More than one of my politically and religiously liberal friends, when I told them I was converting to Judaism, gave as one of their first responses, “What about Israel?”

Good question. What about Israel?

I’ve understood all along that committing to the Jewish people and tradition also included coming into relationship with Israel—but the history and the issues seemed so complex that I have been reluctant to say much, to anyone, about anything related to the “Jewish…

You are where your thoughts are. See to it

that your thoughts are where you want to be.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, (1772 - 1810), great-grandson of Balschem, Rabbis and storytellers

That is difficult for most people. They are often not even with their thoughts in the here and now. They care for a future that does not yet exist and mourn a past that is over and not repeatable. Wirmüssen learn again to be there with our thoughts, where we are and what we are doing.…

Which citizen participation/problem solving process has the better cost/benefit ratio for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before?

Introduction

We live in a time of unprecedented opportunities, in many ways created by the expansion of the Internet, and by electronic devices, communication satellites, etc which make it possible for information, knowledge and wisdom to be passed quickly to a broad range of international…

The language of God is silence. The language of man is word. All problems in this world are due to this language of word. The language of the Spirit within is pure silence, golden silence which you call the Silent Voice of the Soul.

Blessed you are if you are called upon by that Unseen Force not to get entangled only with the externalities of life, but find time to search for the Seeker within. All wisdom will flow out of that golden silence of the soul. Divine Intelligence will speak…

There are millions of people in the world who bear witness to the reality of enlightenment. A million people from every culture and from every era of history have experienced this ultimate spiritual epiphany. Among the most well known of the Enlightened are arguably Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Laotse, Socrates, Krishna, and Patanjali. Today, thousands of enlightened inviduals exist in one form or another. There are several religions in the world. Every real religion is based on the…

This past Friday, the White House hosted the first-ever policy briefing on Sikh civil rights issues.

Amardeep Singh, Director of Programs for the Sikh Coalition and Commissioner for the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, opened the event with a jakara, a traditional way in which Sikhs announce their presence.

As far as I know, it was also the first-ever jakara to resound in the halls of the White House.

Singh highlighted the historical…

Call for Submissions for the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™

Issue 11: Religion & Politics

Given the undeniable impact of political affairs upon religious matters and of religion upon such political matters as elections, marriage equality, reproductive rights, war, healthcare determinations, ethnic violence, economic…

'As the earth and other elements are, in various ways, for the enjoyment of innumerable beings dwelling in all space, so may I be, in various ways, the means of sustenance for the living beings occupying space, for as long a time as all are not satisfied’  - Shantideva

Altruism, as a principle of action, can be defined in relative terms as an…

The trees surrounding All Saints Church, like the driveway weaving around them, were frozen. A dusting of snow atop the ice made people’s walks from their cars to the church’s side door precarious. None of this is uncommon for Omaha in January. Still, it requires fortitude to brave the bitter temperatures and precipitation for a Monday-night religious meeting. Yet there they were; eighty-plus people—more than expected—walking across the frozen ground to the church’s large first floor meeting…

Cross-posted at my personal blog.

The AP is reporting that the Obama administration will stop deporting youths who are DREAM Act eligible. This is unambiguously good news unless you’re upset that a key Democratic voting bloc (Latinos) might be more prone to support the…

When ever we hear the shocking news of the serial blasts, whether happening in Mumbai or in Karachi or the most deadly killings of innocent persons by some fanatics in Norway, our hearts cry and prayers rise and we feel so helpless to see this growing tragedy all over the world.


Tragedies are heartbreaking, but have we, as the human society, done justice to the purpose that Life has given to us? Our purpose was meant to fulfill the need to love ourselves and others, and live a life…

'Inner light' has many names - Param Prakash in the Ramayana, Sheikinah in the Zohar, Divya Jyoti in the Upanishads, Vergo in the Veda's, Amitabha in Buddhism, Noor-e-Ilahi in the Koran, Chandna in the Sikh tradition.

Ever since humanity sort to express it's journey on this earth, people have revered and honoured the sacred. Personal, intimate experiences of inner light have always been recorded - symbolically and allegorically during…

When I was a child I was reluctant to conform and to the extent I did conform I did so reluctantly. This reluctance produced a default for dealing with difficulty. My personal tendencies; attitude, demeanor, temperament, the inclination to react that comes naturally to me, were fixed in place by a very young child. As an adult these childish sensibilities still produce a framework on which I present myself. They produce a tendency to react, to do things a certain way because that was the…

Interfaith dialogue, in practice, frequently overlooks gender as a key element in faith experiences, despite academic recognition of gender's interaction with spirituality, religious experience, and faith community roles. Abrahamic dialogue often includes men and women with substantially gendered views and practices. Moreover, dialogue itself can raise gender issues for participants from egalitarian communities. Dialogue lacks a systematic approach to this reality. This article examines…

This article, with Mary the Mother of Jesus as a starting point, examines the female divine in several notable living faiths. To be fixed on one deity or truth claim can imply that one alone is superior, and that by extension others are weak or false. Little can be known of the wisdom or strength of the plural when diversity is ignored, for pluralism responds to diversity. Pluralism prompts religiously faithful yet open-minded people to relate with those whose beliefs differ. As they…

Reading revered, sacred, classic, and popular religious texts and stories together is one significant way to enrich inter-religious relationships. This essay explores the Ramayana as a Hindu resource for inter-religious conversation by examining the virtues or dharma espoused and exemplified by its leading characters. How do the Ramayana’s royal exemplars personify qualities essential to faithful leadership? What among their virtues might inter-religious and other…

From the beginning of existence,  the universe and our planet, untouched, has evolved throughout time in a natural state of Being, manifesting, existing and operating in interconnected harmony; from our eco systems, to the universal pull that aligns the planets, moves the tides, the sun and moon and turns the seasons, to tiny seeds drawing strength and sustenance from the elements, growing into trees, oxygenating the planet. 

Humanity evolved in that harmony, intrinsically connected…

In the age of a globalized human community and a shrinking world, interfaith dialogue and action is no longer just commendable endeavor but a historical necessity. “The Dialogue Project” does not communicate with words, but through the portraits of those who teach and remind us of the mysteries that are fundamental to our experience of being human. Inter-religious tolerance that encourages understanding, acceptance, respect, celebration and action is essential to our survival. The faith…

The Jewish tradition has been rearticulated in response to many intellectual revolutions, from the rapid spread of Hellenistic thought by Alexander the Great 2,300 years ago to the invention of the movable-type printing press just half a millennium ago. Yet contemporary Jewish leaders are still working, and often struggling, to give voice to our belief system in the Information Age.

Even as our Rabbinical Texts are filled with pithy phrases, we struggle to revive them in 140…

Some of the trails in the preserve behind our house are clear and distinct, but others end in a tangle of yaupon and cedar, or suddenly open to a clearing with no obvious way forward. One day, my oldest son led the way as we walked along what seemed like a clear path… but then the path disappeared. My son kept walking. “Zeke,” I called, “I don’t think this is a trail.” He kept going. “Zeke,” I called again. He turned around. “Mom, this really is a trail,” he said, matter-of-factly. “It’s…