Our world is in a crisis of communication. Politicians seem to lie more than they tell the truth, corporations argue that they shouldn’t have to tell the truth about their products, and of course social media is a cesspool of click bait and rage bait. A whole economy has been built off of eliciting feelings … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 3: Right Speech
For many Christians, especially those who grew up in Protestant circles, the Gospel is essentially defined in opposition to the Jewish Law: There is Law and then there’s Grace and ever the twain shall meet. But we get a very different picture of the Law from the Scriptures, including the texts we Christians know as … Continue reading Sweeter than Honey: A Reflection on Jeremiah 31 & Psalm 119
The previous post in this series introduced the Eightfold Path, which outlines the eight basic elements of Buddhist commitment and life that they believe lead to freedom from the cycle of attachments, suffering, and karma, and discussed the first of these elements, right (or, skillful) understanding. This is about the way we understand the world … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 2: Right Resolve
A few weeks ago, towards the start of this series, we looked at the Fourth Noble Truths, which are the most basic distillation of Buddhist thought. As a reminder, they go something like this: Dissatisfaction or suffering is everywhere; the cause of this suffering is our attachment; suffering can end by severing those attachments; and … Continue reading The Eightfold Path and the Gospel: 1. Right Understanding
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday here in Canada, one of my favourite holidays. And, because our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was just a couple weeks ago, this theme has also been colouring my thoughts the past few days in the lead up to Thanksgiving. As such, I thought I’d throw back this week to … Continue reading Thanksgiving and Reconciliation
Matthew Root 