Consider

“Pleasured equally In seeking as in finding, Each detail minding, Old Walt went seeking And finding.” – Langston Hughes So many things in life to catch our attention. Here are a few good ones that have caught mine: Two really good recent conversations on Faith Matters: Imaginative discipleship with Bob Rees Loving Without an Agenda with Ben Schilaty and Charlie Bird Sunstone Symposium: July 28-31, 2021 Including a virtual Smith-Pettit…

“America is no fairy tale,” Biden added. “It’s been a constant push and pull between two parts of our character: the idea that all men and women — all people — are created equal and the racism that has torn us apart.” – Breitbart That quote is from a remarkably good news piece in Breitbart. Interestingly, it sums up well what Bill Moyers said in a remarkably good speech celebrating…

“I pray my rage is a fire That cleans my mind out And makes me ready to listen I pray my pain is a river That flows to the ocean That connects my pain to yours And I pray I pray my happiness like pollen That flies to you and pollenates your joy oh boy Oh boy is that possible? I don’t know I don’t know We are making this…

“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you are connected to the sea.” – Silvia Earle Six years ago, my daughter Michelle and I, went to St. Croix with some friends exploring doing eco-humanitarian work on this poverty ridden and Lionfish decimated island. She went back shortly after we returned home and has been there ever since. Michelle has such a deep love and respect for…

“If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day. For there would be an intolerable hunger.” – Muriel Rukeyser "In the Opinion Pages of the New York Times on July 20, 2014, seven poets were asked to respond to the question, "Does poetry matter?" Perhaps no other art form is asked to defend its value, impact, relevance, and existence as often as…

“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato   These three themes below, I have come to see as very interrelated. They are related in terms of containing ideas and impulses that need to be examined, felt deeply, apologized for and reconciled with as well as ideas and impulses that hold the promise of a better day…

“Being American is more than a pride we inherit; it's the past we step into and how we repair it.” – Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb     I've asked a number of friends or relatives if they watched the 2021 presidential inauguration. Most didn't and still haven't. I think this is unfortunate. I am a registered Republican so that I can vote in the Republican primaries. Otherwise I…

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” – Mortimer J. Adler     So many good books and so little time. Here’s four new books from past ThinkAgain-FaithAgain presenters that are worth reading soon:     Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World | Carol Lynn Pearson Carol Lynn’s new book of poetry … is incredibly moving — Carol Lynn found a way to somehow…

"We need more than civility, empathy, and good will. We need courage." -Braver Angels We need the courage, curiosity, and humility to talk to those different than us. Those who may even feel like our enemies. Especially now that the election is over and a new administration begins, we need to listen to those who lost as well as those who won. We need to listen to what matters to…

"Perhaps the Mormon experience—which was in its initial phase a protest against the world of harsh capitalist individualism, but then through much of the twenty century became an increasingly adaptation to that world which it originally rejected—perhaps that experience could give food for thought, not only for Mormons, but for all of us who live in this nation. Mormons often criticize the larger society in which they live and contrast…