Hints and Guesses

Wandering through the Bible: Christ Symbol Part 2

In this episode, I describe the changes faces of Jesus over the centuries, and what I mean by the Symbolic Christ.  I also explore in more detail what I call the three chords of listening to the Bible: story, context and symbol.  This is part of a series called Wandering through the Bible, where I return to some of the most important stories and images from the Christian tradition.  Hope you hear a hint or guess.  Enjoy!

Wandering through the Bible: Christ Symbol Part 1

I'm starting a new series on the Bible, particularly through the lens of symbol.  It feels like I've come back around again to the central stories and images of my tradition, but seeing and hearing new things.  To begin with, I'll be releasing parts of my audio book (A Grain of Wheat), which had only been free for my Patrons.  In this experimental audio book, I look at the stages of Christ's life, and the symbols that still feel potent.  Clearly Jesus lived a life transformed, and left a few hints and guesses.  No matter how you feel about the Bible, or what you might think, I hope you'll hear something meaningful and rich.  Enjoy!

Love: Romance, Self, Other, God

We use the word love for sports teams, friends, partners, food, and even God.  What are we talking about?  What is love?   And how might we grow into more loving people?  Here are a few hints and guesses about romance, love of self, love of the other, and the possibility of divine love.  Inspiration for this podcast come from John O'Donohue's book Anam Cara, Robert Johnson's books He and She, and St Paul's letter to the Corinthians.  Enjoy!

Deal with the Devil

There are many ancient stories about making a deal with the Devil.  What happens when we no longer take these seriously?  What is lost?  What are we missing?  I'd like to explore the consequences and opportunities in taking seriously what happens when we make a deal with the Devil through stories of the Handless Maiden, Faust, and the Temptation of Christ.  Enjoy!   

Green Flags (in a Red Flag World) with Quique Autrey

Here's a conversation with Quique Autrey, therapist, author and podcaster, about his new book Green Flags.  What does it look like to become a person who's a little more like a "green flag" than a red flag? Where does one even start with "depth psychology?"   Quique's highlights a number of accessible ways to turn the gaze inward, toward a healthier relationship with ourselves, which seems necessary in order to be a more generative presence in the world.  You can find out more about Quique, and buy the book, at https://www.quiqueautrey.com/ Hope you here a hint or guess for your own path.  

Age of Mistrust: A Sermon

The word sermon implies a threading together, and I'd like to thread together some lines from St Paul, T.S.Eliot, and Jung.  I hope you'll find some encouragement and challenge from these voices, who in their own way, point beyond themselves to the transcendent, to God.  I can't think of anything more important in our age of mistrust.  

Moving Again?

Here are few thoughts on feeling stuck, big storms gathering at the window, what it's like when our stories and imagination seem disconnected from the present, a few musings on intuition, the still small voice, the melody below the melody, being defeated, and less metaphorically, moving back to Michigan.  The poems that I quote are from Rilke and Annie Lighthart.  Enjoy!

The Masculine and the (Wounded) Feeling Function

What's the difference between mood and feeling?  Between emotions and values?  How do we grow our capacities for relationship, for deep values, in other words, how do we access the "feeling function" (Jung)?  This episode is an exploration of the feeling function, the common wounds associated with it, and some possibilities for developing a healthier "masculine" psyche.  I pull mainly from Robert A. Johnson's book He: Understanding Masculine Psychology, but also a little from Jung, and from my own experience.  Thanks for supporting this podcast.  I hope you hear and hint, a guess, for your own life.  Enjoy!

The Old Will Dream, the Young See Visions: Renewal of the Mystical

I'd like to explore the mystical, not as an expert, but a student.  Lately I've been inspired by Evelyn Underhill's insights in her book, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Conscious which I quote in this podcast.  My sense is, that despite the darkness of the age we live in, something of the Absolute wishes to break in, to rearrange our consciousness.  When this happens, the old dream and the young see visions.  What might it look like for modern people, spiritual - religious - not-so-religious, to open up to the possibility of the transcendent, so that our present mode of consciousness, our small egoic frame, might grow?  What if Reality is not what we thought?  The mystics left us a few clues for how to listen and how to be.  

Wandering Desert God

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 doors to the transcendent.  Enjoy!