One Higher Power

There is an old saying in war: “Divide and conquer.” Though the origins of the saying are unclear, the strategy has been around and been used for a long, long time. Separating an adversary into multiple groups allows for two important things. First, injecting strife and infighting to an opponent’s ranks creates [...]

The higher power is the source from which all blessings flow — faith, courage, strength, luck, coincidence, confidence, joy, supply, and peace. It is the place human beings go internally to seek an external essence in times of stormy tribulation. It is the invisible energy human souls cry to in thanks and praise when joy [...]

One of the most difficult things every human being living in a modern culture is confronted with, is how to remain focused in spite of the whirlwind of influences grasping for our attention at any given moment. We are constantly bombarded with messages of conflicting importance from every direction — politics, the arts, the [...]

The hardest part of living a right and noble path is to learn the art of selflessness — to give of one’s self freely, without hesitation or consideration… to remove the consideration of “self” in preference to the importance of “sacrifice.” This is something I have subtly known for as long as I can remember, and [...]

“When I was your age, we walked to school seven miles, through the snow, uphill both ways!” “When I was growing up, we went to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and to every other event the church had.” Well, it seems as the world “grows up” into this new and modernized era full of [...]

When people think of great food, it is often irrelevant what the dish actually is. It could be a steamed fillet of sea bass with bright green and red vegetable garnish, a tender ribeye cooked medium over a bed of garlic scalloped potatoes, or even a crisp garden salad with fresh toasted bread and [...]

This time of year, we’re bombarded with reminders of the Christian story — birth from a virgin mother, the three “wise guys” from the East, shepherds in their simple glory, and angels heard on high. I wonder, though, if they were still in our faces as living and breathing human beings, would they agree with our [...]

In my quest for understanding the core principles of spirituality, it becomes more evident that “religion” in any flavor tends to cloud those core principles. Especially in these modern times, doctrine, tradition, social order, and even entertainment seem to take on more prevalence and importance in the practice of religion than does seeking and [...]

Spirituality apparently has a new “personal brand” these days — ethics! Dan Schawbel has an interesting article over on his Personal Branding blog about business ethics, which I think deserves an honorable mention here. His basic take is that business profits should (the dreaded “should” word) never supersede ethical practices in business — and I [...]

I got into an IM conversation today with a friend from another blog who had recently posted about the work of one, Daniel Everett, a cunning linguist from Illinois State University. This particular story is one of Everett’s efforts as a Christian missionary to study and learn the language of a tribal culture in [...]

Why is it so hard to understand what he said? It isn’t. Love God, then Love your Neighbor as yourself — in that order, before anything else, and the rest of life just sort of falls into place. A primary understanding that must be understood is the fact that God is love. God is love. [...]

A concept I’ve long held and had reinforced recently is that the concept of “Satan,” or the “devil,” which according to common religious theology is some overlord of an altnernate universe composed of utter defection from goodness and civility, is complete and utter bunk — only to the point that: it isn’t some demonic entity [...]

The farther we dig into this world of faith and spirituality, it becomes clear that we aren’t truly separated from God because this higher power isn’t something “separate.” It’s something that exists within the complex fabric of physical, psychological, emotional, and even metaphysical stages we pass through as living, breathing beings. Here lately I’ve been [...]

Imagine if someone started a movement to completely do away with money — then imagine if that movement started gaining traction, and people across the globe stopped believing in financial systems. Slowly, person by person, community by community, village by village, city by city and on and on and on, the disposition of currency [...]

Maybe overestimating is a more fitting description. Either way, those who claim to know and are making attempts to marginalize the “evangelicals” are slowly and methodically painting themselves into a corner from which there will be no escape. You see, the vast majority of “evangelicals” are truly anything other. The conservative majority of Christian [...]

I’ve been blogging about spirituality for quite a while, and the things I write are obviously from my own point of view — biased by my own perspective and experiences. Yet, the fundamental principle of spirituality as I see it is that it crosses boundaries in every way and is a primary part of [...]

I’m not sure exactly where this saying originated, but the philosophy behind it seems pretty straight-forward — the advice is to be who you are, where you are, and flourish as best as you can. As metaphors go, it has a wide breadth of application to individual circumstances. People can be born into [...]

I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. That’s the phrase people will sometimes use in jest when they are sworn to secrecy, or just don’t feel like disclosing some information. It’s because we’re naturally curious creatures — we want to know the unknown, turn over the rocks to see [...]

There is something to be said for the humility and couth it takes to give and receive gifts in the traditional sense, and it may well have something to do with what I am really getting at in this post. Gifts in the traditional sense would be presents — things given from one person or group [...]

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.” Obviously, he was never married with children! Seriously, he was talking about God and money, and that is certainly true. To seek a completely spiritual life will naturally lead people to altogether hate the systems created by money, and vice versa. After all, [...]