Because we all—men and women alike—need recalibration, I believe it is wrong to call our spouse names. Even if he has a weakness, he also has achievements. He might enjoy alcohol, yet excel in business administration. She might be a compulsive buyer, yet still be a hardworking housewife. I am not advocating drinking alcohol or... Continue Reading →
I would place this wide range of misbehaviors into an even broader category—those that arise when issues slip beyond an individual’s control. While there are explicit religious regulations concerning sexual conduct, there are none for compulsive buying disorder. Yet both involve people unable to govern themselves. Is a sex addict worse than a compulsive buyer?... Continue Reading →
To understand the education of children, we might look at how someone tends to his own land. When we see a beautiful garden, we must remember—it did not appear out of nowhere. That plot may once have been overrun with weeds, unstructured and chaotic—or in danger of becoming so. But a wise gardener begins with... Continue Reading →
Correct Discernment Requires Spiritual Formation We often observe that when someone acts differently from the crowd, they are quickly labeled a fool. If someone is not chasing wealth, he is a fool. If he doesn't sit in a pub and get drunk, he is a fool. If he refuses to commit the same sins as... Continue Reading →
Easily, by intentional intellectual and spiritual transformation. By giving up, as much as possible, the distractions that are killing valuable hours each day, and by concentrating on reading seminal authors, the Bible, and Bible commentators. By memorizing the Bible in any language we find exciting and useful. By listening with obstinacy to the great minds—or... Continue Reading →
Only God is capable of delivering a person from his sinful condition, through what the Puritans called “strong grace.” They used to say that “strong sins argue strong grace,” meaning that deep moral failure requires an equally powerful divine intervention. Once a person receives such grace, he enters a fragile equilibrium—capable of living according to... Continue Reading →
The human body, generally speaking, has all its organs correctly calibrated. The heart functions according to its own rhythm, the blood has its specific properties, and even a person’s height is considered within “normal” parameters. However, it seems that the only organ not set to “factory settings” is the brain. Unlike the others, it is... Continue Reading →
Faith is unquestionably the foundational condition for a spiritual life, and it is a grace from God. Openness toward God and spirituality is certainly commendable, but in the end, it is not enough. We all know people who profess belief in a divinity or in chakras, yet are unwilling to follow the path set by... Continue Reading →
There is a lot of distraction in today’s life, as mentioned elsewhere. We need to identify our main goals in life and pursue them, even at the expense of these distractions. Then, we need to identify the distractions and eliminate them. This is true when dealing with a two-year-old as well. We can easily introduce... Continue Reading →
Dreams are not important only because they may foretell future events. They are also meaningful because they reveal something deeper about our inner life—especially our true spiritual strength when confronted with “personalized” temptations. Spiritual authors such as Zenon have noted that resisting temptation in a dream can be a strong indication that we are progressing... Continue Reading →
The Deeper Diver 