Spirituality blog I wrote
I was lucky enough to receive an amazing inheritance from my parents and grandparents. I suspect that they didn’t realize what they gave me. I know they received it from the older generations of my family. I prize it as one of those riches that’s been part of the family… Read More »My Inheritance
The conversation was very thoughtful. She chose her words with great care. As I listened to her responses to my questions, I found myself going deeper into her life experience. Rebecca (not her real name) is a participant in a research study I’m conducting on spirituality and its relationship to… Read More »Spiritual Practice and the Fear of Death
Meditation is a spiritual practice that I was informally introduced to in my youth. A few of my teachers in Catholic school encouraged me to practice “quiet prayer” as they called it. Later, in college, I read some books about meditation and tried to figure it out on my own.… Read More »Things That Would Have Been Helpful To Know When I Began a Meditation Practice
I remember being told as a child that the reason to study history was that history has a tendency to repeat itself. In other words, if we don’t learn the lessons of the past, we’ll repeat them again in the future. While I think there are many reasons to learn… Read More »Freedom to Practice One’s Own Religion?
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” That’s what philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche wrote about 150 years ago. This sentiment is echoed in Kelley Clarkson’s hit song, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” I recently spent time with a young woman. While she’s bright, professionally engaged, and living what many… Read More »If It Doesn’t Kill You It Makes You Stronger?
It happens all too often. Young children are sexually abused, molested by family members or friends of the family. More often than not, the abuser is someone trusted not only by the child, but also by the family. Like many other children, one girl experienced molestation at a young age.… Read More »Doing the Best You Can
I was a youth during the era of the Vietnam War. I remember watching televised coverage of the draft lottery: birthdates picked out of a machine that could have been used for bingo. Those of a certain age whose birthdays fell on the dates selected would be drafted. I also… Read More »On Memorial Day, I Remember
Uganda. It’s a country I didn’t know much about until the 1990’s. In the early 1990’s, Uganda became something of a model for risk-reduction education for the transmission of HIV. In 1991, roughly 15% of the adult population was infected with HIV. The number of people dying from complications due… Read More »Uganda and the Problem of “God’s Love”
