Learning and understanding

Have you ever noticed that if you’re struggling with a difficult situation you will receive messages from unrelated sources that address it?  For my religious friends, they refer to it as “God speaking to you.”  For the non-religious, it’s “the universe” or sometimes just dismissed.  It’s the feeling in your gut when you’re ill at ease in a situation; the ball of stress that emerges when you’re meeting a toxic person. I have found that I will receive guidance in unexpected ways.  The guidance is never as explicit as I would like; it’s never an email or letter saying, “this is your path.  Follow it.”  Instead, it’s in the form of a random snippet of conversation with a stranger; or the same subject being raised casually by unrelated people.  It may be in a sermon, or a passage flipped to by chance.  It most often comes through a person who makes me question myself and my certainty.  It might be the person who, in the middle of my self-pity, ...

It’s a week into Lent, and like every other Lent I’ve been asked the same question, “so what are you giving up?” with the same suggestions to give up sweets; chocolate; alcohol; meat... basically a diet masquerading as a religious observance.  Then there are the more spiritual suggestions, usually accompanied by a quote from the pope or another leader offering ideas like, “fast from gossip, selfishness,” etc.  I previously wrote a blog entry on fasting, so I won’t repeat what I said there (but you can reread it here) . I do, though, have some additional thoughts about Lent and what we should hope to achieve. Lent is a period of fast and abstinence for christians, lasting for 6 weeks before Easter.   In Lent, we particularly focus on Jesus time in the desert, including his temptations.  We go through this period to focus on our spiritual life and to draw closer to God.  The thing to keep in mind, though, is that the practices followed during this time should no...

In his office, one of my friends has a piece of artwork which is a stylized pair of birds which have their wings outstretched and their necks entwined. I saw them as being in a dance, he saw them as fighting.  It’s really a revelation on the day when you understand that the only person who perceives things the way you do is you.  There are others who may have similar perceptions, but there are always differences from your worldview.  Sometimes the differences are complementary, such as when one of you likes cheese and the other crackers, so you share the appetizer.  Sometimes they don’t matter, like when you like crossword puzzles and they prefer sudoku.  But sometimes they shatter relationships. Usually they relate to some strongly-held beliefs, or some long-standing practices.When these collide, it’s possible to create a deep rift between people.  I know, for example, that my Christian Catholic beliefs are at odds with several of my friends.  As te...