what the mind cannot accept. That's a paraphrase of retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong. When I first heard the idea a few decades ago, I wasn't sure that I agreed with it. Now I know that I do agree with it wholeheartedly. Whenever I hear someone offer a nonsensical reason for a well understood…
Over the years I have noticed that most spiritual teachers who teach on a national level develop what I call, "this year's message." That works because only rarely does anyone see them twice in a year, so most of their audience thinks they are listening to a wonderful message crafted especially for them. I suppose…
How often do we hear that from academics, especially in the field of spirituality and religion? I have heard it so often I want to vomit every time yet another insecure academic trying to justify their professional existence announces what does and does not constitute "proper" spiritual practice. Whatever currently popular spiritual trend catches their…
I recently received a question about experiences in meditation. I am reproducing in part my response here on the blog because I feel many people have a similar question. The experiences you are having are sometimes called "consolations." I tend to think of them as glimpses of awakening. Everything seems to make sense in those…
There are things we don't know. Some of you will feel that I am stating the blatantly obvious. Others will feel that my claim is patently false. Hopefully, the majority of you are willing to consider at least that we as individuals don't each know everything there is to know. Our culture often seems to…
Research is valuable. Anyone who would attempt to draw meaningful conclusions about anything without researching their subject thoroughly is on a fool's errand. However, with apologies to Brene Brown, data ain't all there is. Data is what we can measure, what is quantifiable, what can be seen, and it is a huge part of our…
Something bad is going to happen to you. It's a matter of time. Quite possibly, over the course of a lifetime, many bad somethings will happen to you. As I see it, you are faced with a few choices. First and foremost, you need to give yourself time to heal and grieve whatever loss has…
Craig Bergland 