The Path Ministry

  Marcus Aurelius says: “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” There is literally no downside to being a good person, or at least trying your best to be a good person. You do not lose anything. In fact, you gain a great deal, including Serenity and Enlightenment. When you know you do your best to be kind, to be benevolent, to be a good friend but an enemy to none, you feel a sort of peace that somebody who carries anger and resentment in their heart will not know. This is where Patience comes in. We must remember that everyone we meet or interact with may be dealing with pain we know nothing about. This also turns Pascal’s Wager on its head. Why worship

 What the Path is, and what it is not The word "religion" comes from the Latin "religare" which means "to tie fast." The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek words "philo" meaning "love" and "sophia" which means "wisdom." And wisdom, as we know, leads to Enlightenment. A good friend of mine described the Path as a "Humanist Spiritual Philosophy" after reading both the Book of the Path and 40 Years in the Desert. I can live with that.  If that is what he got from it, then my work here is done.  The first thing anyone who is interested in the ideas presented in the Book of the Path should know is this: The Path is non-dogmatic by design. You are free -nay, encouraged- to pick it to pieces so you can figure out what ideas you agree with. The most important suggestion, of course, is to try your best not to be an asshole. Once you have that down, you have half the Path in the bag. Obviously, nobody c

 Hello, my friends.  Starting this week, I will be on a six-week sabbatical for medical reasons. I may still post the occasional thought, but there will not be a weekly sermon.  If you like my sermons, you may like my books. For those of you who want to support me through a rather challenging time in my life, just buy one of my books and then leave a glowing review. My two fiction books are Perspectives and Reflections, two collections of very different short stories. They have proven popular so far. My nonfiction works are The Book of the Path, about the religion I basically wrote myself, & 40 Years in the Desert, which is a collection of essays about things like finding the meaning in life and how the American justics system is broken. Quite a few of those essays are based on sermons I've posted here in my weblog, plus some exclusive content.  I shall return. Keep the light on for me.  Cheers, Reverend CJ Carlin

  One question that has kept philosophers debating for centuried is: Why are we here? To get the smartass answer out of the way: Where else should we be, if not here? This response casts doubt on the validity of the question itself, which is fair. The “why are we here” question assumes a reason for our existence and even some sort of cosmic intent, when that reason and intent may be all in the beholder’s mind. Most Christians will claim that we are here to make god happy, because if we don’t he will throw us in Hell for all eternity. I am not a big fan of this answer. Seems kind of gloom-and-doom-esque. Anyway, all the stupid crap Christians have to do and believe, all the patently ridiculous nonsense, is anathema to my rational mind. To me, belief in gods is like believing in Santa Claus; if you need some authority figure watching your every move to be a good person, then you’re not a good person. We went into that in more depth in a previous sermon, so I am not going to go over i

  Topic: Christian Propaganda and the Jesus Mythos As always, there is no idea that is above rational dissection, and the Jesus character in the New Testament of the King James version of the bible is today’s topic. I am talking about the mythology surrounding the character as presented, not whatever historical figure that the myth itself is based on. (There are those, particularly Gnostic Christians, who have other ideas about who Jesus really was that may be more realistic.) We are also going to discuss the stated reason for the character’s eventual assassination and martyrdom. Most mainstream Christians believe that the Jesus character never actually wrote anything down. There are no writings attributed to him in either of the bibles I own. While I am sure there are people who claim otherwise, what disturbs me is that Christians will accept gospels written decades after the death of Jesus, by men who had a political axe to grind but never actually met the man they were writing a

  Sometimes, I like to challenge myself to write about a specific topic. I was pondering the phrase “No time like the present” one morning, and started wondering if it could be applied to practicing the values of the Path. When I presented this idea to Courtney, she offered a slightly different wording: “No present like the time” and kind of blew my mind. I would like to examine both phrases and how they fit with the ideas found in Path doctrine. The phrase “No time like the present” comes from Proverbs Exemplified by John Trusler, a compiler of proverbs, who goes on to say: “…a thousand unforeseen circumstances may interrupt you at a future time.” I take it as an exercise in Mindfulness; of being here, now. When you have a task to complete or work to be done, best to begin as soon as you are ready, in case you run into obstacles you could not have predicted. If you procrastinate and do it at the last minute (which I confess to doing sometimes when writing sermons), all sorts of thin