Page 1 of e's writing

1. Does Being Social Media Butterflies Dumb Us Down? The last time I looked, personal transformation was not on America’s top ten list of achievements. Social Media type goals of success, family, happiness, friends, wealth, respect, health, religious beliefs or spirituality, satisfying work... (posted by e 13 days 1 hour ago.)

2. The Tide Swings Left Europe is setting the stage for an enormous, ground-swelling, worldwide swing to the left. The recent elections have put the final nail in the coffin of those politicians, bankers, financiers and corporate moguls who think they can control the... (posted by e 19 days 14 hours ago.)

3. God and the Green Bay Packers From the Bible, we learn all kinds of things about God. What we don't know about God, however, are things like; what does He do on Sunday afternoons? Since we are created in His likeness, He must like the same things we do. Doesn't that make... (posted by e 25 days 1 hour ago.)

4. What Are You Holding Onto? Ajahn Brahm talks about the Thai monk who, when told he had a serious, perhaps fatal disease, began laughing. Could you do that? Could you? Could we honestly reflect our fearlessness and understanding of life’s chaos with an unplanned... (posted by e 27 days 22 hours ago.)

5. Our Fifty Year Depression - The Results of Greed Years ago I wrote about the coming fifty year depression. Today, I am as convinced as ever that it is here. The printing of money in America and Europe has temporarily veiled it, but that cannot last much longer. As investments become no more than... (posted by e 30 days 20 hours ago.)

6. Whaddaya Got To Lose? John 12.25 gives us a puzzling warning: “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” In a life that we try to fill with light and love, what could this... (posted by e 32 days ago.)

7. The New Christianity As a new generation of Christians remove the odor of politics from their religion and the glare of entertainment from their churches, they will take hold of something so much better, so much more astounding; they will realize that it is possible... (posted by e 35 days 21 hours ago.)

8. The Shifting Landscape of Spirituality A good friend of mine, a Methodist, asked his minister if people who didn’t believe in Jesus were destined for hell. The minister thought for a moment and said, “God is love.” This non-confrontational reply is a sign of the... (posted by e 49 days 20 hours ago.)

9. Three Questions about Life I noticed that the older one becomes, the faster time seems to go. I’m not sure if time really accelerates, but it sure seems that way. If it does, then a teenager and I must somehow be joined at the hip in two parallel universes! As one... (posted by e 58 days ago.)

10. Two Short Essays The Realized Man The realized man chops wood, carries water, eats when he’s hungry, and sleeps when he’s tired. He does not belong to a dimension that normal human beings can grasp or perceive. It is this state of great... (posted by e 64 days 16 hours ago.)

11. Action-Based Mindfulness A good friend of mine had only one semester left before he graduated from college. During break, he traveled 600 miles to pay respects to a Buddhist monk in Texas who was instrumental in the young man’s mother’s immigration to America... (posted by e 77 days 17 hours ago.)

12. Spilled Noodles, Culture Wars, and Meditation How much does half the world’s population live on per day? Answer: About $2. According to the World Health Organization, 835 million people live in rural India (300 million people live in the entire U.S.), and how many of these 835 million... (posted by e 80 days 2 hours ago.)

13. A Quick Glimpse of Monastic Theravada Buddhism – Is it Anti Social? This article is about the Theravada sect of Buddhism. Having said that, I cannot really comment professionally from a Theravada standpoint as I am far from being a Theravada expert, but I can express my own experience after practicing Christianity... (posted by e 86 days 21 hours ago.)

14. Money Makes You Happy? Really? Can you recall the happiest moment of your life? What did it have to do with money? Nothing, right? Am I right? If I am wrong about that, I’m afraid that you have lived a very, very shallow life. I mean, you will of course be happy when... (posted by e 93 days 16 hours ago.)

15. The 30 Second Meditation - Stress Reduction That Works “I don’t have time to meditate,” is what I hear all the time. "I'm too busy in the morning and too tired at night; my life is too stressful for the mind to quiet down.” For these kinds of busy people, trying to sit... (posted by e 98 days 22 hours ago.)

16. How the Middle Class in America Became Third World When Reagan and Greenspan stole the Social Security Trust Funds in the 80s and then gave the money to their wealthy friends, that began the demise of the middle class. But if you were one of the wealthy, it began an unprecedented shift of wealth... (posted by e 114 days 1 hour ago.)

17. Relax, You're Future is Secure, LOL "India has more honor students, right now, than America has kids. The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 were not even invented yet in 2004. Most people today will have between 10 and 14 jobs by the time they are 38. One in four workers has been on the... (posted by e 120 days 19 hours ago.)

18. Why Can’t I Relax? Ahh, Sunday afternoon, nothing going on, everybody's at the movies and a nice time to relax away from the hustle and bustle of business and family. I am going to do something for myself - relax! (30 minutes later) Oops, I fell asleep. God, am I... (posted by e 122 days 21 hours ago.)

19. An Allegory - The Donkey and the Elephant Once upon a time, in a magical land far across the sea, there lived together a donkey and an elephant. This was very difficult, because they both had such different ways. The elephant loved to trample trees and make a lot of noise, while the... (posted by e 126 days 22 hours ago.)

20. American Buddhism Much discussion is now going on in Buddhist circles about how Buddhism will develop in America, so here is my two cents worth. Historically, Buddhism has taken on the culture to which it has migrated, and I believe that American Buddhism will be... (posted by e 127 days 14 hours ago.)

21. A Few Questions What religious story will you believe? Will you believe the story that was burned into your heart when you were young? Or the story that sounded better than all the rest when you began searching? Or the story that was told by a very powerful... (posted by e 129 days 14 hours ago.)

22. The Future of You - in America The economies of the world are leveling. Our standard of living in America is 10 times greater than developing nations, yet we have only 300 million people. China and India, who are rapidly catching up to us technologically, have 3,000 million... (posted by e 194 days 23 hours ago.)

23. Youth of America, Dream of the Future No More Mortgage - $1500.00/Month Health care insurance (family of four) - $1300.00/month Property taxes - $300.00/month Vehicle payments - $500.00/month Home and vehicle insurance - $500.00/month Maintenance, utilities, repairs - $300.00/month... (posted by e 201 days 22 hours ago.)

24. A Simple Primer on Banking – What You Were Never Meant to Know If we really understood banking, we would immediately cash in our deposits and buy gold. But we don’t do this because we believe that the banking system is legitimate. It is not. For example; let’s say that everyone tomorrow demanded... (posted by e 202 days 1 hour ago.)

25. People - To Big to Fail It’s been building for thirty years, ever since Ronald Reagan asked Allen Greenspan if they could get away with raiding the Social Security Trust Fund to give tax breaks to the wealthy. Greenspan replied, “Maybe for thirty years or... (posted by e 222 days 22 hours ago.)