You ever notice that we seem to be on this relentless quest where we’re scrutinizing ourselves raw in order to ascertain what we think our flaws, our foibles, our weaknesses and our warts are?  We put ourselves under some sort of minutely dissecting microscope with skewed lenses in order to ferret out all of our little imperfections.  We … [Read more...]

What lies ahead of us is shrouded in the milky fog of mystery and the confounding muse of speculation that such mystery provokes.  What lies behind us might tempt us to mystery and speculation, but it will only do so in regard to making sense of what lies behind us.  And in this thing called ‘time’ and in this journey that we call ‘life,’ we are … [Read more...]

No one likes pain.  We don’t go shopping for it and we don’t clip coupons trying to get it at some discount.  I don’t think most of us expend our lives in the pursuit of it, nor are we on some sort of safari with the intent of bagging it as a trophy.  In reality, when we see it coming, we typically run as fast and as far as possible in whatever … [Read more...]

Mankind’s history is strewn with sordid stories of horrific evil.  The yellowed pages of history as well as the fresh pages of the daily paper are littered thick and knee deep with accounts of ruthless destruction, mindless devastation, heartless obliteration and acts so viciously awful that they are at times entirely incomprehensible.  We can cull … [Read more...]

I was thinking.  And the more I thought, the more I realized that there is a whole lot to think about.  But in my thinking, I thought that most of our thinking (despite how much there is to think about) is really pretty standardized and chafingly rote.  We think we think, but the more I think about that, the less I think we think (if you know what … [Read more...]

The nature of our humanity is such that we are thirsty for connectivity, desperate for relationship, vibrantly enlivened by the sharing of souls, and wildly transformed when another life dares to connect with us in those places raw and wounded.  We do not live in isolation, and to think so is to ignore the undeniable connectivity that occurs when … [Read more...]

There is a tremendous and completely ingenious capability inherent in our humanity that exceeds our wildest expectations.  Sadly, we have dumbed ourselves down to the point that we have compromised, and in many cases altogether forfeited these marvelous capabilities.  In doing so, our conviction regarding our capability is marginalized to near … [Read more...]

What is the nature of our mentality anyway?  We are a complex collection of experiences, wounds, failures, successes, relationships, genetics and a wholly innumerable array of other things that press together and then settle into some sort of uniquely amalgamated compilation that makes us, us.  The nature of these things and the manner in which … [Read more...]

A conscience is that pressing sense that unerringly guides our choices and pricks us when we don’t heed it’s prompting.  It’s that mysteriously universal compass that relentlessly points true north when we don’t have any idea where true north is, or when prefer to take some other direction altogether out of a sense of convenience or selfishness or … [Read more...]

We get attacked.  That’s a reality of life.  Somewhere, at some time, someone is going to come after us.  We’ve going to get cut, clobbered or end up with an assorted collection of contusions.  Sometimes the intentions of those that hurt us are misdirected, and at other times they’re completely intentional.  Sometimes the actions of others are the … [Read more...]