The Unclad Soul

Novelist Lisa See has written, “All women on earth-- and men, too for that matter-- hope for the kind of love that transforms us, raises us up out of the everyday, and gives us the courage to survive our little deaths—the heartache of unfulfilled dreams, of career and personal disappointments, of broken love affairs.” Transformative love. It is possible to know, to experience, and to share. We often look for it in romantic relationships. We all want that. A relationship with someone we truly connect with. Someone we grow to respect and cherish. Someone gentle and kind, affectionate and loving. Someone who makes us laugh out loud, whose joy in life we share, whose depths we understand. Transformative love gives us access to something undeniable, something solid and foundational. In the person we find this with, we find what we have always wanted to be true about human beings. They meet our longings, our desires, our needs—with intelligence, wittiness, humor, passion, tende...

“It's all a matter of paying attention. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.” ~ Charles de Lint, Canadian Writer

“For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!” – Helen Keller

I had lunch recently with my friend Andy Morrison. Andy is in his early 40s and has Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s falls within the autism spectrum of developmental disorders. The condition involves the development of basic skills such as communication and socialization. In people with Asperger’s these skills are delayed and complex in their functions. People with Asperger’s may display eccentric behavior, a preoccupation with specific subjects or rituals, a limited range of interests, and most noticeably problems with social skills. Andy struggles with all of these difficulties. But one major difference is his vast intelligence. He is a voracious reader with a photographic memory. He fully understands language, has a phenomenal vocabulary, and an encyclopedic mind. I learn from him every time we meet. But his inability to naturally interact with others often trips him up and keeps him frustrated. It is simply a part of the Asperger’s and he struggles against it as best he ca...

“Being the ‘best you can be’ is really only possible when  you are  deeply connected to another.  Splendid isolation  is for planets, not people.”  ~ Sue Johnson, Clinical Psychologist/Author

The resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been a kind of struggle for me. Theologians, philosophers, poets, and novelists have for two thousand years wrestled with it.  Even the New Testament writers didn't agree in their accounts of it.  In spite of misconceptions about how the Gospels were put together scholars have shown that none of the Gospel writers were actual eyewitnesses to the resurrection.  And St. Paul, who writes about it the most, never mentions an empty tomb, the stone rolled away, talking angels at the grave site, or Jesus reappearing to meet with his disciples.  Paul's interpretation of the resurrection seems to be in a spiritual sense only. Many would argue that without a resurrection we knock down all of the pillars of the Christian faith.  But do we need a resurrected Christ in order to be inspired and perhaps even transformed by the life of Jesus?  Wasn't it his life after all that captured the world and still influences followers...