Do you know the difference between a beach bum and a beachcomber? Purpose. According to my trusty laptop dictionary, a beach bum is defined as a person who loafs on or around a beach. On the other hand, a beachcomber is a person who walks along the beach looking for valuable or interesting items. Richard Bode falls into the beachcomber category, though instead of walking the beach with a metal detector looking for buried treasures, what he seeks are the... Read more
Jack Kornfield tells the story of the late Buddhist monk Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche who was one day giving a talk at a lecture hall in Berkelely, California. The participants had paid $15 each to hear him speak and once the hall had filled, Trungpa asked them: “How many of you are just beginning your spiritual practice?” A number of people raised their hands. He looked around the room and said, “Fine, my suggestion is that you go home. At the... Read more
Do you remember back in 2012 when the Mayan calendar said that the world was going to end? Some believed that the calendar prophesied that a cataclysmic, doomsday event would occur on December 21st of that year. To the surprise of some, it did not come to pass and many experts later weighed in that the calendar had been misread and was merely indicating the start of a new time cycle. Reading ancient calendars is a tricky business but one... Read more
Have you heard of the book The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse? It has topped the bestseller list in the Publisher’s Weekly Comics category for a year now, selling over a million copies. But to label this book a “comic” is a misnomer. Written and illustrated by Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a fable that eavesdrops on a conversation between the four characters in the title. The pages are sparsely... Read more
If you read enough books about the soul, you’ll come across a reoccurring theme. It’s the idea that we all have a small, still voice within us that is there to guide us as we make our way through life. The voice represents the deepest, truest part of us, our soul, and it knows what we want and need from life—if only we would listen to it. The Voice There is a voice inside of you That whispers all day... Read more
January is often the time we make resolutions. For many of us, this includes eating healthier and exercising more—and hopefully shedding the extra pounds we’ve put on during our prolonged COVID lockdown :-). But this year, along with improving your physical health, why not strive to improve your spiritual health as well? Spiritual health is achieved when you feel at peace with life. That doesn’t mean you won’t face difficult situations or even experience hard times, but you have a... Read more
With the holiday season behind us and months of chilly weather ahead of us, “it’s time to reinvigorate the soul…to find light in the darkness and prepare yourself to face down whatever comes next.” The inspiring words above come from an article in The NY Times titled “Find Some Peace this Holiday” by Erik Vance. But for the purposes of this column, I’m going to change the slant to “Finding Some Peace After the Holidays.” In much of the U.S.,... Read more
Have you ever been at a Christmas sermon and the minister/reverend/priest goes off topic? I know it peeves my wife Laney, and you may feel the same way. Because during Christmas church services, we want to hear about one thing—the story of the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. If you go looking for the baby Jesus story in the Bible, you’ll see that only two gospels cover the actual birth, Luke and Matthew. (When Mark and John... Read more
These are dark days, aren’t they? I’m not talking about the relentless spread of COVID-19. I’m being literal here. It’s that time of year when the days are short and the nights are long, as we move closer to the darkest day of them all, December 21st. That’s the day with the least amount of sunshine and from that day on we gain more light each day for 6 months running. This lack of sunlight has long troubled people. In... Read more
When you picture God, do you conjure up an image of a fatherly figure with long white hair and a beard? If you answer yes, there’s a pretty good reason for that. Attend a religious service at any church, synagogue, or mosque and, more often than not, you’ll find God referred to in strictly male terms. You may be surprised to learn that in the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, God is not defined as a man or... Read more
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