A wise teacher came among a community of the blind to teach them how to cure their blindness. His cure was not perfect, but when applied fully, it restored much of their sight. The teacher was with them only a short time. When he left, only a few had learned incomplete forms of the cure and had only partially restored their own sight. As news about the teacher’s cure spread, his few followers began to teach the different forms of…
Long ago, there was a man in a far-off land traveling on foot down an empty road through arid, desolate country. He came upon another man traveling the same road. They walked together a while. Feeling thirsty and nearing one of the infrequent wells along the route, they stopped to refill their waterskins and to refresh themselves. When they dipped the bucket into the well, though, it came up dry. They tried again, and again it came up dry. The…
A poor fisherman went out in his boat to catch what he could to support his family. A lazy pelican who hated the effort of searching for and catching fish flew over the poor fisherman’s boat and saw the small pile of the fisherman’s catch for the day. As the fisherman started to guide his boat back to shore, the pelican dived down and stole a fish out of the pile. The fisherman shooed the pelican away. The pelican flew…
A spiritual teacher would meet with others for prayers at his home once a week. His dog, though, would always cause a commotion and distract them from their prayers. The teacher thus began tying up his dog outside each week at the start of their meeting, and would then release the dog after they had finished their prayers. The teacher eventually died, but a spiritual community had grown around his teachings, and they continued to meet and pray together weekly…
A profane man died. He heard a voice tell him he would see both heaven and hell and then decide where to spend eternity. The man first found himself in hell, in a large room with no ceiling. There was an endlessly long table set up, filled with delicious foods. However, the people sitting at the table groaned in hungry misery. All the food was in the middle of the table. The people were tied to their chairs, so they…
A wise teacher came among a community of the blind to teach them how to cure their blindness. His cure was not perfect, but when applied fully, it restored much of their sight. The teacher was with them only a short time. When he left, only a few had learned incomplete forms of the cure and had only partially restored their own sight. As news about the teacher’s cure spread, his few followers began to teach the different forms of…
Two cities, each very distant from the other, sat on the same side of a great river. The river was wide and deep, with a powerful and fast current. Crossing the river was dangerous and difficult, but those few who crossed returned with stories of an unknown country full of mysterious wonders. The first city was named Hammon, and the second was called Sophrete. In Hammon, few citizens had ever crossed the river. Everyone generally agreed that reaching the other…
I’ve written a book summarizing my thoughts on life, truth, morality, and religion. About one-quarter of the book contains material from this blog (revised, re-written, and greatly improved), while the rest is new material never released before. The book is called The Triple Path. You can download it here (currently available in PDF, ePub, and Kindle formats (MOBI and AZW3)).
If the Triple Path rejects failed ancient cosmologies, then why still believe in God? Current scientific models give us tremendous insight into how the universe began and how it works, and into the origins of mankind. These models, however, also have significant gaps and cannot explain the root cause of many scientific observations. Why did the Big Bang happen? How and why do the fundamental forces work? How and why do the elementary particles exist? How did consciousness evolve? What…
Beyond studies of just the general effect of religiosity, prayer and meditation are two specific religious practices that have been shown to have positive effects. Prayer has a beneficial effect on the person who prays: it increases gratitude and has a strong relationship with hope and adult attachment.1 Praying for one’s partner also decreases infidelity in the person who prays (both unfaithful acts and thoughts) by increasing the perception that the relationship is sacred.2 Praying with and for one’s partner…