What Does Consciousness Have to Do with Spirituality?

Last updated on: May 25, 2026 at 9:33 am By Larry Jordan

Consciousness is certainly one of the most challenging and interesting topics that I have encountered in my spiritual journey. Perhaps Ultimate Reality (God) is the mind of the Universe. In my writing, Ultimate Reality is probably NOT personal, possibly NOT supernatural, and perhaps NOT even intentional. I use this neutral term to describe the “ground of being,” NOT a being, and there is nothing “woo woo” about it. In fact, there are striking parallels between Eastern mysticism and quantum physics,... Read more

Can We Choose NOT to Live in Anger and Fear?

Last updated on: May 16, 2026 at 12:34 pm By Larry Jordan

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When we choose NOT to live in anger and fear, we will experience more joy and less suffering in our lives. And we will introduce less pain to other people’s lives. Recently, I had a conversation with a good friend in the deconstruction community. He described how he overcame his fear of leaving church. Although I had never focused on overcoming my fear, I realized that my story required overcoming fear, too. Many of us live in fear of death... Read more

What Does “Faith” Mean in Non-Religious Spirituality?

Last updated on: May 7, 2026 at 7:30 am By Larry Jordan

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Many Christians do NOT understand non-religious spirituality. Christianity focuses on beliefs, and its beliefs focus on a personal God. But most religious and non-religious traditions focus on practices (orthopraxy) more than beliefs (orthodoxy), and they may NOT believe in God. Spirituality, broadly defined, involves the connection to something greater, which is NOT necessarily personal, supernatural or intentional. Some religions allow their practitioners to adopt different beliefs, and some religions do not worship gods at all. Hindus can be... Read more

Our Questions Often Presuppose Our Beliefs

Last updated on: April 30, 2026 at 11:45 am By Larry Jordan

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How did the Universe begin? How did life begin? How did sentience begin? I wrestle with many spiritual questions. Often, I encounter mystery, paradox and uncertainty, rather than “solid” answers. Sometimes, I change my mind. Changing our minds can be helpful, even necessary, as we gain more life experience and encounter different perspectives. Three Big (Loaded) Questions I used to think that the big questions were things like, “Is there a God?” or “What is the meaning of... Read more

Who is “Us”? Rethinking Church in a Multicultural Society

Last updated on: April 26, 2026 at 10:33 am By Larry Jordan

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Real spirituality is embodied—right here and right now. I wrote about the false presumption of “normalcy” here. Some small corners of the world might look mostly Christian, middle-class, or white. Globally, we are NOT predominantly Christian, middle-class or white. We never were. We never will be. One purpose of that article (and this one) is to assert that NO identity is “normal” in a multicultural, secular society. All religion is cultural, and all theology is speculation, so we... Read more

Who Is “Us”? Rethinking Community in a Changing America

Last updated on: April 17, 2026 at 5:47 pm By Larry Jordan

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Can we build a community that works for ALL of us? One of my friends was venting about the “woke” media. “How come we see so many gay people, Muslims, non-white people and poor people every time we turn on the TV or watch a movie?! Why don’t we just see regular people anymore?” “That’s easy,” I replied. “It’s because we see so many gay people, Muslims, non-white people and poor people every time we look around the... Read more

At 68, Death Made Me More Alive: A Zen Reflection

Last updated on: April 11, 2026 at 7:14 am By Larry Jordan

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Don’t Fear the Reaper A glimpse of mortality can bring attention and presence to our lives. At age 68, death is present to me in a way that it was NOT present only a few years ago. Zen teacher John Tarrant tells a touching story about Issan Dorsey, seen by some as a “Zen saint,” who ministered to people with HIV until he himself died from complications linked to AIDS: “A friend was helping him come back from the bathroom.... Read more

My Actual, Mortal Life is a Remarkable Gift

Last updated on: April 3, 2026 at 5:05 am By Larry Jordan

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My actual life is ephemeral, finite and fleeting. That’s the point. That’s why it’s meaningful, precious and worthwhile. The Buddhists realize that pain and suffering are NOT the same thing. That is, pain is universal and unavoidable. Suffering arises from craving, notably longings or regrets about the past and hopes and fears about the future. So I do NOT need to imagine a future, eternal life. To me, it’s a distracting speculation that pulls me out of the here and... Read more

How Can We Understand Transcendent Experiences?

Last updated on: March 25, 2026 at 6:36 am By Larry Jordan

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Spirituality requires both curiosity and skepticism. I wrote about the dubious existence of souls here. In the article, I wondered why some people assume that near-death experiences (NDEs) prove that there is an afterlife. Seems like a stretch to me. There is NOT a way to know whether an NDE is the last thing we see when we die or the first thing we see when we reincarnate. I suspect it’s the former. But I can NOT know. ... Read more

Are We Simply Stirred into the Cosmic Soup?

Last updated on: March 23, 2026 at 7:42 am By Larry Jordan

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Eventually, I will fall asleep for the last time. It’s OK if I do NOT wake up one day. I am grateful for the 25,000-odd days (and some of them were very odd!) that I DID wake up. Do We Have Souls? I wrote about the different gods, religions, and scriptures that people have chosen to follow here. Assume that we were lucky to choose to worship the right god among 3,000 gods. Also, we chose to follow the right... Read more

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