Introduction I’ve begun attending monthly meetings of Socrates Café at the South Portland Library. Socrates Café is a gathering of citizens who get together by choice to discuss the big questions of life. Methods drawn from the book, Socrates Café, written by the program’s founder, Christopher Phillips, are used to guide discussion. The example of... Continue Reading →
Eight Proposals to Encourage Human Agency
In a recent blog essay entitled God and War, two proposals were advanced to get God out of the war business. These proposals join six others in the book Abdication: God Steps Down for Good to form a program directed at this same goal. In the interest of complete information and full understanding, the eight... Continue Reading →
Graceland: Barack Obama’s Third Inaugural
President Obama’s eulogy for Clementa Pinckney—massacred Pastor of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina—was one of the finest I’ve heard, and deserves standing among the most important speeches in our history. Think about his problem for a moment. What could he say to the wife, daughters, extended family, colleagues, and co-religionists of a Pastor... Continue Reading →
God and War
If you happen to be asking: what in God’s name is Will doing in his recent blog entries, I’m highlighting claims in Abdication: God Steps Down for Good that appear to have been overlooked by its readers and commentators, probably because of the “abdication of God” idea featured in its title. A new reader can... Continue Reading →
Belief in God
In a previous entry (Planetary Crisis: Two Fundamental Assumptions), I explained that Abdication: God Steps Down for Good is fundamentally an anti-war/planet-livability story, a fact that most readers of the book have overlooked due perhaps to the inclusion of the word God in the title. In this followup entry, I explain that God is not... Continue Reading →
Prompts to Planetary Consciousness
So, what’s in your wallet? What’s on your fridge door? Images of geologic time, I hope, and the evolutionary tree of life. Good for you. Good for us. That’s our true planetary address and our true social standing as a life form. We are life becoming conscious of itself. Life has evolved into consciousness. We are the heart, eyes, brain, mind, and thoughts of the universe. We are the inheritors of time. We are the gardeners. We are the guides. We are the hope of posterity.
Preface to Abdication: God Steps Down for Good
A week ago in this blog the publication of Abdication: God Steps Down for Good was announced, accompanied by the book description that appears on its cover. I am today posting the Preface to the book. It provides a fuller summary of the book, its spirit, and some thoughts on the experience of writing it. I should note that the... Continue Reading →
Abdication: God Steps Down for Good – Provocative New Book
As readers know, I have left this Blog fallow for quite some time while I worked on a book. I am happy to say that the book is completed. It has just been published bf Friesen Press of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The book is entitled: Abdication God Steps Down for Good The book is available... Continue Reading →
Divining Nature
I was brought up a Christian, in the American Baptist tradition, baptized by my father, the minister of the churches I attended until I left the church for good after high school. I had mentally absconded well before that, however, starting around the age of six, because—I secretly told myself—these parishioners weren’t hearing what my... Continue Reading →