The Unclad Soul

In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy, Linus, and Charlie Brown are resting on the lawn one afternoon looking at the clouds.  Lucy speaks: “Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day, and watch them drift by.  If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations. What do you think you see, Linus?" "Well, those clouds up there look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean... that cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor...and that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen...I can see the apostle Paul standing there to one side." "Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?" "Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsy, but I changed my mind!”   I’m with Charlie Brown today.  I’m looking for the simple things in life.  Most of everythi...

Standing in front of one of the German death camps while filming a documentary for British television several years ago, Polish/British philosopher Jacob Bronowski said: “This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.” Conformity, everyone believing the same things, doing what you’re told to do no matter if it doesn’t make sense or is immoral or inhuman; believing you alone have all the truth; learning to hate others, to do violence even when you know it isn’t right—these are the trademarks of people who have lost their freedom and their heart; who have become duped into believin...

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...

I am a huge fan of Downton Abbey, the Masterpiece Theater series on PBS.  Downton Abbey is a fictional countryside estate populated by the very privileged Crawley family and their servants set in the early 1900s. The writing is so good and the cast of characters so engaging that I sometimes forget the time period.  Even though they are all living a hundred years ago in England, the family conflicts, the infighting among the servants, the class prejudices, and the human struggles and tragedies they face are relevant for all times.  Everything the Crawley family and their staff are wrestling with reflects our own daily battles in life and our joys and triumphs as well. In the last episode an amazing series of events unfolded.  If you don’t watch the program these names won’t mean anything to you but you might still get something out of their experiences. Isobel fights to defend Ethel’s damaged character.  Ethel is a young single mother who had to...

I stumbled last night onto “Billy Connolly's Route 66” on PBS.  Connolly is a British actor and comedian.  The show is centered on him riding a three wheel motorcycle across the country.  He starts in Chicago and follows the famous Route 66 all the way to Santa Monica, California. There are four episodes in the series.  They were filmed in 2011 and originally shown on British television.  I have only seen the first one.   But it has me hooked. Connolly is an aging but vibrant man.  He has long white flowing hair and matching mustache and goatee and dresses like someone out of the 1970’s.  He looks part Hippie and part motorcycle gang from an assisted living center. I wasn’t much interested at first but the strength and sheer joy of Connolly’s personality kept me engaged.  He’s a bit of a rebel with an absolutely infectious laugh.  He’s old school and loves the historic architecture of the cities and towns he visits...

“The blizzard of the world Has crossed the threshold And it has overturned The order of the soul.” ~ Leonard Cohen, Canadian Poet/Novelist I am bewildered by the discord in our world but mostly the kind that exists in our own country. There is a whirling raging sickness within us, a deep and troubling emotional and spiritual dysfunction that separates us from any real unity as a nation.  It is a blizzard of some kind, some terrible inner storm within so many of us, that, as Cohen so aptly puts it, has overturned the order  of the soul.  The soul of America.  And the souls of many of us who say we love our country but never seem to show it. I have trouble understanding all of the hate and just viciousness towards President Obama.  It’s not just political differences.  It’s not mostly about his policies.  It’s much deeper than that.  People keep saying it’s not about race; but that is a huge component of it.  It real...