Tag: henry david thoreau

This column explores the perennial questions of life, death, and spiritual continuity through the lens of Thoreau’s nature writings, the Book of Job, and the enduring wisdom of world religions.

Read this counter guide to Sam Harris' mindfulness-based spirituality, emphasizing the value being religious, living for others without requiring spirituality.

A miracle may be whatever causes us to wonder or to smile! So a miracle might be the birth of a grandchild as well as the birth of Jesus, a star that appears nightly in the sky overhead as well as a star hovering over Bethlehem.

Should all of us work to be perfect? Read about the stories of the speckled ax and the perfect walking stick, as well as Jesus' call for his disciples to be perfect to learn the answer.

Is there a spiritual dimension to beauty? Explore the question of whether beauty can be seen as a pathway to the divine.

In “The Succession of Forest Trees,” an 1860 address to folks attending a county cattle show (precursor to our county fair), Henry David Thoreau proclaimed his “faith in a seed.”

I’ve long been haunted by Nanci Griffith’s 1987 rendition of Julie Gold’s 1985 song, “From a Distance.” I listened to it again on a recent drive back from Seattle, so I decided to ponder the song’s lyrics and wrestle with its repeated assertion that “God is watching us from a distance.”