Rick Bateman reflects on Buddhism and Romantic poetry and the connection to the Beloved through mindfulness and meditation.
Heart, Soul, God
One day I was in a session with my healer, my fabulous shaman, and she told me she was going to speak to me from God. My initial reaction was to push back. I didn’t want to hear anything “God” had to say.
What’s in a Word?
Sometimes certain words can set people off. For ‘Thriving On the Other Side’ the issue was with the word ‘God’.
The Last Leaf: My War Against Change
Deep into November, a few last leaves cling to the trees. I always wonder about these leaves. What makes them hold on when millions of other leaves have fallen to their fate? Sometimes I think they are the stubborn ones, unwilling to accept the inevitable
The Bible Tells Me So. Oh Really? Part 2
Last week we featured “The Bible Tells Me So. Oh Really? Part 1 This week, Ross Lonergan looks future at how the Church’s treatment of gay people can contribute to depression, family break-ups and even suicide.
Holding the Bag of Life and Death
Last winter, after what was probably about 10 years of Alzheimer’s and a myriad of other issues, my grandfather finally died. I think that, like the woman who wrote the essay, many of us in my family had that similarly odd desire for it all to be over. That last year or so, grandpa had become a young child in an old man’s body…
Buddhism and the Dragons Of Eden
Not all problems, personal or global, can be resolved through thinking. As individuals and as a species, we would be wise to remember that there is another way of being. A way that existed long before the guards took over the castle.
The Bible Tells Me So. Oh, Really? Part 1
In light of the recent focus on the pain often suffered by gay teenagers as a result of bullying and harassment or lack of acceptance by family, church, or community, Ross Lonergan suggests taking a look at a 2007 documentary about Christian parents and their gay children.
Guest Houses of Autumn
The poet Rumi wrote, “This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.” Sitting in a park amidst autumn foliage, Nathan Thompson contemplates how we honour or do not honour what or who knocks on the doors of our ‘guest houses.”
Thomas Merton – Sexuality and Spiritual Denial
I have always found the deep split between the spiritual and sexual in nearly all religions, including the Buddhism I practice, very troubling. While it’s possible to argue that Buddhism has less of this than Judeo-Christian traditions, I’m still convinced that there’s a gap in the teachings that has lead to an enormous amount of confusion, condemnation, and suffering. And I don’t think it’s necessary to be a monastic in order to experience these gaps – no one, I think, is really immune.
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