Recently I stumbled upon, or really, re-read an interesting offering from the late independent philosopher and spiritual commentator, Alan Watts. In one longish sentence, he summarized his personal spiritual perspective. “If I am asked to define my personal tastes in religion, I must say that they lie between Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism, with a certain leaning toward Vedanta and Catholicism, or rather the Orthodox Church of Eastern Europe.” As I read this, I felt profound resonances with his... Read more

  ALAN WATTS’ MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY A Reflection on Nondual Religion James Ishmael Ford A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to review a new edition of a book by Alan Watts. Pretty good for an author who’s been dead for just shy of fifty years. As I poked through the manuscript, I found myself, not for the first time considering what an interesting thinker. And something more. Alan Watts almost perfectly captured the spiritual moment that was the 1960s.... Read more

    It’s November 27th! And with that, once again, the blessings of the saints Barlaam & Josaphat are upon us! This is flat out my favorite of all Christian holidays. And I like to remind people of the details of this original Christian Buddhist mashup. So, please forgive the repetition parts of this small sharing. It’s just that its all so cool… In the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic church as well as for those of the Eastern Churches... Read more

      This year, 2020, our national American Thanksgiving holiday falls on the 26th of November. In some ways a propitious date. It is actually the anniversary for our first national day of Thanksgiving, proclaimed by President George Washington in 1789. It might be worth noting it was not connected to the Pilgrim story. When Thomas Jefferson became president, he chose not to continue the proclamation and as a national holiday Thanksgiving was only sporadically observed in subsequent years.... Read more

    Many years ago when I began to take night classes at the local community college in what would turn out to be the beginning of my “academic” life, one of my favorites was a survey of art history. The professor stated that his real goal for us was that we could go to a cocktail party and appear to know something about the broad swath of art. I can’t say whether he succeeded in my case. I’m still... Read more

      Sixty years ago today, in Dallas, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It was a lifetime ago. Actually two lifetimes. The parents of adults today were not yet born. Sixty years is a long time. It is so long ago that it is less and less a matter of memory, and more and more a matter of history. For me its memory. Memory seared into my consciousness. And, most years I continue to share the memory here... Read more

    A BLESSING WAY James Ishmael Ford IN A BEGINNING In a beginning was light. And dark. In a beginning the cosmos began to unfold within a great explosion. Time and space, galaxies of stars and planets, and a hundred million million other things began to spin into existence. Living. And Dying. At some point awareness happened. Beings appeared at least once who could notice and reflect. We happened. And we wondered. AFTER THE BEGINNING We loved. And we... Read more

    On Facebook religious historian Gregory Holmes Singleton was recommending a book Edward Baring, CONVERTS TO THE REAL: CATHOLICISM AND THE MAKING OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019. Along with being a scholar Professor Soingleton is a practicing Anglo-Catholic and offered a small justification for Anglicans to read a book about continental Roman Catholicism. He wrote: “Anglicans in the 19th and 20th centuries, in both Great Britain and the United States, were surrounded by a philosophical... Read more

        FEAR & COURAGE & FAITH A Meditation on Politics and the Intimate Way   James Ishmael Ford   Finally. Finally. Apparently more than one child has been asking their parents all week, when are they going to be done watching “the map show” on television. And. My goodness it did seem like it took forever for that show to end. Waiting day after day from Tuesday to Saturday. Okay, for me, to be honest, actually, for... Read more

  Well, the election is at hand. Today the last votes will be cast to determine wether we continue along the path Mr Trump has been cutting. Or, whether we will return to that hesitant and bumpy march toward ever greater justice and care for all of us, which has been the hallmark of our liberal Democracy. It’s all pretty stark. And, if the polls are right, America’s choice will be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Mr Biden speaks of... Read more