Practical Spirituality series “Does anyone really know what time it is?” asks the existential song by Chicago. “The song stresses the importance of taking time to appreciate the small pleasures in life instead of rushing from one place to another against the clock.” Been there, done that. Thought I would never get derailed. Having time to pursue my passions to help others is a wonderful gift. “So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who... Read more
Practical Spirituality Series The US Supreme Court will review a law banning homeless individuals from just about any public areas, imposing fines and jail time. Here is where you can make an important difference. This problem has two sides. On one side is the homeless, who often, through no fault of their own, have no place to stay. This includes women and children. (Statistics later in this article.) On the other side is the in-your-face problem created by lack of... Read more
Practical Spirituality series Two awe-inspiring people are Helen Keller and Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin is one of my favorite actors. In silent film, he communicated through his expressiveness. The immense painful experiences in his early life apparently gave him the ability to create lovable and expressive characters like the Hobo and The Tramp. Helen Keller was both deaf and blind at 19 months. Very patient people worked with her so that eventually she could communicate and talk to large groups of... Read more
Practical Spirituality series This article contains references to sex and may not be welcome to all readers. Use discretion. Researchers at Osaka University in Japan announced they’ve created mouse pups from the DNA of two dads, and not only did these pups survive to adulthood, they became parents themselves. No female mouse required. The bad news: We already have enough mice and we’re trying to get rid of them. And we don’t want to get rid of women. “Ruben, Ruben,... Read more
Practical Spirituality series We love to categorize things. Creating neural nodes that represent categories is how our brain works. To understand our world, we make categories and put things into them. We love the simplified categories, such as good versus evil. Things are one thing or another. Shades of gray are difficult to deal with. Without a category to shove things into, we have to think. Thinking! Yikes! “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name... Read more
Practical Spirituality series It’s not always clear in the New Testament who the apostles were speaking to. It takes some study to decipher which group. They understood Jews would remain Jews if they wanted to. The apostles gave non-Jews a different standard of conduct. The laws of Judaism applied to Jews only. They exempted non-Jews from that expectation. The apostles of Jesus debated this question of who the Law applied to until they finally decided that they would not give... Read more
Practical Spirituality series While writing a course for New Adults on how to create change, I expanded on an idea that the prophets and Jesus brought change, but we don’t currently explore this. We understand God is always the same, and people are always the same. We’re satisfied with the status quo. Yet neither God nor man always behave the same. God changes things. People change and we create change. In Isaiah 43: 16-21, the Prophet speaks of God... Read more
Practical Spirituality series Some Scribes who kept the written law for their communities, and Pharisees who interpreted the Law according to their perspective, were always trying to trap Jesus. One day, as Jesus came to the Temple, they brought a woman before Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery. They made no mistake about this: According to Biblical law, adultery was an offence punished by stoning to death. Guilt was undeniable. They asked Jesus to weigh in on... Read more
Practical Spirituality series Is it better to talk about helping others or to actively engage in it? Both are good. But given the choice, which is better to do? Intellectual exercise: Talking about helping others raises our awareness and reminds us that if we see a need we should take care of it. It’s an intellectual exercise reinforced by emotions from recognition that God takes care of us and Jesus became the sacrifice for things we do wrong. God wants... Read more
Practical Spirituality series The cartoonists based the character Popeye on a real sailor in Illinois. The cartoon character was known to get “disgustipated.” Love and Hate image by ArtML30 on Deviant Art. Rescaled. Historically, “argh” implied weakness, which in the 1500s was a contemptible state. It acquired the meaning of worthy of contempt or ostracism. To me argh expresses frustration with things that are outlandish. By that I mean they don’t have the strength of validity or moral certitude. I... Read more
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