95 North. . . The Newspaper

"This is what it means to be human “in the image of God.” It means being free to make choices instead of doing whatever our instincts would tell us to do. It means knowing that some choices are good, and others are bad, and it is our job to know the difference.” “We totally misunderstand what it means to be alive when we think of our lives as time we can use in search of rewards and pleasure. Frantically and in growing frustration, we search through our days, our years, looking for the reward, for the success that will make our lives worthwhile, like the security guard looking through the trash in the wheelbarrow for something of value and all the while missing the obvious answer. When you have learned how to live, life itself is the reward.” -Rabbi Harold Kushner

I recently read Finding God in the Waves , a spiritual memoir by Mike McHargue. In Waves  McHargue explores the story of his own Christian faith, documenting his journey from good ol' Southern Baptist boy to atheism, all the way back to Christianity again.  The book is peppered with neuroscience, as McHargue attempts to square his spiritual experiences with what we know about the brain. The book is largely divided into three parts: McHargue's upbringing and comfortable evangelicalism, his subsequent (secret) conversion to atheism, and finally, his merging of science and faith, brought on by a mystical experience early in the morning on the beach. Needless to say, I recommend this book for anyone who has struggled to square religion with doubt, science, and what we know empirically about the world. My favorite quotes are below: On Prayer : "These days, my intercessory prayers are an act of surrender- a way to voice my hopes and my hopelessness, my power and ...

If you haven't heard SZA sing, run over to the record store and give her album CTRL a spin. Soon enough, you'll discover that she's created the freshest album in R&B since Solange's 2016 masterpiece A Seat at the Table , which I wrote about  here . While Solange's masterpiece focused on playing the long game, with drawn-out beats, lingering baselines, and vocal meditations that looked deep into the past, in many ways, SZA is the complete opposite. Her music is fresh. Immediate. Emotions? Raw. She's even sometimes crude. The world that makes up her songs is entirely relatable and real. She ponders work, being late to work, eating tacos, obsessing over TV shows, jealousy, emotional insecurity, carnal pleasures, sadness, joy, Las Vegas, New Jersey,  and everything else in between. In other words, it covers the same terrain the Bible does. As Cat Power once said, "and I'm not kidding". A few key songs: "Supermodel"  is drenched in ...

Uncle Tupelo What do you value more in music- the sound music itself or the lyrics?  Of course, the answer is somewhere in between. Or maybe somewhere else. It's all about tone, spirit, and meaning. A sense of life. The following instrumental track from alt-country friends  Uncle Tupelo fits the bill. This acoustic jam finds its joy mixed in with a touch of aching sadness, a tone that reminds us that life is short, and it is to be lived purposefully. Somehow, Uncle T was able to communicate that truth by just playing instruments- the acoustic guitar, the banjo, the bass and the drums. As Bob Dylan ironically sings in "Standing in the Doorway" there's "nothing to be gained by any explanation/ no words need to be said". Sometimes the music just has the right inflection. The right motion to give you just what you need. Take from it what you will- this one's a giver.  " Living is not a contest of duration, but a pageant of meaning. . . ...

A cold dark night on the Spanish stairs. Stage 5? I came across the idea a few weeks ago, and I think in many ways it has reshaped my thinking about religion and spirituality. Or perhaps it has helped set parameters and given shape to something that I felt was already there. I think this concept- developed by Scott Peck- is worth considering. I see a bit of myself scattered in all the stages. It's important to note that this idea should be seen as more of a tool for thinking about religion and spirituality, rather than something that should be taken as absolute truth. In other words, I think it enriches and adds to the conversation. It isn't to be all end all theory that everyone and everything fits neatly into.

I really like this poem by Shel Silverstein. Sure, it is a children's poem, but Shel dives into some deep water here. In reading it, I am reminded of Rabbi Harold Kushner's  insight into the Biblical Adam and Eve story. According to the Christian narrative I had long heard, the story went something like this: Adam and Eve were created by God. They were perfect, without sin, and enjoyed life in the garden of Eden. Then, one day, a snake (Satan in disguise) came along and tempted Adam to eat an apple from the tree of "knowledge". God didn't want them to eat from this tree, however, Adam and Eve did so anyway. Humans had sinned, and everyone born on earth after that point was born into "sin", and thus needed saving from it  in the form of atonement (first in the form of sacrifices and later in the form of Jesus). However, after reading some more about the Jewish tradition and it's take on the creation narrative, a few things became clear: 1) that t...

For the theologically minded, some quotes from Abraham Joshua Heschel: On Biblical Literalism: "The surest way of misunderstanding revelation is to take it literally, to imagine that God spoke to the prophet on a long distance telephone. The error or literal mindedness is in assuming that things and words have only one meaning. " Judaism & the Everyday: “This is one of the goals of the Jewish way of living: to experience commonplace deeds as spiritual adventures, to feel the hidden love and wisdom in all things.”  Lastly: As always, I feel like it is important to paraphrase Rabbi Harold Kushner when thinking about God: God is an abstract idea, not a person or a thing or a singular entity. If we ask when is God, not where is God, then we are asking the right question. 

I just finished reading a fantastic book by Rabbi Harold Kushner of Natrick, MA, called 9 Essential things I learned about Life . It was so compelling that I'm currently tearing through another book of his that presents a case for Judaism and it's ability to lift human life above its sometimes boring or dreadful circumstances and into something holistic and life affirming. This particular book is called To Life: A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking .  Reading Kushner's book has made me appreciate Judaism's emphasis on community and real action over belief and personal will. It's long list of rituals and laws elevate normal life to the extraordinary, and have the built in effect of making humans fully aware of their humanity and their capacity to act morally. Importantly, Kushner takes the Bible to be true but not literally true. For example, he does not believe that the world was created in 6 days, but rather views the creation story as a poetic myth that ...