“I believe in hell, but I don’t believe anyone is there.” -Teresa de Avila

“Heaven and hell are more states of consciousness now and later, than geographic places.” -Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II

The historic fear of “hell” is increasingly going to hell.

In it’s place is a growing faith in a loving Creator who invites all into an intimate relationship that will last for eternity.

The best single resource I have found which helped me to make a fundamental paradigm shift away from the “sinners must be punished” worldview is a one-hour audio mp3 from the Center of…

Why is there a need for a new, contemplative inter-spiritual renewal in 2021? For millions the isolation of a global pandemic has created a fresh thirst for intimacy, meaningful relationships and unconditional love.

What might the spiritual message of the pandemic be? Could it be that, for a season, we must seek new means of maintaining our family, friendships and spiritual community connections alive via technology?

Or, could it be that spiritual folks could use a Sabbatical from weekly gatherings in church buildings to instead focus on a more inward journey?

Long before the pandemic much of the American…

Review: WHAT THE MYSTICS KNOW: Seven Pathways to Your Deeper Self
by RICHARD ROHR, CAC.org
Reviewed by David Bradshaw, Blissfull.org

INTRODUCTION

I’ve been a fan of Richard Rohr since reading “Falling Upward” in 2013 and “Eager To Love” in 2014. Richard Rohr is an authentic spiritual teacher who promotes balancing Christian contemplation with action. His views are a unique blend of orthodox, yet iconoclastic (meaning he’s an equal opportunity religious offender in a good way).

So, what exactly is a Christian mystic? Since the word mystic has some negative baggage, as in “so heavenly minded they’re of no earthly good”…

“As a man in his last breath drops all he is carrying, each breath is a little death that can set us free.” -Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

TODAY marks the 40th day since I first tested Covid-19 positive. At age 67 I had always been the picture of good health — never spending even one day in the hospital, until catching Covid from a close friend, due to her workplace not following distancing protocol last December.

My Covid journey has been full of rude awakenings of which some, as a former smoker of over 20 years, that have…

“Our life is frittered away by detail…Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! Let our affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.”
-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Anyone can complicate matters, but it can take a genius to simplify matters.

And that is what philosopher, author and futurist Ken Wilbur is; a modern Einstein-like genius who has developed and written about integral thinking in his 25–30 books over the last half-century — of which my favorite is “A Brief History of Everything.”

My experience reading Ken two years ago — because he is such a big…

2020 has been a year of metamorphosis for humanity.

For millions, the puzzle pieces of their life have become jumbled amid the 2020 pandemic.

For some, the picture they had of their life, envisioned on the puzzle box cover, is no longer recognizable. A new image may be needed to help to fit these disunited parts back together into a new whole.

Everything from politics… to employment… to personal relationships has been shaken, rattled and rolled so that what remains can hopefully rest upon a firmer foundation.

True spiritual direction is needed. Thankfully, today wisdom traditions are gradually converging to…

by David Bradshaw, My Idea Factory

Introduction

We speak of love as a single emotion, feeling or decision, but the truth is there are at least two very different varieties that lie beneath a single word: being loved and loving. And beneath that are two sources from which we can draw our love from: human nature and divine nature.

The word love, like a multifaceted diamond, sparkles in all directions at once. However, the English word “love” has been diffused by the nuances of it’s many potential meanings.

Parents love their children, friends can love one another and…

Book Review: The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy — What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny
by William Strauss and Neil Howe
Reviewed by David Bradshaw — My Idea Factory

Introduction

Do you feel like America is progressing from one crisis to the next? Are we headed toward tragedy, or triumph?

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” -Ecclesiastes 3

This passage reminds us that history has a seasonality — a flow and a purpose. Understanding that flow can help bring more purpose in our own lives.

When it comes to books discussing future trends, I prefer reading them long after they’re published, to allow enough…