Category Archives: Archive 2007-2009

The articles in this category were originally posted on the old Livejournal blog (at northwestpass.livejournal.com). I’ve moved them here so that people can read them and perhaps continue to comment on them, without having to navigate around LJ’s banner ads.

Question of the week: Religiosity and Social Dysfunction

And now it’s time for a tougher question. Many religious people of the Abrahamic tradition (which means Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) claim that the belief in God is important because such belief is necessary to produce a healthy, peaceful, just, … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Question of the week: Selflessness

Many of the most often quoted contemporar pagan moral principles, such as the Wiccan Rede, Crowley’s Law, and the like, are principles of self empowerment and personal freedom. The concept of Will, which appears in both of those aformentioned moral … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | 17 Comments

Question of the week: Sacred Architecture

The philosopher Paul Ricoeur wrote the following about temples, in a collection of essays entitled “Figuring the Sacred”: What is most remarkable about the phenomenology of the sacred is that it can be described as a manner of inhabiting space … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 7 Comments

Question of the week: Celebrations.

In early February, Celts celebrate a festival sometimes called Imbolc, sometimes called Candlemas, sometimes called Saint Bridgit’s day; each of these names signifying a different thematic emphasis or a different kind of ceremony related to the season. The ‘original’ theme, … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 14 Comments

Inspirational Question of the Week: Pilgrimage

On the suggestion of a friend of mine (Hello V.M.!), I’m going to post a question, once a week, to this blog for people to discuss with me and with each other. For I am committed to the idea that … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 13 Comments

Ecology and Revelation

On Earth Day 2008, I presented this public talk for a group called PEBBIA, “Putting Earth Based Beliefs In Action”. Due to some technical difficulties we couldn’t record the entire presentation. But here is as much of it as we … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | 2 Comments

A woman’s hands.

I just noticed something. Obama took the Presidential Oath on Lincoln’s bible. Everybody knows that – every journalist I’ve read all day emphasised that point. Then I looked at the photo: his wife was holding the bible at the time. … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 15 Comments

New Heroism.

I’d like to draw attention to this post by erynn999 concerning an Aboriginal community which, due to a collapse in their fishery this year, has not enough money to buy heating oil. In the winter. In Alaska. Some of the … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Virtue in a galaxy far, far away

I was going through my hard drive, in search of a newspaper article I thought I had saved a few weeks ago, and found a paragraph of text that was cut from the manuscript of “The Other Side of Virtue”. … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 4 Comments

Last thoughts about the reason v intuition debate.

All, I do the lecture on the importance and the power of reason in every undergraduate course I teach at every university where I’ve been retained as a lecturer. So this isn’t a new debate to me, and to be … Continue reading

Posted in Archive 2007-2009 | Tagged | 4 Comments