I see today is the feast of St George. George is, of course, best remembered for killing a dragon. And that tale is one of those stories that have haunted the Western imagination for a very, very long time. And, at least in our more ironic era has invited numerous parodies… (My favorite had the dragon stumble into a village infested with manticores. He kills them and becomes a local hero. Later he’s killed in a barroom brawl by a... Read more

There is an emerging critical analysis of Buddhism within the Western Buddhist sangha that goes under the general rubric “agnostic Buddhism.” What kicked this conversation off off is the former monk Stephen Batchelor’s study Buddhism Without Beliefs. In a nutshell Batchelor assails the traditional Buddhist doctrines of karma and rebirth. He then offers an alternative approach to accepting these doctrines that have for the past two and a half millennia been seen as central to the Dharma. He calls this... Read more

I see that today is the feast of St Anselm, one of the first, perhaps actually the first Christian to put forth the ontological argument for God. The ontological argument is, I believe, the second most popular attempt (after the argument from design) at a logical argument for the existence of a deity. Essentially this argument goes that we can conceive of God is in itself a proof of the existence of God. I’ve personally never found it particularly compelling.... Read more

DO THE RIGHT THING A Passover Reflection James Ishmael Ford 20 April 2008First Unitarian SocietyWest Newton, Massachusetts Text Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the... Read more

With the best love poetry one hears the call of longing for one’s beloved. And with the best poetry as with love there comes a moment of confusion… Is this song of human love? Is it divine love? Sometimes it takes a submissive heart… John’s song: And sometimes the world is consumed in the fires of love… June’s song: Amen… Read more

I notice how Charles Darwin died on this day in 1882. If he were a Christian saint this day would be his “feast.” Of course, whatever Darwin believed in his heart of hearts, it somehow doesn’t seem appropriate to make this the day celebrating a man who more than most gave us keys to unlock an understanding of who we are as natural creatures. At the same time noting his death holds up his mortality and therefore, underscores one thread... Read more

An Ox Looks at Man They are more delicate even than shrubs and they run and run from one side to the other, always forgetting something. Surely they lack I don’t know what basic ingredient, though they present themselves as noble or serious, at times. Oh, terribly serious, even tragic. Poor things, one would say that they hear neither the song of the air nor the secrets of hay; likewise they seem not to see what is visible and common... Read more

Thank you, Jay! Read more

Old Zen hand Michael Sierchio writing on one of the lists I subscribe to observed how “according to the best mitochondrial DNA evidence, we and chimpanzees had a common ancestor three million years ago.” He then proposed a thought experiment to help us picture what that means. Picture “your mother holding her mother’s hand, holding her mother’s hand, etc., etc., in a line…” Then imagine standing next to your mother a chimpanzee, holding her mother’s hand, and so on… In... Read more

I’ve just noticed that today is Margot Adler’s birthday. One may know her as an NPR correspondent out of New York City. She is also a noted neo-pagan and Unitarian Universalist, and author of the signal study of the earth-centered revival, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshipers and Other Pagans in America Today. I’ve long considered her study essential reading for anyone interested in the whole range of depth, silliness and profundity that has gathered together under the... Read more