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“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.” — Albert Einstein Introduction The process of science is one my inspirations for spiritual life. The expansion of consciousness brought to humanity by science is something from which I have tried to learn. The open-ended nature of science, always seeking a greater approximation to truth,…

Discernment is a word that we do not use lightly. It is often defined as that of being able to grasp or comprehend that which is obscure. In the Christian tradition, it refers to discovering God’s will for one’s life, that is, one’s spiritual vocation.

To live and work as a scientist is to live at the edge of the unknown. You are at the frontier of knowledge about the mostly hidden order of the way things work. There is the awareness that not everything is as it seems and that there are unifying general principles behind seemingly unconnected phenomena.…

This morning, riding out to Glenbrook Hospital, I did a calculation. It is 95 days since my heart attack and cardiac arrest. I see this as a “second life”, one I almost did not have. This part of my life feels like a gift. It also gives life a “borrowed” quality. We are all living on “borrowed time”, though it is rare to think of it that way.

Renouncement is an old idea. It comes from the monasteries, both East and West. The monks, nuns, sannyasins, and yogis all practice some forms of renouncement. While a few of us may want to choose such a life, most do not. There are communities in Cafh devoted to living the idea of renouncement, but the…

A hate filled white supremacist enters a black church and murders nine people in cold blood in an effort to incite a race war. He is captured and imprisoned. The families of the victims offer forgiveness rather than return hate. They renounce violence and revenge. A professional basketball superstar player in the championship playoffs realizes…

Piet Hut is an astrophysicist and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, an institute whose members have included such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Kurt Gödel and Freeman Dyson.

In a dream we live seventy years and discover, on awakening, that it was a quarter of an hour. In our life, which passes like a dream, we live seventy years and then we awaken to a greater understanding which shows us that it was a quarter of an hour.