Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

I must confess: I’ve been shirking my duty. To be more specific, I have been shirking my writing duties. Of course, for those who have been following my reflections in the “Faith Seeking Understanding” series, it looks like I have been on a roll: today is reflection number 40 in an unbroken series of daily posts (thanks be to God). But I’ve been shirking my writing duties, nevertheless. Because there are two other types of writing to which I have made a previous commitment, and the blasts of dopamine I get from blogging and Medium.com have distracted me from my other work.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #040: On capitalizing on my writing success (such that it is…)” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

I am looking forward to reading Postcards from Babylon: The Church in American Exile by Brian Zahnd. I listened to him being interviewed by Luke Norsworthy on the Newsworthy by Norsworthy podcast and I enjoyed hearing his take on Christendom, the Christian church and its role vis-à-vis the American empire.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #039: The American Empire and the Kingdom of God” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

I’ve spent the day in waking dreams. It’s funny to me how entertaining it can be to lie in bed and observe the mind as it crosses and re-crosses the margin between a conscious and a subconscious state. Although I find this to be an entertaining practice, I almost never remember what, precisely it was I was dreaming about several minutes after returning to consciousness. There are those who advocate keeping a dream journal, but I’ve never been all that interested in pinning down my dreams. I guess I’m okay with my dreams being ephemeral things: here one moment and vanished in the next.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #038: Perchance to dream…?” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

Good evening, folks. I’m wondering what it would look like to take a sick day from writing. Is it as simple as saying, “I’m taking a sick day,” and leaving it at that? Or should I take my runny nose and stuffy head and headache and fever and try to find some poetic way to use them all as a writing prompt? Or is that working too hard?

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #036: On writing while sick” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

My reflection for today was getting a little out of hand and I realized I wouldn’t be able to do it justice and finish by midnight (which is only a half-hour away). So, I will only have a few thoughts to share tonight, while the piece I was working on percolates.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #035: Prayers of thanksgiving, prayers for the hope of the world” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

So, it’s been over a month since I started this “Faith Seeking Understanding” project. This is the 35th reflection I’ve written without missing a day. I’d knock on wood, but I suspect grit as much as luck has been responsible for this accomplishment. Not that I am not grateful for my good fortune, the good fortune which allows me and compels me to write. But I wonder, as I look back on the experience so far, if faith really has led me to any understanding.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #034: On whether faith has led to understanding… so far” →

Faith seeking understanding, my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images, is a series of [hopefully] daily reflections I’m writing with the purpose of publishing something on a regular basis for others to read, either here, at joncarllewis.com or among my writings at Medium.com.

I created a mandala today. And then I stared at it.

Which is what you’re supposed to do with a mandala, I think.

Continue reading “Faith seeking understanding #032: The wisdom of the mandala” →