The Path Ministry

  Wheels Upon Wheels The Wheel of the Virtues and the Wheel of Ka. The wheel of the seasons, the wheel of years. The wheels that measure the globe of Earth, horizontally and vertically. The wheel of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The cycle of the phases of the moon can be expressed with a circle. The cycles of life and death and rebirth. Then there are the cycles of the Chinese and Solar Zodiac signs. Even the pattern of a single rotation of Earth describes a wheel. Everywhere you look, there are wheels or circles or cycles. What does all of this mean? The most likely explanation is that I am stoned and seeing patterns in the Universe that I cannot see while I am sober. Does this invalidate the whole thing? I do not think so; now that I see it, I cannot stop seeing it. Just an interesting thought. 

  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 to many 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. ...

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 can be one hundred percent good all the...

  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 ...

  Topic: The War on Drugs In America, the war on drugs was lost before it even began; they tried to keep people from drinking during Prohibition, which -as we all know- did not work. The simple fact is that people are going to get high, legal or otherwise. Also, most of the social harm done by illicit substances is because they are illegal, not because of the substances themselves. Used Mindfully, almost every street drug can be used for either medicinal or spiritual purposes. Most drugs are derived from plants. Cocaine comes from the coca plant, heroin and other opiates come from poppies, and of course mushrooms and cannabis are consumed in their raw, unprocessed state. LSD is actually made from a chemical derived from fungus that grows on rye bread. So most of these drugs are made using a plant that evolved alongside humanity. Cannabis is non-toxic because it is intended to be consumed. That is how it propagates: Seeds eaten by animals and then deposited with a nice little do...

 Here is a list of all the things that the Path does not care about: What you wear. The other consenting adults you have sex with. How long your hair/beard is. If you get an abortion. Who or what you choose to worship, if at all. Who you pray to, or if you pray. How great you think it is.  Which bits of it you agree with. Here is a list of things that the Path does care about: How kind you are. If you are willing to grow and seek Enlightenment. Providing practical advice on how to be a better person. That's pretty much it. I feel like being kind is enough of an emotional burden (if you're doing it right), and seeking Enlightenment is a full-time job. As discussed before, your treatment of your mortal vessel is of no consequence to the practice of the Path. There is a prayer, about being open to blessings with a grateful heart, but it is kind of addressed to the Universe rather than some creepy all-seeing father figure, and anyway it is more of an optional extra than a mandator...

  Topic: Sex (Core Tenet #5) (Full disclosure: I have taken a vow of celibacy, for personal rather than spiritual reasons. I have not been in any kind of sexual relationship in five years, and the last one I was in was highly toxic.) Most monotheistic belief systems are obsessed with sex. Specifically, forbidding certain sexual acts. In some cases, everything but the missionary position (after dark, with the lights out and trying not to look at each other) is prohibited. Some religions don’t let you have sex until you’re married, at which point you’re expected to go at it like bunnies to breed up the next generation of obedient little sheep. According to Core Tenet #5, the Path teaches us that we are free to have sex with as many other people as we want. We don’t have to be married, our partners can be any sex or gender, and we aren’t limited to one at a time. This is because your body belongs to you, and the Path is more interested in the development and eventual Enlightenme...