by Daniel Shkolnik Three men heard of a well in which you could see the face of God. They traveled long and far to look into this well. When they reached it, the man with the long beard looked in and was amazed. “I saw the face of God,” he said, “and he had the most regal beard I’ve ever seen.” Then the man with the long hair looked in. “You’re wrong,” he announced. “God has no beard, but his... Read more
by Eric Steinhart (cc) Michael Shaheen I’m getting old and my body hurts in many ways. Much of that hurt comes from my psoriatic arthritis. Fortunately, my body responds well to easy treatments. For pain and inflammation, I take low-dose lexapro (escitalopram, 1mg daily) and bioavailable curcumin (Meriva, 500-1000mg daily). Without them, my joints burn constantly with horrific pain. I find it difficult to walk across a room. My feet can go into such agony that I cannot walk at all. But... Read more
by Brock Haussamen “Where does suffering come from? Why do we suffer?” The questions open biologist Ursula Goodenough’s essay “The Biological Antecedents of Human Suffering” (in The Routledge Companion to Religion and Science (2012)). Through the ages, people have turned to religion for the answers, with no easy satisfaction. But under a biologist’s eye, the questions look more manageable. Goodenough proposes two categories of suffering, the biological and the experienced. Biological suffering comes to all living things. Bacteria, plants, and people all seek out what they... Read more
By SNS Guest (Article is by guest writer Ed Kelly Jr. For a brief bio, see below.) At a recent lecture I gave on my journey out of Fundamentalist Pentecostalism and my awareness and subsequent changing of my heteronormative and racist views, someone afterwards remarked that much of what I was advocating sounded like Buddhist principles. Well, I was intrigued and began reviewing my lecture notes and Buddhism. The title of my lecture was Racism, paideia, personal transformation, and activism.(1) The thesis... Read more
by Thomas Schenk With beauty before me I walk With beauty behind me I walk With beauty above me I walk With beauty around me I walk In the above song, the Navajo word, “hozho”, has been translated as beauty, but it has also been translated as peace, balance, and harmony. To be “in Hozho” is to be at one with and a part of the world around you. The word “hozho” doesn’t translate readily into English, but I think... Read more
by SNS Guest (This article is written by guest writer Aron Gamman.) Exploring Judaism through the lens of Spiritual Naturalism brings forth many possibilities. On the one side it challenges Jewish traditions by denying a supernatural agency. But in as much as Judaism has been less “otherworldly” than some of the other major religions, Naturalism and Judaism do have a common ground. Treating Jewish theism as mythology, rather than taking it literally, challenges the heart of what it means to... Read more
Daniel Scharpenburg A zen story: A zen teacher named Hakuin lived in a small hut outside of a village. He had a great reputation and was liked by all. One day a poor young woman in the village became pregnant and lied to her parents. She told them Hakuin was the father. After the baby was born this young woman’s parents took the baby to Hakuin’s hut and said, “you got our daughter pregnant! You must take care of this... Read more
by Dennis Oliver Without some sense of conviction we’ll not accomplish much, nor be able to communicate effectively. Neither will we progress far without benefiting from the insights of others. Of course that does not mean we have to swallow all opinions (our own or others)! Those who are sure they are right about everything are neither effective nor persuasive! Ironically, Gautama, the Buddha, whose eyes were open to “the way things really are” (his phrase) also unleashed a mode... Read more
Mortality’s Mirror by Jeff Worthy Recent events in my life have reminded me of an excerpt from a presentation given by neuroscientist Sam Harris entitled “Death and the Present Moment.” Harris gave this presentation at the 2012 Global Atheist Conference in Melbourne, Australia. The passage below is the part that resonated with me: Most of us do our best not to think about death. But there is always a part of our minds that knows this can’t go on forever. Part of... Read more
by Eric Steinhart There are lots of ways to be an atheist. Atheism needs to have diversity if it’s going to flourish, and, eventually, move beyond mere denial of theism. So far, unfortunately, atheism doesn’t have a culture of its own. This means mostly that it relies on the dominant surrounding Christian culture – most atheists are cultural Christians. Although atheists deny that Christian doctrines are true, they still regard Christianity as normative. Consider spirituality. Lots of atheists think spirituality... Read more
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