Hints and Guesses

Here's a followup to Religious Problems, Religious Medicine, a further exploration of the tension between Law and Spirit, tradition and innovation, which seems to be natural and important.  I also have a few musings on the Wandering Desert God of the Hebrew people, as a kind of symbol for the religious outsider.  And I turn again to Jung's highly unusual sense for "God," which might open a few doo...

I want to explore some religious questions that have been troubling me lately, where I've gotten things wrong over the last few years, and some hints and guesses about what's calling my name; namely some very ancient invitations...worship, prayer and sacrifice.  Enjoy!

We discuss Tony's new book, which is great (www.reverendhunter.com).  We talk about theology, leaving the church, Tao and redemption, sacred places, and some personal things. Enjoy! 

I hope you'll appreciate this conversation with Jason Adam Miller about his new book on Jesus' most paradoxical and misunderstood words at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.  I loved this book, When the World Breaks.  I've not read anything so personal, rich and thought provoking on the Beatitudes.  It's worth your time, especially if you're interested in a way of being, more than a way of...

Here's another shorter podcast in my series, where I turn to poems, prayer, passages that have been important to me.  I hope you'll hear your own hints and guesses.  This week, we turn to Mary Oliver's classic, The Journey.  Enjoy!

I'd like to explore the possibilities, the postures, and the terrain, of feeling lost, a certain kind of lostness.  Rather than being prescriptive, I hope to just describe a little of what it's like, and a few hints and guesses from the poets and mystics, that I hope you'll find meaningful, and possibly helpful.  Enjoy.

Here's another shorter mediation on Rilke's passage about leaving home, about following a calling, the cost and terrible possibilities hidden in walking toward the East, toward a church forgotten, a sacred place ignored.  Enjoy.

For my 100th episode, I'm introducing a new dimension of the podcast, shorter mediations based on poems, passages, and prayers.  Thanks for all your support, can't believe I've made 100 episodes.  I hope you'll hear some hints and guesses in this David Whyte poem, Coleman's Bed, or in my own reflections.  Stay tuned for more shorter episodes, as well as my longer format contributions and interview...

In this episode, we turn our attention again to the language of dreams, particularly the ways in which the dream experience seeks to have an effect on the dreamer.  This is really part 2 of a podcast series on dreams, the first episode being called The Language of Dreams.  Special thanks to my friend Emma who was willing to share her dream in a such a public place.  We hope it serves you in some w...

On the longest night of the year, I'd like to explore dreams, dreamwork and surrendering to the intelligence of the dream.  "We have forgotten the age old fact that God speaks primarily through dreams and visions" (C.G. Jung).  Enjoy!

Eloise Skinner's new book is called, But Are You Alive? How to Design a Life Worth Living.  In this conversation about her book, we discuss existential therapy, ancient practices, work life, monastic possibilities, and questions of meaning.  You can find her on Instagram, or through her website www.eloiseskinner.com I hope you hear some hints and guesses for your own everyday spiritual life. Enjoy...

Here's the second conversation with my wife Mandy about Israel, about the troubling questions we think this conflict raises, the hyper-charged language being used, a bit of historical context, the cultural climate of oppressor and victim, plus a few hints and guesses about deception and the power of seeking the truth.    

Here are a few thoughts and reflections about out life in Israel with my wife, Mandy.  We thought we'd share a few personal reflections about out time there, what we learned, and a bit of what we find troubling, plus a few things we've found helpful.  "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in other to avoid facing their own souls" (C.G. Jung).  Here's the most recent way I've been thinking about Soul, along with some very personal stories.  You can check my previous podcasts, What is Soul? Part 1 and 2 if you want to see how my own thoughts have evolved and grown.  Enjoy!  

This is a further exploration of the unique ways the masculine, or the unhealthy patriarchal world, wounds the son and the daughter.  We'll explore the nature of these wounds using two ancient myths, one about a rat, and the other about the handless maiden.  Like all sacred stories, a few hints and guesses are hidden here that can help us navigate the ways our fathers are wounded, and the ways we...

This episode is an investigation of the father wound.  I'll be exploring our own wounded fathers, the kind of wounds the masculine receives, and the shape of our own wounds as sons and daughters in a "time of no father," to quote Robert Bly.  I'm interested here in the archetypal and mythic terrain of the wounded feeling function, as Jung calls it.  I'm relying heavily on the Robert Johnson's book...

Some personal reflections on public/private life tensions, moving to another state, thresholds spaces, and a few other things going on in my life.  Thanks for all your support.  The title is a reference to a poem by Jan Richardson called A Blessing in the Dust, which I read at the end of podcast.  Enjoy! 

Check out my conversation with Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker and creator of The Mythic Masculine Podcast.  We're experiencing a current renaissance in men's work right now, which is so important for the health and healing of our culture.  Ian has been exploring and bringing forth voices who are contributing to the conversation, and he has his own story of how the mythic masculine has been shaping his l...

"I do not know exactly what a prayer is.  I do know how to pay attention...how to kneel" (Mary Oliver). What do you think about prayer now, with the unraveling of religious categories, and traditional practices?  Does prayer still have a place in the spiritual life? If so, what do we mean by prayer?  Enjoy

Here's my conversation with Rebecca Wildbear about her new book Wild Yoga.  She's a guide with Animas Valley Institute, she also teaches Wild Yoga, and other soul-oriented offerings.  We discuss the art and craft of listening, the nature of prayer, and Wild Yoga as a way of being.  You can find her work at https://www.rebeccawildbear.com/ Enjoy!

Psychedelics is the hottest topic in spiritual and therapeutic circles.  Are we ready?  What are the dangers and opportunities?  Ryan Meeks and I have been wrestling with these questions for the last few years.  This podcast is an unscripted conversation about drugs between two friends, not an authoritative final word on the research, or a formula for what's best for each individual.  Ryan has a l...

Here's a conversation about rituals in the modern world with my friends at Eastlake Community Church, outside of Seattle. We talk about meaning in Target, our human craving for transcendence, the Starbucks holiday cup, the Vatican, and wonder together whether or not new rituals can be created and how much of what's still available might help us.  Special thanks to Jordan Gilliam for the original s...

Turning to the archetypal patterns of Advent, the birth of the Soul, the Christ, and the forces that try to cut us off from our radiant center, our possibilities, our creative incarnation.  Special thanks to Jordan Gilliam for the original soundscape, In This Together.  Find him on Instagram @jordan_tyrone78.  The main quote, and a few of the ideas used in this episode, comes from Trauma and the S...

Here are a few ideas, images, stories, hints and guesses, about the Feminine and Masculine, as sacred, as archetypal realities, as something we all carry in the psyche, and as something to be honor and respected.  Enjoy!

This episode is about the religious instinct, our proclivity to worship, the fact that we bow down to something, and what might happen if we consent to the inner compass which seeks ultimate meaning.