Author: Higher Up IDEALS

  • Identity is not Static

    Identity is not static. What this means is who you are is always becoming. There is no such thing as a never changing future you at which you can arrive. You know that person that you tell yourself will be the happier, better version of you who will materialize once you get whatever it is…

  • Developing A Sense of True Identity

    Developing A Sense of True Identity

    If the nations of this world all die eventually, I imagine the official cause of death would be from complications due to the identity struggles of their citizenry. I get no pleasure out of making that statement, but I cannot ignore that, as far as I can tell, the divided world seems to be in…

  • Who Are You Ashamed For?

    Is it possible for humans to create or invite in the possibility of a shameless society? Or, is shame an integral part of group building and maintenance, without which there would be more chaos than we currently witness? One of the most difficult things about engaging with groups is the tendency of collectives to try…

  • Role Over and Die

    Originally posted on The Roofless Church: Have you ever found yourself falling into a role that you were so sure you had transcended?  Do you feel compelled to meet people under the circumstances that are comfortable to them rather than showing up as your “authentic self”?  Yes, the whole “authentic self” thing is starting to…

  • Death, Where is Your Sting?

    Death, Where is Your Sting?

    Imagine a world without the fear of death. What would it look like? How would you live differently? How would certainty that who you are endures forever change the way you live your day to day life? What technologies could we create if our imaginations stretched into eternity? This is something that I am currently…

  • Consider the L’il Lies

    Consider the L’il Lies

    Who would you be if you didn’t worry? What would you do if it was impossible for your good ideas to be followed by a subsequent train of negative thoughts telling you that you won’t succeed? What could you accomplish if you knew, with 100% certainty, that all of your basic needs would be met?…

  • What Do I Pray For?

    The day after the Vegas shootings,  I dreamed that I was in the pulpit doing the “Prayers of the People” and decided not to stop until I could tell that my prayers were having some positive effect on the world. I ended up being at the pulpit for days on end without eating or sleeping…

  • Will the Disrespecters of the Flag Please Stand Up?

    Will the Disrespecters of the Flag Please Stand Up?

    I have been doing my best to write a post about my perception of the current NFL  protests without sounding like I am too biased. But, after several attempts, I have given up. If I’ve learned anything in my forty plus years on this planet, it’s that a significant number of us think we are…

  • An Open Letter to Red Hats

    Dear Red Hats, I’m sorry. What can I say? There’s no excuse. I must confess. I’m a hatist. Confession is the first step on the road to redemption and I need to be redeemed. My understanding of my Spiritual discipline (Christianity), which many who wear you also profess, teaches that there is no fear in…

  • Ghosts of Suicide

    Ghosts of Suicide

    I am not one of those people who believes that people ever get over the traumas that happen in their lives. Rather, I believe that we either learn to live with them or we expand to leverage them. In my own life, I can admit that I  have never gotten over anything in the conventional…