Facing Up: Life Beyond Belief

Will the good guys finally wipe out the bad guys so we can live happily ever after?  The world Katniss lives in is not so simple. Neither is ours. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

Facing Up is not an escape. It is a way to embrace being human on every level: desire, story, and being. Today, I  woke to the news that the United States has invaded Venezuela. This is how I am processing this through the lens of Facing Up. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

In 2025 I put myself on the hook to share my life with you each week.  In 2026 I'm putting myself on the hook to help you make the shift from beliefs and circumstances to the triumph of pure being.  Want to be a beta tester? The journey begins February 14. Email me or let me know in the comments. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

Sometimes I give a conditional "yes" to life, based on circumstances. The existential shift is to START with "yes" and go from there. The story of my life is no longer the foundation of my life. It becomes an expression of it. The difference may sound subtle but it makes a night-and-day change. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

This is how I experience God even though I no longer know what "God" even means. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

It is much harder to be sad without faith. In fact, a feeling of comfort might just be the #1 reason people cling to faith even when they stop believing in it. In this episode I explain  how I discovered happiness without God or Christian community. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

I do not understand why the world is set up so that everything lives by munching on everything else. I don't understand it but I think I know what to do about it. Here are some thoughts I had while dodging cars on the way to Los Gatos for Thanksgiving. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

I'm pretty sure no one knows the meaning OF life. Our perception is too limited. The meaning IN life? That's a different story. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

If you want to try something NEW, you gotta let go of the OLD. For years, I have made my backpacking more difficult than it needed to be. All because I stubbornly clung to "the way I used to do it." Maybe you need to let go of something to in order to enter the fulness of life. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

In my day job, I direct a Senior Center. I love the job. It gives me the opportunity to think deeply about life's greatest chapter. I also have the privilege of seeing some great examples. Here is a reflection I wrote for the St. Helena Star, the St. Helena town newspaper. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

There's no escaping the fact that we CAN'T get along. Conflict is our only option. But there's a bright side for those with the courage to face it. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

Carol and I served churches in Yuba City during the 90's and 00's. In this episode Carol tells how she overcame the challenges of ministry and personal tragedy to arrive at a wider, more joyful way of being.  I hope her story will inspire you as much as it did me. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

I haven't given up on Faith, Hope, and Love. I just don't use the words anymore. Here's why. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

Gratitude is not about looking at the glass half full or ignoring the fact that it is half empty. Gratitude is embracing the dynamic tension between the two. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

A hunger zombie is a human being reduced to pure desire. A dogma zombie is a human being reduced to pure story. We were not meant to be zombies! To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

I spend a lot of time explaining things but sometimes the best way to experience something is to try it. I start every day with the three breaths. It only takes 5 minutes and gets me off on the right foot. It's a simple way to face the world with wonder, gratitude and compassion. Go to the home page (https://facingup.club/) to get the free PDF and more. To find out more about the Facing Up Cl...

Einstein said if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it. Here is my latest attempt. This one is much better when you can see the map.   https://facingup.club/facing-up-the-essence/ A huge thank-you to my wife, Julie, for painting this map for me. Love you, girl! To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

It took me WAY too long to look with my own eyes. I thought what everyone else said was more important. I hope you won't make same mistake and fail to value your own perceptions and ideas. To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

In this episode I will tell you why Jesus meant so much to me and why it was impossible for me to imagine life without him. I'll go on to explain why I no longer focus on Jesus, even though there will alway be a part of me that loves him.  To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

John Muir is famous for his love of nature, and especially the Sierras. If you have never read any of his writings, start with "The Wild Muir." It's a collection of most hair-raising tales.  Annie Dillard's book, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," also made a big impact on me, and for the same reason. Nature strips away our manufactured human existence and forces us to face R...

Viktor Frankl was a holocaust survivor who studied how people were able to survive in horrific conditions. I read his book, Man's Search for Meaning, in High School and found it very helpful. I also touch on Camus' books: The Plague and The Myth of Sisyphus in this video. I mention my video on perceptualism. If you're interested, here's the link. https://facingup.club/perceptua...

No single person has had more of an impact on my life than Emerson. I have read his essay "Self-Reliance" hundreds of times. Today I tell you why he means so much to me. Here are quotes from the Essay "Self-Reliance." Emerson's works are public domain and easy to find. I recommend his first series of essays. I don't love them all. But the ones I love are some of the b...

How to find belonging in a world that's out to get you. I describe the third movement and show you a breathing exercise I use each morning to internalize a positive response to loneliness. The pictures will help. You can find them here.  To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

How to find motivation when you just want to quit. I describe the second movement and show you a breathing exercise I use each morning to internalize a positive response to longing. The pictures help. You can find them here .  To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club . 

How to find meaning in a word gone mad. I describe the first movement and show you a breathing exercise I use each morning to internalize a positive response to lostness. The pictures are useful. You can see them here .  To find out more about the Facing Up Club, go to facingup.club .