July 19, 2025

Consciousness is remaining steadfast, even when everybody around you is losing their heads. In its first few lines, Rudyard Kipling’s classic poem “IF” speaks to this situation.

July 18, 2025

What do we do when our conscious self comes face to face with unconsciousness in the outer world? This happens all the time. We are in a discussion, and another person laces their conversation with subtle racist remarks, or they tend to “other” particular groups. Maybe blame is cast on someone without knowing the facts. 

July 17, 2025

You have heard the expression “All good things come to those who wait” (Violet Fane, 1892). You have likely listened to another, which comes from Murphy’s Law — “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” (Edward Murphy, c.1948). These two expressions represent two ends of a continuum. One end is the subjective view that everything good comes if we are patient, while the other is that things will inevitably go wrong if they can. 

July 16, 2025

Consciousness opens us to the vast territory of our inner landscape. We realize we are much more than our bodies, thoughts, appearance, and feelings. 

July 15, 2025

As we become conscious, we become aware of what we do, and then we become aware of why we are doing those things. If we remain unconscious, we simply go through the motions, and even if we enjoy or suffer through what we are doing, we do not know the primary reasons why. We may only know secondary reasons why we do something. 

July 14, 2025

The most fundamental cause of unconscious thinking and behavior is egocentrism. The unchecked ego has the perspective of “my interests first,” the interests of my family, my tribe, and my story of how life should be for me and everyone else. When we are unconscious, we do not fully grasp the necessary interdependence of all human beings. In unconsciousness, instead of realizing that all of us are connected to each other and are therefore dependent on one another, the focus is on “my welfare” without acknowledging the ripple effect we have on each other. We express this type of unconsciousness by going along with whatever will give ME the most pleasure and least discomfort, with less regard for how these fit in the context of everyone’s well-being. In this case, the unhealthy ego rules thought and behavior.

July 13, 2025

What is our response to the unconsciousness of others? What about when we ourselves lapse into unconsciousness? Dare we call it out, challenge it, or do something proactive, or is it better to ignore it? 

June 23, 2025

The straw that broke the camel’s back was “the last straw.” How many times have we experienced a last straw? 

Maybe we had a long list of “to-dos,” and someone we wanted to please added another task that sent us over the top. Perhaps someone made lots of remarks that got under our skin, but this time, it was one remark too many, and we boiled over. It could be that someone always triggers anxiety in us, but lately, they have been doing it a lot, and today was the last straw. 

May 1, 2025

Philosopher and Mythologist Joseph Campbell said that stories are an essential part of our individual identities, and on the macro level, they are essential to our culture. The stories we hear and tell become the myths we live by. Myths are not merely stories; they reflect the person's and society's beliefs through the use of metaphor.

March 23, 2025

The anchor of any seacraft is only a fraction of its weight. Yet, it is one of the most vital parts of any boat. Anchors stabilize and keep the craft in place so that changing tidal or weather conditions do not affect the vessel. All ships entering a port of call are required to have anchors. 

February 22, 2025

It is challenging to be peaceful with ourselves, especially in the middle of chaos and conflict. One of my most potentially chaotic situations is making it through TSA (Transportation Security Administration) checkpoints in airports. Besides standing in long lines, we passengers must keep track of our IDs and boarding passes while unloading our pockets, taking off coats, belts, shoes, and glasses, and unloading our phones, computers, wallets, passports, and watches, and placing them in bins. 

January 23, 2025

Strange and painful things can happen at any time. Something goes wrong, someone hurts us, or they are disappointed in us, there’s a great loss, we are victims of circumstances beyond our control — these are examples of big things that derail us. But there are also countless small things that do the same, like when someone doesn’t do what they promised, when there’s a fender bender, when we say the wrong thing, when we lose important papers, or even when we are running really late for an important event. 

January 16, 2025

The ego fancies itself as being the center of life and that life on Earth began with our ancestors. But that line of thought is flawed by its egocentricity. We tend to think our country's founding was long ago and that Columbus' voyages were way in the past. We picture Christ, Socrates, and other people of history as ancient. They were, but only if we view humanity as the center of the world and its appearance marks the beginning of time. 

January 11, 2025

There is a lot of talk these days about being present. But there's little that explains what it means to be present. Oh, I know it means to live in the moment, but what exactly is the moment? Is then a moment each second or is it longer? How do we define the "present moment?"

January 3, 2025

If something is not going right, is amiss, or unsettling, we have choices about handling it. If we take the path of least resistance, it’s usually our ego’s fixation and perception of the world.

January 2, 2025

The issue of whether or not we apply our higher ideals to our lives is not a new topic. It has been under discussion for centuries. When we do not apply our values to the issues of life, it is because we are absent-minded, out of touch, avoidant, distracted, or enamored with other things. We may be unconscious or, in the worst-case scenario, hypocritical. All of us who fall beneath the saints and angels have been in one of those categories. And this has been true since the beginning of human history. 

December 30, 2024

Our most important project here on earth is to bring our soul to its wholeness. And we do that by growing in consciousness. The more we are aware of ourselves, the world, and the truth, the more we apply that awareness to our concerns, circumstances, and relationships. So, our soul reaches wholeness through the application of consciousness. 

December 5, 2024

In the Book of Genesis (1:31), after God made everything, it is written, "Then God looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good!"