How much time do we spend preparing for a moment other than the one we are in? How many hours are passed in critique of what we are doing rather than doing it? These are … Read More
The Dark Night of the Soul – An Evolutionary Reinterpretation
Saint John of the Cross was a sixteenth century Spanish monk who famously conceived of ‘the dark night of the soul.’ The phrase has come into common usage generally to mean any time of deep … Read More
Empirical Truth and Revealed Truth
I propose that philosophy in its most general sense can be understood as “The human endeavor to understand the nature and functioning of reality.” Human beings are thinking animals that use ideas to guide action. … Read More
Nature Mystics and Scientific Progressives
The European Enlightenment produced two responses; Scientific Rationalism and Romanticism. The Scientific Rationalism represented in the science of Sir Isaac Newton and the philosophy of John Locke. Romanticism produced the writing of Goethe in Germany … Read More
The Language of We-Mysticism
As we move from the mysticism of the individual to a We-Mysticism that is shared between us our use of language becomes critical. Language is the medium of exchange through which we attune human behavior … Read More
From Mysticism to We-Mysticism
Mysticism is most often associated with the lone spiritual adventurer who separates from the world in order to turn his or her gaze inward and unite with the divine. Yet there is also another form … Read More
The Doorway to Mystical Experience
The Mystic knows that the key to entering into mystical realms of experience is the ability to let go of the familiar. Our ordinary and familiar perception of reality is exactly what we must learn … Read More
The Heart of the Mystic
A mystic is one who sees the deeper reality that lies hidden beneath our ordinary experience of reality. The mystic looks deeply into the nature of things by letting go of conventional wisdom and allowing … Read More
Nothingness and Firstness
I am currently on retreat inItaly with spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen and he spoke about something yesterday that immediately made me think of the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce. On this retreat we are all … Read More
The Essence of Being First
What is the quality of being first? This was a question that Charles Sanders Peirce thought deeply about because he felt that the quality of being first, or ‘firstness’ as he called it, was an … Read More