If one chooses to interpret the story of Jesus fasting in the desert symbolically, the story becomes an allegory of transformation.

Believing in God–or not believing–is not always as straight forward as we might think.

We live in a rapidly evolving world. Even technologists have trouble keeping up with technology. Perceptions of God are virtually static— but divided — pro—con — agnostic —indifferent.

The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Frantz was a minister in the United Church of Christ for more than forty years. In writing about God, the great mystery that challenges all persons of faith, in The God You Didn’t Know You Could Believe In, Frantz was speaking to his congregation. He knew just the right topics to cover and the right questions to answer for any layperson seeking to bring depth to his or her faith.

Matthew Fox has been one of my dearest friends for 25 years as well as a beloved mentor and inspiration. We have worked together innumerable times and I continue to be amazed at his focused mystical brilliance and the ceaseless flow of amazing work that has poured from him.

What is being made crystal clear is that humanity stands at a monumentally fragile threshold with two stark choices placed before it in a situation of complete uncertainty: Those choices are: 1) To continue to worship a vision of power, totally distanced from sacred reality 2) Or to choose the path of submitting bravely to the alchemy of being transfigured by a global dark night event that shatters all illusions but reveals the greatest imaginable possibility being born out of the greatest imaginable disaster.

In this episode, we talk about: The blessings and burdens of looking into the future (strategic foresight) * Does contemplative practice and spirituality (mysticism) represent the future of faith? Why or why not? * The promise of permaculture in re-wilding our lives * A look into The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation

Did you know that human DNA responds healthfully when we enjoy altruistic pleasure (helping others); but our DNA’s expression’s health degrades when involved in selfish hedonistic pleasure?

You may have read claims before that a book can change your life and the world. However in the opening pages of The Gospel of Science you will read comments from top experts in the fields of; Mind-Body and Personal Growth, Physics, Sociology, Economics, Government, and Theology, who after enjoying the hundreds of pages of exciting cutting edge research methodically and poetically cited in this unique book, came to the enthusiastic conclusion, that indeed–The Gospel of Science delivers on this promise.

I wonder when I stopped looking to the rivers, or to the sky, or the oceans, or the mountains and all the creatures who live upon the Earth so that I might find the answers to my questions. I can’t quite pinpoint the moment when I stopped fishing for answers in Creation and began fishing in libraries.

The Liberating Birth of Jesus by Lee Van Ham is a groundbreaking book for me. My passion for the last fifty years has been the study of the New Testament. According to Van Ham, I have gone about this study in the wrong way. This revelation both hurts; and yet, in a more important sense, is immensely helpful.

As this book affirms, God continues to be the great conundrum, the great mystery, the great challenge of human existence. Paradoxically, while people have long claimed to doubt the existence of God, God is still the most important reality in the world.

What is spirituality? How does it differ from religion? And what role does it play in this modern life?

It has been said that the shortest distance between humanity and the truth is a story. I believe that it stands to reason that a good story, a really good story has the power to reveal truth about the MYSTERY which we call God. So, let me tell you a good story.

And who are you, in this identity-shattering era through which we’re living?  Journaling your dreams and sharing them with others might help you answer that question….

One of the reasons Encountering Silence is a real leader in spirituality podcasting is their unflinching commitment to examine systemic injustice today, showing how rootedness in the spacious silence of Christian mysticism helps us find our voice and speak up against racism, homophobia, and the forces of dehumanization everywhere.

Each day you will receive a different email message from this enlightened hot mind. Every day the one who is eternally alive will throw a ray of his light into the depths of your life. Every day a different facet of the comprehensive revelation I have described will flash its brilliance into your soul.

Thesis #18 – Future human well-being, and possibly even simple human survival, will depend on learning to substitute more nonviolent and creative manifestations of the individual and social defense mechanisms against the anxiety provoked by the religiously/culturally Dissimilar Other for the more destructive manifestations we have habitually employed.