as connection to a larger, all-pervading reality (for example, God, as revealed in Jesus) is cultivated by spiritual direction. This book, based on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, does an extraordinary job of introducing the reader in a gentle, perceptive, illuminated way to our images of God, our narratives of self, our need to listen and respond and engage. This book review of Jeffrey A. Nelson's Coffeehouse Contemplative summarizes the book and celebrates its effects in this reader.

The spiritual life involves seeking for value (which I symbolize by the term prayer) and celebrating value (which I symbolize by the term worship). Whichever one of these predominates flavors the experience of the other.

Nicole Stark relates a revelation of the kingdom of God within, and struggles after it is over. Although I encouraged her then about the quality of the event, I have more of an answer now.

The Last Jedi moves the viewer/hearer from the emotions of conflict to the thought of higher wisdom and the triumph of spirituality.

A philosophy of living functions as an art of thinking, but the art of living is practice, action, doing. Divine love motivates and beauty pervades its unfolding harmony.

Striving to love God with all my heart, I reflected on wholeheartedness and made a discovery. The tip of the iceberg: wholeheartedness is an experience of the soul, and it implicitly includes the heart, mind, and strength. But what is the heart? What is the soul, and how do we recognize it in experience? What is going on when we are half-hearted? And what can we contribute with our will-power?