SOUNDS LIKE A SETUP, BUT while the speakers are lighthearted (pun intended) their topic is both serious and joyful. Brother David Steindl-Rast of http://gratefulness.org and Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (http://www.rabbikushner.org/) talk shop: specifically, mysticism and religion, but in accessible terms. (They’re…
Category: Torah
The Text(s), the tribe, the learning, the being. (With a bit of random spirituality mixed in.)
The Unexamined Light Is Not Worth Seeing By
WHY DO WE ASSUME THAT “God” is the one who wants or needs worship?
For The Kids (A Mini Rant On NorCal “Spirituality”)
“There’s so many choices here, a man could half-starve before picking breakfast.” — Ol’ Thinkypants THAT MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY WILL NOT long endure whose members celebrate every festival but their own(1). C’mon people — whatever your tradition is, it got Grandma…
From “Ol’ Thinkypants Speaks”
“I’M NEVER HAPPY WITHOUT JUGGLING three or four levels of meaning at once, no matter what the subject,” said Ol’ Thinkypants, and scratched meditatively. “Maybe two before coffee. But three or four is where it’s at. And if you can…
Accented Enlightenment
SO MANY OF OUR VERBAL surroundings are invisible to us; we live like blind fish in a sea of words. Two experiments to make the background pop out: 1. Try shifting the accent on multiword phrases; e.g., “Vanity Fair” turns…
5 Thoughts: The Whole God Catalogue
1. DESPITE THAT THIS BLOG’S SUBTITLE is “A Journalistic Exploration of Experiential Holiness and Snack Bar,” there seems to me to be little direct dealing with the “experiential holiness” end of things: why any 2010 Renaissance Man would fall in…
Al Tirah – Fear Not
A MOVE TO KICK DESPAIR out of Lower North American political life is taking a Biblical imperative to the 21st century — and “joining” is as easy as deciding not to be manipulated by people who want you to hate…
5 Thoughts: How To Preach A Sermon
1. Make ’em laugh with, but not at, you and your topic. But make ’em laugh first. 2. Remember that you’re a student too, no more learned (and perhaps embarrassingly less) than those listening to you. Your task is to…
Of Monkey Brains and Infinity
ALTHOUGH WE’RE NOT GENERALLY A “quotes ‘n’ links” blog, today The Metaphorager feels compelled to pass along two related items: 1) From Robert Anton Wilson‘s Prometheus Rising, p. 201: “[…] Simply accept that the universe is so structured that it…
I’m Not Going To Say “God” Anymore
AT LEAST, THAT’S MY AIM, and has been for some time, only I didn’t know it then. Hear: I don’t know how any/everyone else works It, but I think It is universal, appearing to some as “God,” others as The…
Torah Study Anew Abu!
TODAY’S POST COMES FROM GUEST-BLOGGER Ann Clark and concerns our weekly living-room Torah study. We begin the reading cycle anew tomorrow (technically, yesterday and today) — but do we ever really begin, or end, anything? France Street Torah Study Neal…
Pithyism #All Together Now
A TRUE RELIGIOUS RITE IS more expression than performance.