Tag Archives: spirituality

Connections to the ‘More-Than-Human World’

Posted on December 25, 2025 by JMN

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” (Julian of Norwich) Julian of Norwich, a contemporary of Chaucer, is credited with doing for prose what Chaucer did for poetry: Writing in … Continue reading →

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‘The Things That You’re Liable to Read in the Bible…’

Posted on December 2, 2025 by JMN

“… They ain’t necessarily so,” goes the song in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. “If we could stop coming at the Bible postured as though we’re the ones that own it… to prop up, whether it’s theologies, whatever makes us comfortable, … Continue reading →

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The Parable of Angus Burdoo

Posted on November 22, 2025 by JMN

“Interdependence is no longer our choice… It is our condition. We will either build healthy interdependencies and rise together or suffer through unhealthy interdependencies and fall together.” (Dov Seidman, quoted here) Picture a man who engenders a lovely daughter. In … Continue reading →

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Samatar Elmi Got There Before Me

Posted on September 19, 2025 by JMN

“We’re planning a way to allow wide swaths of the world to elect representatives to a new governance board… Because if I weren’t in on this I’d be, like, ‘Why do these fuckers get to decide what happens to me?’” … Continue reading →

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‘Technically God Isn’t a “Him”’

Posted on July 3, 2025 by JMN

‘*Technically God isn’t a “him.” But the English language doesn’t provide a suitable singular, non-gender term for us to use (“it” implies an object or non-sentient being).’ (Mitch Teemley) Mitch Teemley’s observation touches usefully upon the volatile topic of “they” … Continue reading →

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Is Divine Wet Work an Anomaly or a Feature?

Posted on March 22, 2025 by JMN

After the first death there is no other. (From Dylan Thomas’s “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London.”) A euphemism I retain from immersion in spy thriller fiction is the term “wet work.” In … Continue reading →

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How Disparate Writings Intertwine

Posted on January 27, 2025 by JMN

“Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history.” (Donald Trump, from Second Inaugural Address) Mr. Trump dictates revelation for his irrupting dispensation. There are impromptu connections one makes in … Continue reading →

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‘I Don’t Belong to Any Religion’

Posted on January 13, 2025 by JMN

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned that I don’t belong to any religion. (Friedrich Zettl) I always read Mr. Zettl’s blog, Zettl Fine Arts, with great interest and profit, no less his latest entry. It takes no more than his first … Continue reading →

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‘Enough of This Tomfoolery!’ (God)

Posted on November 7, 2024 by JMN

“The Dallas-Fort Worth region is home to more than 6,500 houses of worship, the highest concentration in the top 10 largest urban regions in the country, according to the 2020 U.S. religion census. Four of the 20 largest churches in … Continue reading →

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Pour Me a Draft of Heartsick with a Shot of Hope

Posted on November 5, 2024 by JMN

“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”  (Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida) I knew an English professor who remarked during the season of final exams that it was … Continue reading →

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