This is the blog I am starting as part of publishing my first book in Ireland, Spirituality: A User’s Guide. This book has been many years in the writing, and it’s exciting to see it finally being published.  It reflects the accumulation of knowledge, insights, opinions, and wisdom that I have come to during my six plus decades of life. As you will see from the autobiographical material in the book, and from what I will blog here, my life has never been dull.  I have lived on three continents, had two distinct careers, and am now embarking on a third.

Through all that time, my journey has been deeply informed by the guiding light of love’s priority.  Loving myself and loving others, not in a romantic way, but in deep and practical ways has been the red thread through the warp and woof of my choices and interactions. From early on, I discovered that psychotherapy is the process that most powerfully fosters and deepens one’s ability to love, and to heal the wounds that prevent one being compassionate, empathetic, and courageous in the way of love. Thus I have participated in that process for many years of my life, both as client and therapist.

Initially, I had been inspired by the religion I was born into, Roman Catholicism. My parents were devout people. Most importantly, Vatican II happened in the second half of my grade school years, nicely timed to bring excitement and exploration into things spiritual as I started high school and on into college. But obviously the world has moved on in a myriad of ways since the 1960s and ’70s. Both Roman Catholicism and Christianity no longer hold credibility for a lot of people who used to profess that faith.

Some of the loss of adherents has been related to the activities of the institutions themselves.  Not only the rampant sexual abuse, but the added disgrace of denying and hiding it, has put people off in droves. Even beyond that, however, the cosmology and the soteriology (how ‘salvation’ is understood) of the Judeo-Christian story are now seen as incompatible with a modern understanding of the universe and a love-based picture of the divine.

So on this blog I would hope that others would share not only their responses to what I have written, but also put words on how they make meaning in their own life.  My book will be live on the web and in bookstores in Ireland by September 2017 at the latest. In the meantime, I will gradually add to this blog.  Let me know what you like hearing about and feel free to ask questions.