Passing through the Dream Today I’d like to write about my book of original sayings (aphorisms) called Passing through the Dream. The book is divided into one hundred brief chapters that elaborate on a specific philosophical point. For example my chapter called, “Change Won’t Wait,” describes the nature of change and its effects on the human condition. Another chapter called, “Writing into God,” describes the writing process as it relates to the divine. Each chapter is also composed of...
2 months ago • 2 min read
The Potter’s Wheel There is a very old metaphor about God and his relationship to his children. This metaphor can be described as the potter’s wheel being the world, God as the potter, and individuals being the clay - body, mind, and soul. In other words, God is the artisan that shapes the lives of all us on the wheel of life. This wheel consistently revolves and transforms the clay into works of art that are both beautiful and useful. I found two Biblical references to this potter’s wheel in...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Publishing Blues When I attended Western Illinois University, I won first prize in a short story contest and second place in a poetry competition. Since I loved writing, I secretly decided to become a writer as a career. I even created a fantasy about me publishing novels and becoming famous and wealthy. How naïve I was back then! It turns out that it is very difficult to get published and making money, for me, has been nearly impossible. Even if my creative writing does get published for...
3 months ago • 3 min read
The Mystery of Anxiety It is safe to say that nearly everyone struggles with anxiety in their lives. Whether it’s stress at work, a health concern or problems with relationships, anxiety is usually present. Since everyone’s frame of reference may be quite different when discussions about anxiety occur, I thought I might describe my own experiences. For me, this mysterious feeling has been difficult to comprehend and manage. I’ve struggled with anxiety for my entire life. As a child I was...
3 months ago • 3 min read
My Ten Personal Commandments The other day I was browsing on the internet, and I discovered a writing prompt about creating a list of ten personal commandments. The idea was not to replace the original commandments in the Bible, but rather to examine my own conscience and write down my own ideas. With this in mind I thought about my own ten commandments in no specific order of importance: 1. Never stop learning. 2. Accept responsibility for my own mistakes and forgive others for their...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Pride and Anger Challenges Perhaps everyone has aspects of their character that are particularly challenging and need improvement. In the Christian tradition there are seven deadly sins that don’t appear in the Bible together but are discussed in various books. These seven deadly sins are the following: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath (anger), and sloth. Although over the years, I’ve had to overcome all of these sins at one time or another, the sins of pride and anger are the ones I...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Remembering the “Moby Jack” I thought it might be fun to describe a job experience I had as a fast food restaurant manager in Chicago, where I worked many years ago. The following is a humorous true story from my book The Comedy of Everyday Life. The “Moby Jack” is a fish sandwich on the menu: One of my first truly responsible jobs was as a manager at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Chicago. The restaurant stayed open twenty four hours a day, and it provided me with a number of opportunities...
3 months ago • 3 min read
“All You Need is Love” It is probably foolish to attempt to write about love since it means different things to different people. In its own way, it can also be controversial because of different belief systems. Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking about the idea of love for a long time, so I thought I’d share some thoughts about it. Perhaps a good way to get started is to define love as a form of desire. This desire takes many forms, but it is often associated with sex, and it can be very...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Angels When I decided to write about angels, I naively believed that I would have an organized and concise topic to study. It wasn’t long before I realized that the whole concept of angels is impossibly complex, and so I nearly gave up in desperation. In the end, I decided to mention some ideas I have learned about angels without even pretending to be knowledgeable about them. One book that was quite helpful is called Everything Book of Angels, by M. J. Abadie, which helped me to come up with...
4 months ago • 3 min read