Subscribe via Email
-
Recent Posts
- Uninstructive Memories April 16, 2024
- A Pinch of Cyanide April 15, 2024
- Philosophical Mindweather April 14, 2024
- Embrace April 13, 2024
- Again April 12, 2024
Archives
Search on this Site
Categories
Blogroll
- 86,400 Seconds
- A Song Not Scored for Breathing (Cheryl/Hope)
- Actual Unretouched Photo
- Afroculinaria
- Brittle Road
- Chuck Sigars
- CMI Assn. Mgt. Blog
- Cutting Through the Crap
- Elle Jauffret
- HSV Area Restaurants
- Lizardek's Obiter Dictum
- Me and You and Ellie
- Neflix Genre Categories
- Out of the Lotus
- Perils of Caffeine in the Evening
- The New Dharma Bums
- The Singing Wench
- Unretouched Photo
- Words/Love
- writing as jo(e)
- Your Fireant
AR Writer Blogs/ Websites/Resources
- Writer Beware blog
- Considerable Opinions, Millie Gore Lancaster
- Wordcraft, Elizabeth Foster
- Southern Story Lady, Madelyn Young
- John Achor's site
- Nancy Smith Gibson's site
- It Just So Happens, Nancy Gibson Smith blog
- Six Bridges Book Festival
- White County Creative Writers
- Ozark Poets and Writers Collective
- Arkansas Review
- Ozarks Writers League
- Killer Nashville Writers' Conference
Category Archives: Religion
Swerving into Philosophy
I woke up late this morning, sometime around 6:45. The fact that I was awakened in the middle of the night probably contributed to my late rising. Or maybe I was just tired and needed more sleep than normal. Whatever … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Dreams, Religion, Secular morality
6 Comments
On Belief
I think I had heard of John Shelby “Jack” Spong in years past but, if so, I paid little heed to what was said about him. Only relatively recently, when I heard the minister in my church, a church that … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
4 Comments
Mindset: A Partial Circle
There was a time, when asked whether I was religious or believed in God, I would respond that I was not religious, but I was spiritual. That response felt utterly artificial, because the word “spiritual” felt like a fraudulent disguise … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
Leave a comment
Along the Bloody Spectrum
I am an old infidel. A practicing heathen. A believer in knowledge and a follower of facts. Those truths notwithstanding, I am no longer the active antagonist toward religion I once was. There was a time I would have called … Continue reading
Posted in Peace, Philosophy, Religion
Leave a comment
Through the Mist
I feel slightly more human this morning than I’ve felt the last few days. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, though. Feeling human means something different for me than it once did. No longer is it a matter of … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Philosophy, Religion
2 Comments
Exploring an Empty Barrel
I spent part of the last hour of this morning reading bits and pieces of about six months’ worth of newsletters from the Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. I’m not sure just why I found my way there. I started … Continue reading
Posted in Friendship, Philosophy, Religion, Stream of Consciousness
Leave a comment
Drenched in Thought
In mid-November 2012 (and many other times, before and after) I wrote a little about why I find Buddhism refreshing. Among my thoughts seven years ago was this one: It (Buddhism) is a refreshing perspective, far more appealing to me … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Religion
Leave a comment
Paying for One’s Sins
I would have shared this on Facebook, but I suspect it would be offensive to some people who don’t share my sacrilegious sense of humor. I almost sprayed coffee through my nose while I watched this video. I may actually … Continue reading
Posted in Humor, Religion
Leave a comment
What Will Happen to the United Methodist Church?
When I was a boy, I attended the Methodist Church. Occasionally. I wasn’t a fan and, when at a very early age my parents allowed me to decide whether to continue attending, I opted out. Even then, the theology was … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
2 Comments
We Actually Joined a Church
I joined a church yesterday. I’ve lived my entire life up to this point being “unchurched.” I have never wanted to join a church because…well, for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, I suppose, was the dogma, the creed, … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Religion
2 Comments
Depending on Strangers
We’re in for the night and haven’t bothered turning on the television because, well, there’s usually no point. Instead, I’ve been wandering the internet in search of answers to questions I’ve never quite posed, but which have always waited patiently … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
Leave a comment
Biblical Insights from Nonbelievers
The insight service day before yesterday at the Unitarian Universalist Village Church was among the more thought-provoking I’ve heard (and I’ve heard some that inspired me to give serious thought to some pretty complex issues). The presentation, given by a man … Continue reading
Posted in Religion, Secular morality
Leave a comment
Ritual
When I awaken these days, I understand more clearly than in the not-so-distant past the solace in ritual. Ritual offers comfort. Carefully practiced ritual grants predictability and uniformity in times of chaos. Ritual provides at least a temporary protective shelter from one’s sense … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Religion
2 Comments
Thinking When I Shouldn’t
I am an atheist. You must bear that in mind as you read the comments I am about to make. I do not claim there is no god, but I have found no reason to believe there is one. In … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Religion
Leave a comment
Unity is an Appealing Objective
People who attend the church (I really wish there was another name for it; I have issues with calling it a church) that I’ve been visiting periodically tell me they, and the church, are viewed in deeply unfavorable ways by … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Just Thinking, Religion
Leave a comment
For Good Reason
Today was not a day for writing. At least not for me. Oh, I got some done. But it was a struggle. I worked on three versions of a story I intended to submit to a contest. Finally, with only … Continue reading
Make Me One with Everything
Before today, the last time I attended a church service was on June 1, 2014. We visited the Unitarian Universalist Village Church (UUVC) on that day to hear “Being Good Without God: Coming Out as a Humanist.” I enjoyed the program. … Continue reading
Spiritual Promiscuity
I wrote much of the following for another of my blogs, one I began a few years ago and have since abandoned. I allowed it to languish after just one or two posts and have, until recently, paid little attention to what … Continue reading
Posted in Religion, Secular morality
2 Comments
Drawing the Line on Twisted Thinking
Certain topics are so imbued with social radioactivity that we have learned sharing our curiosity or our thoughts about them in most social environments and in most person-to-person interactions is unsafe, emotionally or psychologically. What are these topics? The sex act. Homosexuality. … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking, Religion, Secular morality
2 Comments
Behaving Decently: A Reminder
Words that bear consideration: “I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.” ~Kurt Vonnegut That point having been considered, something that should have … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Religion, Secular morality
Leave a comment
The St. Francis Prayer
Yesterday, a friend (thank you, Tara) posted something on her Facebook page and her blog that struck a chord with me (I recommend her blog, by the way). Though neither she nor I are “believers,” we seem to share a good … Continue reading
Posted in Religion, Secular morality
Leave a comment
Post-Birthday Assessment
Last night’s birthday dinner was not the Bar-B-Q of my wishes, but I wore shorts and a t-shirt as we sat, dining alfresco, enjoying the Tuesday night special of liver and onions at Tanner’s Terrace on the Green, overlooking the Granada Golf Course. … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Religion, Writing
3 Comments
Forgiveness
I remember reading, quite some time ago, that the ability to forgive is among the most marvelous of traits. I recall reading that good people who followed their “good book” were forgiving people. As I look around today, I see … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
Leave a comment
Recollections of a Broken Spirit
Several years ago, not long after I started the business that I finally abandoned for a sabbatical/ retirement, a guy I knew from a professional association to which I belonged contacted me. He called me as part of his networking efforts … Continue reading
Posted in Memories, Philosophy, Religion, Secular morality
1 Comment
Getting “Religion”
Get ready to be surprised, flabbergasted, astonished, and amazed. I went to church today. No, really. Not for a wedding or a funeral, but for a Sunday service. An article in last week’s Hot Springs Village Voice newspaper included an … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Philosophy, Religion, Secular morality
2 Comments