U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday, Sept. 1, that there now is no uncertainty whatsoever as to whether chemical weapons were used in the Aug. 21 massacre of nearly 1,500 people — including over 400 children — in Syria. Mr. Kerry said that hair and blood samples from the victims of that attack, collected by first responders and provided to the United States, have tested positive for sarin, which, an NBC News report said, “is considered to be... Read more

So now it has begun. Another escalation in international tensions is upon us as a result of the alleged use of chemical weapons by the government of Syria on its own people, and the possible response of the United States of pinpoint missile strikes against strategic military targets in Syria. President Obama announced Saturday (Aug 31) that he would not order an intervention in Syria by the U.S. without approval in a vote by Congress. That body is not due... Read more

There is so much sadness and suffering in the world, and anyone who believes in God and defines it as the Source of Pure Intelligence and Perfect Love would have to ask: Why? Why in the world would God place sadness and suffering in the world? And what tools, if any, has God given us with which to deal with sadness and suffering when we encounter it (as surely we will during our life)? The answer, as I have come... Read more

Even just a cursory exploration of our world reveals the extent to which sadness and suffering inhabit the human experience. It is impossible to be alive on this planet without encountering both. The question is not whether you will encounter it, the question is, how much of it will you encounter? Behind that lurks another, more important question. When you do encounter sadness and suffering, how will you deal with it? What tools will you have. More to the point:... Read more

Every event and circumstance on Earth is jointly produced, placed into the collective reality as a collaborative creation of The Collective Itself.  And the tragedy is that The Collective does not know this—or, worse yet, does know this, and merely acts as if it does not. The result of this is that most people wind up turning to God at the wrong time….usually after, rather than before, events have taken place or circumstances have been created. This is because most... Read more

God is the source of all help to people in the world, but most people are asking God for the wrong kind of help—and even then they often do not turn to God except when it is too late. Most people are asking God to change things. They are asking for a change in the situations, circumstances, and events of their lives—not understanding that they are asking God to undo the very conditions that they, themselves, have co-created. They are... Read more

It sounds too good to be true, I know — but could it be true anyway? Is it possible that July 23 really is the actual and “official” beginning of 1,000 Years of Peace? That’s what some astrologers and prognosticators (including long-ago predictors, such as Nostradamus) have said. The world, they’ve declared, is now in for a Great Upheaval — but not a destructive one. Rather, a reconstructive one. We’re talking here about a complete re-make (what I called the... Read more

Is there any spiritual reason for, or value in, a society’s working to reduce the gap between its highest, middle, and lowest income brackets? Can anything be said in favor of a culture that seeks to promote ideas and ideals, and maybe even create mechanisms, that militate against an “every man for himself/to the winner go the spoils” mentality? If a particular society observes this gap to be grower larger, larger, and ever larger, is there anything to be said... Read more

And so, another government and another president are removed from office in a revolution, this time (again) in Egypt. (I wonder if anyone in the U.S. sees the irony of this news first making headlines during the time that Americans were once again celebrating their own revolution — the Fourth of July weekend.) In the book The Storm Before the Calm, published two years ago, I wrote of the human experience of revolution — and called for a new kind... Read more

They knew going in that it was an extremely dangerous job, and that they could lose their lives. That is the extraordinary thing. They knew going in. And still, they did it. They went into that Arizona wildfire. And 19 of those incredibly brave firefighters died in the service of their fellow humans. The loss — for their families, for their fellow firefighters, for their community, their state, and their nation — is almost unbearable. We keen and we ponder:... Read more