Category: devotion

Systemic Violence, Part 3 Religions, governments, and all corporations and organizations are highly capable of evil while not recognizing it as such – because it profits us for them to be immoral. Fr. Richard Rohr[1] Last week I noted that society has ostracized a relatively new group of people from the fruits of our economic … Continue reading Systemic Violence, Part 3

Systemic Violence, Part 2 Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse. When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal. Bob Dylan[1] Last week I noted that our capitalistic economy is a structurally violent system. It is a significant contributor to the … Continue reading Systemic Violence, Part 2

Systemic Violence Cain said to Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Genesis 4:8 We can point fingers of blame at those who commit violence-against-innocents in our society, as we probably should. We should not, however, think … Continue reading Systemic Violence

Mental Illness, Part 6 Serious mental illness is a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder…resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. American Psychiatric Association[1] Last week I used Figure 4 to illustrate how my brother’s manic episodes seemingly shifted his perceived reality, circle C, outside of … Continue reading Mental Illness, Part 6

Mental Illness, Part 5 Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypo mania) and lows (depression)…When your mood shifts to mania…you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. Mayo Clinic[1] It appears our circles of reality, individually and … Continue reading Mental Illness, Part 5

Mental Illness, Part 4 We have done the people of God a great disservice by preaching the gospel to them but not giving them the tools whereby they can obey that gospel. Fr. Richard Rohr[1] Figure 5 illustrates a positioning of religion and spirituality in perceived realities. Area A signifies one person’s perceived reality. Area … Continue reading Mental Illness, Part 4

Mental Illness, Part 3 We don’t live in the world of reality, we live in the world of how we perceive reality. Filmmaker Bryan Singer[1] Last week I introduced this diagram (Figure 1) as a representation of one person’s reality. Everything within circle A can be perceived by this person – physically, intellectually, and/or emotionally … Continue reading Mental Illness, Part 3

Aggressive Media, Part 3 Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.[1] The form of aggressive media that most exposes my aggressive tendencies is that of sports. This is particularly humbling to confess because I consider myself a non-violent person, even as I faithfully follow and cheer for my favorite teams. When I was younger, I … Continue reading Aggressive Media, Part 3