“To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape”
Death explains the human necessity of belief in fantasies in this scene from the television adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s novel The Hogfather.
Philosophy
“Life for life’s sake” (from “Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for a New Millennium”)
Selected passages from Edgar Morin’s Homeland Earth : A Manifesto for the New Millennium (1999): I would expand the line from Hölderlin by saying: We dwell on Earth both prosaically and poetically. Prosaically (when we work, aim at practical targets, try to survive), and poetically (when we sing, dream, enjoy and love, admire). Human life … Read more“Life for life’s sake” (from “Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for a New Millennium”)
The Sky Meadow Mystery School, Discussed
A conversation about this upcoming residential retreat event in Vermont.
The Spring 2024 Metamodern Spirituality Lab at Sky Meadow
I’ve recently returned from Sky Meadow, a soulful home-away-from-home retreat center deep in Vermont’s magical Northeast Kingdom. The Spring ’24 retreat was part of an ongoing series conceived and hosted by Brendan Graham Dempsey and Layman Pascal (whose own reflection upon the event is available here). The theme for this season was “God” (or perhaps … Read moreThe Spring 2024 Metamodern Spirituality Lab at Sky Meadow
The Philosophical Silk Road
John Vervaeke and Christopher Mastropietro explore a change of perspective from ‘the religion that is not a religion’ to the philosophical Silk Road. How do we create a meaningful passage between the religions and those who have fallen out of religion? A heartfelt dia-logos and the start of a longer conversation on the subject. Personally, … Read moreThe Philosophical Silk Road
Tapu te Ranga Marae
I visited the Tapu te Ranga Marae several times over the years when I lived in Wellington, NZ. Sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s I had a memorably cryptic encounter with founder Bruce Stewart in the main meeting hall. The Marae (very loosely, “community center”) was an extraordinary place. Probably the first and … Read moreTapu te Ranga Marae
“A Headless God or religion for our times” (The Structure of Metamodern Religion 1/3)
Substack blogger Octopusyarn writes on metamodern religion: Being self-aware of its constructedness, a metamodern God concept needs to be able to sustain critique. Daniel Görtz describes this concept of a headless God as follows: “It is a God whose altar can be pissed upon, is insulted again and again, yet remains sacred, is resurrected. (…) Always on … Read more“A Headless God or religion for our times” (The Structure of Metamodern Religion 1/3)
Sky Meadow: a place to be
I’ve just returned from a three-day Sacred Harvest event at Sky Meadow, an idyllic 115-acre spiritual retreat in the rugged and mountainous Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The Harvest is a work-stay arrangement, with free accommodation and an organic feast on the final night offered in return for harvest labor – weeding, picking vegetables, stacking wood … Read moreSky Meadow: a place to be
