The Path Ministry

  The appeal of the dichotomy is understandable. It’s psychologically soothing to have two clear options, so we can act accordingly. Unfortunately, life is messy and complicated, and many of the dichotomies we embrace as a society are not only false, they are actively damaging. Consider the false dichotomy of “fight or flight,” of which I’ve written before. If you believe you only have two possible responses to perceived threat of trauma, you won’t realize that freeze, flop, and friend may be more appropriate to the situation. You could end up punching your boss, because running away is for cowards. Even worse, however, are the dichotomies we apply to sex, sexuality, and gender: you’re either gay or straight, male or female. What we are finally beginning to acknowledge is that these things exist on a spectrum, and the old labels just don’t work anymore. But there are still those who cling to these false dichotomies and refuse to recognize anyone’s identity if it doesn’t fit in ...

  Omnipotence and the Negation of Free Will   If there is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent deity, then our concept of free will is an illusion. Consider this: such a deity (let’s call it God, as so many are wont to do) knows everything you will ever do, every decision you will make, from cradle to grave. It is impossible for you to do anything other than that which he has already seen; you cannot surprise God, you cannot do anything contrary to his plan. Nothing will ever happen that he did not know about beforehand, and in fact directly caused, as the creator/controller of the universe. Were there such a deity (and I’m fairly confident there is not), he would be responsible for every tragedy, every atrocity, every natural disaster humanity has ever endured. If there is such a deity, humanity owes him nothing. In fact, I would say he has some serious explaining to do. Now, some of you may be saying to yourselves: What about the Devil? Isn’t he responsible? D...

  On Sacrifice and the Path   Sacrifice is a prevailing theme of many world religions, whether you are giving up life, time, or money. The idea is that you have to pay for salvation somehow; nothing is free, after all. Some religions have an entire laundry list of things you cannot do, things you must give up entirely in order to practice their faith. Some ask for money, either through tithes or “charitable donations.” The entire Christian faith is based on what is an objectively barbaric form of human sacrifice. The message is clear: to be saved, you must offer up something in return, or forgo something you once indulged in. A sacrifice must be made. Pagan spiritual traditions incorporate energetic reciprocity: to invoke the favors of the gods, certain offerings are made. These offerings can be physical or energetic in nature, either cream and honey to please the Fae folk, or personal psychic energy expended during a healing rite. These sacrifices are more personal (as ...

 All our lives, most of us have been told that there are only two possible responses to fear stimuli: fight, or flight. You can either punch that clown, or run away. This is unmitigated bullshit. There are, in fact, five possible responses to fear stimuli: fight, flight, freeze, flop, or friend. Let's unpack these other three options a little bit: Freeze. Pretty self-explanatory, but there is an added benefit to this option: it gives you a moment to think about what to do next. The downside to freezing is that sometimes it's hard to unfreeze and move forward. But sometimes, the best thing to do is hold still with your eyes closed until the clown goes away. Flop. Just go limp, physically or mentally. Demonstrate that you aren't a threat, in the hopes that the aggressor will leave you be. The mental counterpart to the physical flop is to hold your tongue and let them think they won the argument. Flopping is a good option when the point of contention is minimal to the point of...

  When someone close to you dies, it is natural and acceptable to grieve, for as long as you need to. However, that personal grief does little to prepare us for grief on a grand scale, for now we grieve the deaths of millions of faceless strangers around the world. And grieve we must, to acknowledge the tremendous loss of life that we have been faced with. Since we started burying our dead one hundred thirty thousand years ago, mankind has had a complicated relationship with death. We fear the inevitable demise of ourselves and our loved ones, but respect that death is something everyone must face eventually. In some cases, especially when death could have easily been avoided, we rail uselessly against it, and will fight to stave it off as long as possible. When somebody we know does pass on, we memorialize them as best we know how, for as long as we can. We must honor those unknown millions who succumbed to the greatest pandemic of our time. We reflect on how many may have bee...

 This is a list of songs that either ring true to my soul or say something meaningful and relevant to the Path. All of these songs can be found on Spotify:  Sacred Songs   Stealing Time, by Above & Beyond Breathe, by Alexi Murdoch Treasure, by Amethystium Exultation, by Amathystium Glitter & Gold, by Barnes Courtney Center of the Sun, by Conjure One Goodbye Milky Way, by Enigma Morphing Thru Time, by Enigma Return to Innocence, by Enigma Back to the Rivers of Belief, by Enigma The Same Parents, by Enigma Boadicea, by Enya Ebudae, by Enya The Humming, by Enya Serenity, by Godsmack Transcendence, by Lindsey Stirling The Mummers’ Dance, by Loreena McKennitt All Souls Night, by Loreena McKennitt Silent Lucidity, by Queensryche Human, by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man Freewill, by Rush Requiem for a Dream, by the Scott Benson Band The Silent Awakening, by Tina Malia    

  This is the lesson to be learned from the Dark Tower series, by Stephen King, as I have come to understand it. It is my own interpretation and your mileage may vary. If you haven't read the entire series of seven novels, the context won't make sense. Those caveats out of the way, here's the gist:   Roland Deschain, the primary protagonist, ultimately failed in his quest. He achieved his objective, yes, but he did not succeed in his ultimate goal, which was to become a god. Like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun, to use a more familiar name for Roland's archetype. So, let's look at archetypes. The Protagonist is a good place to start, because he is you/me/us. Usually a he, or she, or they, -but rarely an it, which is also telling, yes? ;) The rough definition is "The Good Guy." He's the hero of the story, sometimes the narrator, but the one we are intended to identify with. The one we're intended to learn from, in one way or another. Ro...