In this episode we will look at a very old idea of what is the Kingdom of God. It is the belief that the kingdom is a specific geographic location such as a specific tribal or political region. What ever is the religion of the king or queen of the land, that becomes the relgion of all the people. If you live within the borders of this area, you are in the Kingdom of God. If you are outside the borders, you are not in the true Kingdom of God. In later centuries, this understanding grew into the b...
Feb 14, 2014•9 min•Ep. 54
What is the Kingdom of God? This is a central concept in the monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What you may believe about the Kingdom of God will affect other religious beliefs we hold. For example, how do we think of God, as aloof or present in our daily lives? How do we understand salvation? Is it mainly about the life to come or is it more about our l ife in this world? What is the nature of faith? All of these are interconnected and affected by our beliefs about the...
Feb 01, 2014•7 min•Ep. 53
Last time we looked at the emotional hole that each of us is carrying around inside and how we chase fears and anxieties about things that do not exist in an effort to fill up this hole. In this episode, we will look at how do we take apart this emotional hole? The key is understanding how the different virtues counteract their opposite vices- how generosity counters greed, self control counters gluttony and self confidence counters sloth or spiritual sadness. The delusional thinking that underl...
Nov 25, 2013•14 min•Ep. 52
A few episodes back I quoted Ghandi, the great Indian leader and philosopher. Ghandi had once said that the greatest freedom we could achieve is not political or economic, but freedom from the fear in our minds. In this episode we explore what Ghandi may have meant. A crucial step toward freedom from fear is to learn about the emotional hole that each of us carries around inside. We look at the story of Sam, who had a very demanding and rather angry parent in his father. Without knowing it, Sam ...
Oct 08, 2013•17 min•Ep. 51
Last time we looked at the question, to what are we ultimately committed in our journey of spiritual transformation. I had suggested that we should be committed to a specific process of spiritual transformation. But this runs into a problem very quickly. There are many competing traditions of spiritual transformation in the world. How should this situation be approached? How can we avoid the all too common animosity and hatred between competing traditions that often leads to violence? In this ep...
Sep 04, 2013•14 min•Ep. 50
In our journey of spiritual transformation, to what are we ultimately committed? Many people would answer that question by saying "My ultimate commitment is to God," but what does that mean in concrete terms? We look at three possibilites of things to which we might be ultimately committed: beliefs, institutions and specific process of spiritual transformation. While beliefs and institutions are important, many abuses occur when people are to committed to either of these. How can we be ultimatel...
Aug 15, 2013•13 min•Ep. 49
Why bother with spirituality at all? It seems that many, even most people do not bother with it. Why work so hard at such things as humility, compassion and self-control when these do not seem to be valued by society? I offer a couple of reasons why we should pursue spirituality. First, imagine what our world would look like if more people practiced true humility? Would there not be less malice, envy and jealousy? Are these not the very things- envy, malice and jealousy- that create so many prob...
Jul 24, 2013•16 min•Ep. 48
In this episode we look at the vice called 'sloth' and its matching virtue of caring. Sloth is a very old word, usually it is described as laziness or lack of motivation in modern terms. Someone who is slothful or unmotivated does not want to do much with themselves or their life. But there is more going on here than just laziness. One writer describes sloth as a 'spiritual sadness' where people have basically give up on life. This can describe many people we may have encountered. The usual virt...
Jul 12, 2013•13 min•Ep. 47
In this episode we look another key value for healthy spirituality, self control, and its corresponding vice of gluttony. Gluttony is an old english world that is hardly used anymore. Usually it is understood to refer to an obsession with food. However, such overindulgence can apply to many other things such as alcohol, the Internet and other activities. As we saw with the problem of greed, there is an underlying issue of self-delusional thinking with gluttony. This brings us right back to the f...
Sep 18, 2012•13 min•Ep. 46
In this episode we will look at the value of generosity and its opposite, greed. How we define greed will be depend on where and when we live. Greed is not only about money but can include such things as power and recognition. Behind the problem of greed there is a specific self-delusion or faulty thinking, which is connected to the false self. In the next episode we will look at another value that is important to have for healthy spirituality. To learn more about the book on which this series i...
Aug 04, 2012•16 min•Ep. 45
What happens when we go through spiritual transformation? The false self is dismantled. A brief description of this process is offered. [For a more detailed explanation of the unraveling of the false self, see Episodes 12 & 13 on What is Spiritual Love?] In this episode we will concentrate on the two most basic values that we learn in spiritual transformation: compassion and humility. A definition and explanation of humility and compassion is discussed. In the next episode we will look at so...
Jun 21, 2012•18 min•Ep. 44
In this episode we look at a definition of healthy spirituality. One of the key ideas is that spirituality is a lifelong processs, not a one time event. We also need to be in community with others for the process of spirituality to work. Healthy spirituality fully engages our minds, it does not require us to believe blindly. In the next episode, we will look at some of the specific values that are involved with the process of healthy spirituality. This series is based on my new book, Why Are we ...
May 27, 2012•10 min•Ep. 43
When someone says "I am spiritual but not religious," what do they mean? In this episode we will look at two possible answers. One is that someone shares some of the beliefs of a particular tradition but does not participate in organized religious observances. A second answer could be a person who has pieced together beliefs from several religious traditions. While these answers are helpful, they are missing a key element of being spiritual- commitment to a community. In the next episode we will...
Mar 14, 2012•10 min•Ep. 42
Before we can get an idea of what is healthy spirituality, we must have an idea of how religion is not the same thing as spirituality. In this episode, we will look at what I think is a good understanding of religion. Many people, perhaps most, are comfortable with organized religious services, some simple forms of devotion and activities with their religious community. They seek nothing more in their religious faith. But for others, especially younger people, this is not enough. People with a m...
Feb 05, 2012•11 min•Ep. 41
In this episode we are moving in a new direction. This will be the first of several episodes that looks at the question 'What is healthy sprituality?' We do not have to look far to see examples of bad spirituality, so it is important to know what the good kind looks like. Before we can answer that question, though, we must look at several issues. First, what is religion? What is faith? Is spirituality different from religion and faith? In this first installment, we will look at a couple of defin...
Jan 19, 2012•11 min•Ep. 40
Perhaps the ultimate question we all face is do we survive beyond death? In the context of this series, the question would become 'Does love survive beyond death?' Many of you listening have lost loved ones, as have I. You cannot help but wonder does the love we still feel for the ones we lost tell us anything? Is it futile to still love someone who is no longer here, or is it a sign of something beyond this life? In the the next episode we will start a new series about faith and spirituality, b...
Dec 28, 2011•9 min•Ep. 39
In this episode, we will look at a love that is closely related to Marital Love, which is Family love. I offer a suggested definition of family love and then examine it phrase by phrase. Not everyone who is in a marriage chooses to have children, but for those who do, my suggested definition might be helpful. In the next episode, we will look at the question of whether or not love survives beyond death. This podcast series is based on my book, The Six Faces of Love , which can be viewed at www.c...
Sep 17, 2011•12 min•Ep. 38
When is a marriage no longer workable? This is a difficult question to answer in a short podcast. I discuss the spirituality of marital love to offer a suggested answer to the question. I look at two common mistakes couples make regarding the spiritual stages and rates of spiritual growth of their partners. Very seldom are a husband and wife at the same spiritual stages or experiencing spiritual growth at the same rate. Failing to understand these two things can cause stress in a marriage that i...
Aug 28, 2011•14 min•Ep. 37
When is a couple ready to get married? In the past, one answer was that individuals must first do therapy and become emotionally mature before they should get married. When I gave pre-marital counseling to couples and tried to use this answer, I found something unusual. No couple I counseled seemed to meet this test, where both people had completley reached emotional maturity. I discuss how I modified my approach in counseling engaged couples, changing the 'therapuetic' model that was unrealisti...
Jul 10, 2011•11 min•Ep. 36
In this episode, we begin one of several in a series on what is marital and family love? These first few will focus on what is marital love. We begin by recalling Peter and Cheryl, the couple we looked at in the episodes about romantic love. Peter and Cheryl have worked through there problems, and now they desire to stay together indefinitely. Are they ready for marriage? I suggest a definition of marital love to help answer the question Peter and Cheryl are facing about should they get married....
Apr 02, 2011•10 min•Ep. 35
