Spirit Seeker

Tonight was one of those nights when I was riding my bike down the dark streets of suburbia and I thought to myself, "screw being good."  I spent much of my life trying to be a nice person.  The includes saying nice things to other people, helping out whenever I can, and taking the high road whenever possible. It doesn't seem to get me much.  I've made some friends, which is a plus.  Some friends like to talk a lot and I listen.  Other friends will listen to me rant about this, that or the other. The point is, if I'm going to stick to this whole good vs. evil paradigm, why not choose evil for awhile. I do not mean evil in a "hurt people or other creatures" kind of way. People will get hurt when I am nice or mean. By evil, I mean embracing the physical world and all it has to offer.  Eat good food, enjoy nice possessions,  and engage in gratuitous sex. It sounds alright to me. I realize that all the rules that I have in my head were handed down from my pa

One of my core beliefs is that all people are precious and should be valued. We are brothers and sisters regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, education, power, and wealth. That is easy to say, especially since I sit on the top of the American food chain of privilege. That is not entirely true. I am not wealthy and yet I do not go hungry. I do not wield much power outside of a few small spheres in my life. I am an educated, caucasian, heterosexual male. I began to understand what that means by comparing my life to others groups that I studied in my summer psychology course. I read about what it means to be female, African-American, LGBT, older, impoverished, and an immigrant in the United States. Learning about the challenges that these groups face only begins to scratch the surface of understanding. If I have not walked in your shoes then I will have a limited understanding of your life and how you fit into this puzzle of society. I have experienced marriage and divorce. I

A few years back, I worked on a project for my career counseling class.  One of my team members practiced as a Christian counselor. We drove home together from a project meeting and started talking about religion and Christianity.  I went on at length to explain that I stopped following the Christian religion, largely do to a segment of Christians (conservative, fundamentalist, hateful, and holier than though). My friend then explained to me that their are good, loving Christians and then there are the spiritual posers (my term, not hers). The spiritual posers walk and talk like Christians but instead of turning the other cheek, they are more likely to throw the Bible at you.  I liked my classmates explanation.  I want to avoid grouping all Christian on account  a few unwieldy and loud thumpers.  I told myself that if I were a Christian, then I would be one of the good ones (loving, justice-seeking, compassionate).  Who is holier than though now? I admit that I want to avoid mean peo