The Beauty of the Moon You could say the United States won the race to the moon. During the 1960s and 70s, NASA sent seven manned ships up there. In total, twelve Americans disembarked and prowled the lunar surface. By all accounts, the experience was incredible. Centuries of dust plumed up, obscuring their vision as they landed and coating their suits and equipment. As they gazed about them during the bright moon day, the unremitting gray appeared almost white. Mountains swept high against the curved horizon, volcanic lava glistened, and unusual shapes mystified them. Glassy beads and gems sparkled at their feet. A deep soundlessness filled the air. And in…
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Religion and Humor
Laughing at Ourselves If we can laugh at ourselves and take pleasure in life’s absurdity, we tend to feel happier. We may forgive more readily, love more easily, feel more grateful, and have more fun. If we have a good sense of humor, we’ll have an overall feeling of peace because we’re less likely to react with anger at the stresses and disappointments of each day. If we could all laugh a little more, we’d get along better. I’m not talking here about humor that shames others, that is crass, cutting, or sarcastic, that is used to assert power or to bully. I’m talking about compassionate laughter that bonds us,…
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Meaning and Purpose in Grief Work
We Must Create Meaning While leading a group about grief, I mentioned that, as part of the process of moving on, “we must create a sense of meaning.” I meant this in two ways. First, we must make sense of what happened. Was God involved? If so, how? What does the event tell us about fairness, and how important it is that life be fair? Is someone to blame? Do we need to forgive that person, or do we need to forgive ourselves? Do we want to forgive, or will doing so betray our values? Is there something we can learn from our loss, or was it a random act…
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To Walk In Beauty
Beauty Is An Ecstasy According to the poet, Kahlil Gibran, there are many different ways to understand this thing we call Beauty. For instance, the wounded speak of Beauty as kind and gentle. She glides past us “[l]ike a mother half-shy of her own glory.” [1] The “passionate,” on the other hand, claim her as a tempest, loud and powerful and dreadful, like a terrifying sense of wonder. To the “tired and weary,” she speaks to their spirit “like a faint light,” while to the “restless” she shouts as loud as stampeding hoof beats and roaring lions. The “watchmen” see Beauty in the sunrise, and “wayfarers” see her in the…
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Independence and Interdependence
Independence In 1776, on the 4th of July, the founding fathers of the United States signed the Declaration of Independence. No longer would they tolerate British rule. The land they had taken for themselves and their families would belong to them alone, not to a foreign power. Today, with hot dogs and fireworks, we celebrate that declaration of freedom. It’s ironic. There these men were, up in arms about taxation, about not having a say in laws that affected them, about \trade restrictions that hobbled them, yet they never considered the indigenous people who’d maintained this land for 10,000 years, nor did they think of the slaves that many of…
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Creating Ourselves
Losing the Self In my work as a chaplain, I have more than once borne witness to the agony of young adults losing their minds to psychosis. At times, they are convinced nothing is wrong, that the voices, the confused thoughts, the threatening visions are more real than the professionals who would deny their truth. This does not mean these young people are content. Living with someone else’s words in your head can be disconcerting, and also terrifying. If you do realize that the person you call “myself” is slipping away, it can be even more terrifying. How heartbreaking to become your own stranger. One moment, we are trusting in…
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Grief, Gratitude, and Joy
Our Suffering World All over the world, people are suffering. That’s nothing new. We humans have been hurting one another since before we painted images of war on the walls of caves; and we hunt our furred and feathered cousins for food, or clothing, or just for sport; and now, in breathtaking numbers, we cut down the trees whose leaves turn our pollution into something breathable, and heat up our planet beyond repair. It seems there can be no life without pain. So suffering has always been with us. Lately, though, it has reached the point of explosion. With the pandemic, we became isolated. Businesses folded, employees lost jobs, schools…
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Freedom and “The Dawntreader”
Songs of Freedom People have been singing songs about freedom for centuries. During their struggle for independence, the Irish sang songs such as “When Fenians Fight for Freedom,” and “I Had Dream that Ireland Was Free.” In the 1930s, labor unions had “Joe Hill,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” and “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” “We Shall Not Be Moved” was apparently based on “I Shall Not Be Moved,” an African American spiritual. Slaves also sang “O, Freedom,” “Go Down, Moses,” “Up Above My Head.” Psalm 119 speaks of walking in freedom. How these verses, and many others, speak of freedom is different, however. There’s the freedom that comes from resistance…
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If Knowledge Is Power
Knowledge and Safety “Knowledge is power,” he told me. “Some people shouldn’t have it.” He spoke the quip casually, quickly moving on to another part of his story, but the words stayed with me. This man, a patient at the hospital, had been sober for twenty years, even through the deaths of a daughter as a young woman and his son at the age of four. He rebuilt a life that had been tattered by addiction, incarceration, and despair, but the cruelty of strangers, the betrayal of loved ones, and the loss of dreams had taken its toll. He knew that some people could be trusted with the tender parts…
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Redemption and Resurrection
What Makes It Good? On Good Friday, a patient asked me, “Why do they call it good? Isn’t that the day Jesus died?” I was uncertain. Not about how a day of death and despair might be good. Seeds need darkness to sprout. Without death, there can be no life. When we lose hope, we can find new meaning. The descent into hell makes resurrection possible. Though I said something about that, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He had his own Easter story, his own fall into the pit of illness and agony. He also had his own surfacing. Though not yet a resurrection, he could tell he…
