According to Rumi, one's words should pass through three gates: 1. Is it true? 2. Is it necessary? 3. Is it kind?
Could it be that any Creator worth existing must be beyond human understanding, so that religion is actually a human construct? Perhaps speculating on human behavior in regards to religious habits should be no different than studying any other type of human behavior, because if God is behind it at all, God is behind it... Continue Reading →
This is the third in a series, in which I will present a partial summary of systems for three theorists and then apply them to a question in the final post: the relationship between social indoctrination and personal belief. To read the previous post, regarding Michel Foucault, read here. To jump to the first post... Continue Reading →
This is the third in a series, in which I will present a partial summary of systems for three theorists and then apply them to a question in the final post. To read the previous post, regarding Louis Althusser, read here. To jump to the first post and read from the beginning, read here. This... Continue Reading →
In the previous post, I presented an overview of this series. Here, I will focus on Louis Althusser. After providing a more comprehensive overview of the three theorists, I will discuss the relationship between social indoctrination and personal belief. Althusser Louis Althusser claims that a primary function of State Power in a capitalist society is to perpetuate the... Continue Reading →
Early church fathers Clement and Origen of Alexandria both contended that, for God to be truly all-good, all-powerful and omnipresent, it stands to reason that (everything being a part of God and destined to return to God in the end) Satan would also be redeemed, forgiven, changed and would return to the Source with all... Continue Reading →
Apocryphon of John contains one of the most complete and detailed narrations of a gnostic cosmogony, explaining how the invisible and visible realms emanated from the original monad in a highly sophisticated narrative. The tractate takes the form of the popular "apocryphal acts of the apostles," after the Greek "romances", pseudepigrapha attributed to the disciple John,... Continue Reading →
The following is my examination, from a sociological perspective, of how false realities find traction in society. My focus was the "Satanic Ritual Cult Scare" of the 1980s and 1990s, but I share it to impress upon my audience the fact that these false realities can be plausible, partially true and accepted by individuals who... Continue Reading →
I recently presented the following at a Gerontology conference. The impetus for this project was a hospice meeting several years ago (I have been a companionship volunteer for a local hospice organization for nearly four years). The theme of the meeting was "Spirituality and End of Life Care." A panel of local religious leaders from... Continue Reading →
Spirituality and Secularism in Professional Chaplaincy: On the Social Construction of Meaning by Jamie Duncan, May 23, 2013 Introduction According to the Association of Professional Chaplains, the professional clinical chaplain's primary role in a hospital setting is to protect the patient's rights, serving "as an advocate for the spiritual values and religious beliefs held by... Continue Reading →
As many of you may know, I am a hospice volunteer. I cannot relate specific details about my experiences, obviously, but I do incorporate them, in anonymous form, into my writing. After all, the powerful moments of human connection that blossom in these visits is too important not to share. On Valentine's Day, 2008, I... Continue Reading →
Pass Three Gates 