The Path Ministry

Topic: Biblical Literalism Largely thanks to my late father, Myles, I have the tendency to examine stories and take them apart, looking for inconsistencies and flaws in the logic. One of Daddy’s favorite objects of such dissection was the Christian bible, because it is rich in narrative inconsistency and logical fallacies. For example, in the part about original sin, where the snake in the garden of Eden tempts Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Where did the talking snake come from? If the god character truly created everything, then he is the one who put the snake in the tree, which makes everything that followed completely his fault. The whole thing seems like a setup upon close examination. Why would god put the tree right there in the middle of the garden, fully accessible and with a talking snake hanging out in the branches, if the humans weren’t allowed to eat the fruit? And what’s so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil, anyway...

  Topic: The Distinction Between Justice and Vengeance           The American “justice system” does not, in fact, dispense justice. What it does is exact vengeance upon those who have done society harm, whether that harm is tangible, or merely a violation of some collective moral code.           The difference between justice and vengeance is quite important. The definition of “justice” is: “just behavior or treatment”. The definition of “just” (for our purposes): “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.” The definition of “vengeance” is: “punishment inflicted, or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.” (Source: online dictionary)           What we have in place is rarely fair. People whose crime is basically having no money, such as homeless people, can be charged with vagrancy and told to pay a fine that they l...

  Topic: Sacrifice and Energetic Reciprocity Before we get into this week’s topic, I do want to address the fact that it is the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history. We lost over three thousand lives when the World Trade Center collapsed, and it irrevocably changed us and the way we view the world. To refer back to a previous sermon, the attack immediately moved many to classify anyone of the Muslim faith as Varelse; those so alien that meaningful communication is impossible. They became no longer human to some eyes. In order to move forward, we must first separate the extremists who committed the attacks from the majority who practice Islam peacefully. While the faith may seem foreign to us, most Muslims are decent, honest people, doing the best they can with what they have, just like everyone else. Once we are all able to acknowledge that, we can begin to heal. The terrorists who committed the acts were, in a way, sacrificing their lives to thei...

  Topic: The Gunslinger’s Lesson Today, we are going to talk about the Gunslinger’s Lesson from the Dark Tower series, and how it may be applied to our daily lives. While it would be helpful to see the Lesson in context, you do not have to have read the books for today’s discussion to make sense. The Gunslinger’s Lesson goes: I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart. For the Gunslinger Roland Deschain, to forget the face of one’s father is to act foolishly or dishonorably. Before a confrontation or battle, gunslingers are admonished to remember the faces of their fathers, to act with integrity and nobility. Now, obviously, the pacifist Path does not condone shooting or kill...

  Topic: Zen Scroll From a Zen Scroll: 'There is really nothing you must be. And there is nothing you must do. There is really nothing you must have. And there is nothing you must know. There is really nothing you must become. However. It helps to understand that fire burns, and when it rains, the earth gets wet. While you are encouraged to meditate upon this set of statements and reach your own conclusions, there are a couple of ways that I choose to interpret them. First, I read it as an admonition that there are always consequences to our actions. I also see it as a reminder that there are certain constants in the Universe that apply to everyone, whoever and wherever they are. We don’t have to be kind, or mindful, or benevolent, but whatever we do, there are consequences. If you surround yourself with negative energy and negative people, and you reflect or add to that energy, you will be miserable. Worse, you will make others miserable just from being aro...

  Topic: Tribalism and the Dunbar Number Today we’re going to be talking a little bit about neuroscience, human nature in general, and archaeology. More specifically, we’re going to be talking about Robin Dunbar, and the Dunbar Number, and what it means for humanity. Robin Dunbar (b. June 28, 1947) is a British anthropologist and an evolutionary psychologist. In 1992, he proposed a theory that the human brain has limits on the number of social relationships we can maintain at one time. Dunbar’s Number is actually a series of numbers that can be expressed as a set of concentric circles, each representing a level of social intimacy and indicating how many people we have room for at that level. For meaningful contacts, that number can range from one hundred to two hundred fifty people, with extroverts generally maintaining a larger, looser group of friends, and introverts having a smaller circle of close friends. In order for all the members of a community to know and trust one an...

  Topic: The Spiritual Value of Getting High Connection or communion with your Higher Power can be achieved in various ways. Some people pray, some meditate, and some augment those practices with psychoactive substances, both natural and synthetic. The most important thing is the state of mind, not the method that gets you there. As you all know, my personal preferred method for reaching that elevated state of mind is Cannabis. I’m something of a Weed Jesus; I like to preach its many benefits, and that’s what I’d like to talk about today. We have evidence of both medicinal and spiritual use of cannabis for thousands of years; it has been used spiritually in India probably since prehistoric times. Multiple cultures have included Cannabis in their sacred observances, including Rastafarians in Jamaica, in Judahite worship in Israel dating back to the eighth century, and in China about 2500 years ago. (Source: Journal of Cannabis Research) Cannabis has evolved alongside humanity; w...