Category: Consciousness

  • Transforming Our Roadblocks to Serenity

    Transforming Our Roadblocks to Serenity

    Serenity? What is it and why is it so hard to achieve? And once we find it, how do we hold on to it? In our time together, Pedro Silva will engage participants in a reflection on the idea of serenity and why it is a worthy focus in our journeys of faith. Leaning on…

  • Expressing the Invisible God

    Expressing the Invisible God

    I’ll never forget what my instructor said to the class on my first day of military tech school for satellite communications. “In order to do this job well, you have to be able to see the invisible.” He went on to introduce us to the world of frequencies and throughout the course explain the nature…

  • Going With the Flow:The Way of the Mind

    Going With the Flow:The Way of the Mind

    The first thing to know about the mind is that it is not a container that holds your thoughts like some kind of cerebral cookie jar. It is more like a stream upon which thoughts might float and dissolve into. You are not your thoughts. Nor are you simply your mind. The essential and incorruptible…

  • …As Yourself : The Way of Love

    …As Yourself : The Way of Love

    He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” –…

  • The Selfish Twins and a Mother’s Will – A Parable

    The Selfish Twins and a Mother’s Will – A Parable

    Twin brothers start talking out their issues at a family gathering just ahead of a reading of the will of their wise mother. But no sooner had they started talking then Brother A starts going off. Brother B keeps smiling and shaking his head possibly thinking, “Why did I get myself into this?” Still brother…

  • Questioning Injustice

    Roderick Walker’s Lyft driver was pulled over and yet, according to reports, he was beaten and had a knee pressed on his neck when asked for his ID. Some people will ask the question, “Why didn’t he just give his ID?” The answer is that he had the right to ask and refuse since he…

  • Ending Racism: How to Change the World in One Generation

    Ending Racism: How to Change the World in One Generation

    The other morning I was feeling the weight of trying to articulate possibilities in the face of polarities. I prayed for some guidance on how to reimagine some of the conversations we’re having on race. Next thing you know, I get this email from my new friend Justin Michael Williams inviting me to preview an…

  • Two Ideas One Mind: The Vices and Virtues of Cognitive Dissonance

    Two Ideas One Mind: The Vices and Virtues of Cognitive Dissonance

    I sometimes wonder if hypocrisy comes from a person’s inability to harmonize the seemingly divergent awarenesses that arise as a result of them experiencing cognitive dissonance. Take for example someone like the segregationist Senator, Strom Thurmond who, despite adamantly advocating against civil rights for Black Americans and pushed for state’s rights to impose segregation, was…

  • The Many Realms of Knowledge

    The Many Realms of Knowledge

    There’s a reason why people say knowledge is power. We have convinced ourselves that the one who knows has an advantage over those who do not know. And in many instance, this can prove accurate. But there are different realms of knowledge and with them we find the ability to access different levels of wisdom.…

  • The Cleansing of the Multitudes (A Parable)

    The Cleansing of the Multitudes (A Parable)

    And it came to pass, that the Teacher had been giving instruction for about 2 hours when some of her apprentices came up to her and said, “Teacher, the people have come to us and said that they need a potty break. But they do not have any tissue or hand sanitizer. What should we…