Idolatry

“The great sin remains idolatry, and there is an idolatry of concepts as well as of graven images.”—Thomas Merton 

Recent Poetry, August 2026

That Works

Learning compassion

Is what spiritual practice is all about.

The work of a whole lifetime.

Whatever the tradition.

A Study of Gregory Palamas

Meyendorff, John. A Study  of Gregory Palamas. Leighton Buzzard (UK): Faith Press, 1974.

This is yet another book I’ve read  in retirement. I’ve had it for a long time without reading it. But I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who can confidently rattle off that they’ve read it. Now I am one of those people.

Recent Poetry, July 2026

The Roots of Caring

If we could see the truth that’s always there,

We’d be kind pacifists. We’d care.

We need reminders daily, if we'd dare.

The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue

In order to do genuine dialogue of any kind, both parties have make themselves vulnerable. They have to be willing to be shown to be completely wrong.

Letters: Summer 1926

This is another of the books I read in retirement. Apparently, Rainer Maria Rilke, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Boris Pasternak carried on a three-way correspondence in the summer of 1926. And this correspondence has now been made into a book.

Recent Poetry: June 2026

The Roots of Caring

If we could see the truth that’s always there,

We’d all become kind pacifists. We’d care.

We’d need reminders daily. If we’d dare.

The Secret of The Divine Comedy

Many folks who suffer strokes can never read again. Their eyes just won’t focus on a page. That I could read four months out from the stroke is quite a wonderful thing.

My 23 Favorite Films

Such a list is bogus, of course as it’s a moving target, and so much has to be left out. But, basically, if you see all these you’ll know what’s important to me. It’s annotated, so you can just read my opinion if you like, and not necessarily see the movie.

Recent Poetry, May 2026

Septuagint

If we could see things as they be,
No me, no you, no soup, no traction,
The truth is nonduality,
And love’s the only right reaction.

Class

Social class has been one of my main interests in life. It became an interest as soon as I realized it was a big deal in the USA, where it is said not to exist. Wrong! 

Recent Poetry, March 2026

Louis Armstrong  (1901-1971)

Few knew that
Your first language was Yiddish.
And few remember that stupid
Costume you were once made to wear.

The Trouble with Organized Religion

A few years back, I read a book called The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Paul Elie. It was a parallel biography of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy. Four influential mid-twentieth-century Catholics.

Commentary on Psalm 50/51

The reason for the numbering confusion is that the numbering and breakdown of the Psalms is a bit different in the Septuagint version, the Greek translation of the Bible that took place in Alexandria, Egypt,  in the third century and that also set the canon of the New Testament.

Recent Poetry, February 2026

Sin’s Origin

Sit still and quiet every day,

Your problems will not go away.

But you’ll learn where they arise:

It’s thinking.  Not a big surprise.

Love

Simone Weil considered it a direction, not a place. I think she was on to something. She equated it with attention, and felt it was the best gift we could give to anyone who was suffering.

Recent Poetry, January 2026

Origen (circa 185-circa 253)

When Egypt was a very Christian place,

Before Islam had showed its pretty face,

Of Alexandria, you were the wondrous sage,

And they all loved you in that early age.

The first book called The Philokalia,

Anthologized you. No et alia.

The Cappadocians, all did much like you,

You were a great foundation for them too.

Recent Poetry, October 2025

To the Priests of the Orthodox Church

To all guys I with whom I read,

(At least the ones who are not dead).

Who studied theology, from their perch,

Of th’Eastern Orthodox Church.

My Boss

A good publisher knows how to use people, and, I suppose that my former boss’s original Buddhist teacher saw that quality in him. Knowledge that it was a business, after all. No romantic ideas. No notion of editors who sit around reading all the time, making publishing decisions based solely on a work’s value. 

Evangelicalism

The modern evangelical movement arose from the Second American Great Awakening (late eighteenth and early nineteenth century), which was characterized by big emotional camp meetings and revivals.