I don't believe in demons, but I do believe in the demonic.  By "demonic" I mean processes, systems and institutions that humans create which take on a life of their own and perpetuate evil.  Wars, the military-industrial complex, institutionalized bigotry, corporations, empires.  These are all examples of the demonic.

 

Epitaph on a Tyrant

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Fides quaerens intellectum

Early graduation present for completing my MA in Theological Studies. The text is Latin: Fides quaerens intellectum, which means "Faith seeking understanding" and was the motto of the 11th century theologian Anselm of Canterbury. The symbol is the logo of the Earlham School of Religion. I received a scholarship which paid for the bulk of my tuition at Earlham and this is an expression of my gratitude.

Road Trip

Last week I journeyed alone by car from Denver to Seattle. I love the contemplative rhythm of very long solo drives. One experiences a shift in perspective when one enters the groundless ground of continuous motion (we're all of us always in motion, actually, but I tend to forget that this is so). In accelerated, detached movement--in a car on the highway--one gets zoetrope glimpses into other vistas, other worlds, other lives, other stories, other illusions of fixity.

I watched the slow, subtle transition of terrains: prairie to mountain range to desert to lush valley to gentle green rolling hills to fertile farmlands to coastal plain. Along the way, rock formations stood as sentinels to remind me that, from their geological perspective, I am little more than a mayfly, merely a spark among sparks.

As I descended from the stark high desert of Southwest Wyoming into the Salt Lake Valley, a realization struck me; not profound but intrinsic: This earth is my home. I am inextricably stitched into it; part of its myriad processes. I am in no way separate from it. I belong here.