It appears that we are in a time of spiritual convergence. The rapid expansion of communications technologies has propelled the writings of countless spiritual traditions through cyberspace, making it clearer than ever that beneath their differences, they speak of the same profound truths. As Gandhi said, “Even as a tree has a single trunk, but …
One of the most interesting things about our times is how much is being discovered about the workings of the human mind. I count myself among the many artsy and intellectual types who reject purely functional or biological explanations for feelings as too mechanistic and inhumane (or too inhospitable to my own sense of specialness). …
I really don’t want to write about this. I’ve been procrastinating all week, waiting for another blog idea to pop onto my mindscreen, but the only topic that comes up is the aching, bleeding, pulsating Middle East. Or more accurately, the shadowy simulacrum of the Middle East that swirls through cyberspace, swamping everything. My thoughts …
I feel I must stipulate that loyalty is a virtue, because so many wise people think it so. But the truth is, I’m not sure whether loyalty is a good thing, or even what it is. A friend wrote to me about her own loyal affections, by which I think she meant her tendency to …
As I sat listening to someone speak eloquently against an injustice he had never directly experienced—you know the kind of thing, a man condemning the oppression of women or a non-Jewish German speaking passionately against the Nazis—an evil little thought arose in my mind. I overheard myself smugly dismissing the speaker as a hitchhiker: What’s …
It seems even the basic lessons, the things we feel we know as well as our own names, have to be refreshed from time to time. I’ve been preaching the healing powers of dialogue all my adult life, so I’m a little taken aback to find myself amazed that it turns out to be true! …
I recently watched a fascinating documentary jointly broadcast on the Sundance Channel and Court TV. The Human Behavior Experiments was directed by Alex Gibney (who also made the excellent Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). Now I can’t stop thinking about it. In the compass of an hour, Gibney and his collaborators touched down …
A couple of weeks ago in an essay entitled Eros and Spirit,” I wrote about a sad and painful situation vexing the progressive Jewish community. After many accusations, a rabbi admitted to a long history of abuse of power in clandestine sexual relationships, leaving his pulpit and pledging to seek healing. The leaders of the …
When I was first learning to drive, every movement of the steering wheel caused the car to veer too far in one direction, and when I attempted to correct by steering the other way, I often went too far back. Until I’d practiced a few times, I drove like a drunken skater. And so we …
I’m part of an online listserv for Jewish progressives that’s in an uproar these days over a rabbinic sex scandal. A spiritual leader repeatedly crossed the line, engaging in secret relationships with women students, whose status in relation to his own should have put them at arm’s length. He lost his post, then announced that …