• SOUL-PRINTS: A Ghost in the Hospital (Lesson 3)

• SIGNPOSTS: Remember November 2020?

I’m teaching a class at church you might enjoy. I’ll be posting the text I’ve written for each Lesson. This week: “A Ghost in the Hospital: God, Mind, and the Mundane.” Here’s a teaser. Read the full lesson on the Quantum page of my Tracks for the Journey website

When I worked as Director of Spiritual Care at BSA Hospital an unusual request came from the Surgery Department. Over a period of weeks several people had died during surgeries performed in Rm 12. Some of the nurses were upset at the sudden and tragic events. The request surprised me. “Would you come and anoint this room to get rid of any bad spirits?” In 40 years of Baptist ministry, I had never been asked to do that. They explained the Catholic priests had done that several times over the years. Well, I couldn’t let the Catholics have all the fun or the Chief Medical Officer start an investigation. So, I gathered the nurses–and a couple of doctors–and a vial of oil. We marched into Room 12, where I went to each corner of the room with the oil, then formed a circle to pray. A couple of weeks later the senior nurse said the problem had been solved and patients were coming through successfully. She concluded Faith had won the victory over the spirits of bad surgery outcomes.

“God is spirit,” said Jesus to the inquisitive Samaritan woman. His teaching, as narrated by the Johannine editors, conveys a common view of the ancient world describing God’s existence with a different “substance” than the physical world. The word for “spirit” was used by Greeks for centuries before the time of Jesus. “Pneuma” was a basic substance of the world described by the Stoics. God and spiritual creatures were made of an intangible, invisible, yet powerful element completely different than the physical universe.

Process theology posits an integration of the “spiritual” and the “physical.” As explained in detail in previous sessions, the core understanding recognizes God and all entities in the universe share a single reality of existence that may be viewed from two directions. Every entity in the universe has the capacity to experience events with two inseparable facets: an internal, non-sensory one and an external sensory one. All entities experience life in these twin dimensions as a sequence of occasions which continues moment-by-moment.

Process theologians teach that God is intimately related to every entity in this dipolar universe, sharing in both dimensions in every experience across the universe. Humans sense the work of God within the mind and call it “spiritual.” That is true, yet not the entire story of Reality. Every experience has an internal, “spiritual,” dimension which is intertwined with the brain and body. In Bruce Epperley’s words, “God’s relationship to the world is intimate and continuous rather than distant and discontinuous. God is not the ‘wholly other,’ but rather the ‘wholly present one,” whose existence cannot be fully contained by the world.”

The words of Jesus helped the Samaritan woman to understand that God was not only in Jerusalem or the temple in Samaria but intertwined with every place and every person. With this unified understanding encompassing every experience, we can say worms live in a spiritual reality, dolphins live in a spiritual reality, humans live in a spiritual reality, and God is the ultimate Spiritual Reality, presenting input to every experience in the universe. “God is spirit” expresses the truth that all the universe and God are united in dynamic relationship which is both a sensory and non-sensory Reality.

Read the full lesson on the Quantum page of my Tracks for the Journey website.

Do you dare remember what American life was like in the last weeks of Trump’s presidency? Here are the facts of history:

Four million Covid cases occur in one month, the highest in the advanced countries, bringing the total American deaths in the year to a staggering 300,000. Trump pushes horse medicine as a cure, opposes masking, attacks the CDC, and downplays the vaccines, thereby increasing the death toll.

Unemployment hits 6.7%, with almost 11 million people out of work.

Trump and team file dozens of frivolous lawsuits to contest the 2020 election (later some of his attorneys would be disbarred for the ethics violations), enlist slates of false electors to override the vote of the people in several states, implement an unconstitutional scheme using Congress to seat the false electors, and pressure V-P Pence to act so Trump would be falsely declared the winner of the Electoral College. His actions would bring a second impeachment trial for the first time in American history.

Trump, Bannon, Stone and others work to mobilize a large demonstration in Washington on January 6, calling on supporters because “All hell is going to break loose.” The riot brought death and destruction to the Capitol and more than 1,000 convictions for the rioters and insurrectionists.

Trump led a coalition to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in a Supreme Court trial, removing medical insurance from millions of Americans. The suit lost in 2021.

Michael Cohen and AMI await sentencing after admitting guilt in the 2016 election law fraud concerning Trump paying hundreds of thousands in hush money to Stormy Daniels and AMI to kill a story of Trump’s affair with the porn star while his wife is pregnant.

Trump supported aggressive police action against “Black Lives Matter” protesters in multiple cities after the murder of George Floyd. Nearly 5000 Neo-Nazi inspired hate episodes were recorded for the year.

Climate change denials led by Republicans hindered global efforts to implement the Paris Climate goals after Trump pulled the US out of the agreement. World temperatures spiked and climate-enhanced disasters struck America causing billions of dollars in losses

Trump acted against military guidance and reduced US troops in Afghanistan, emboldening the Taliban to increase attacks. He weakened Ukraine, opening the way for Russia’s invasion.

The last thing America needs is a return of this incompetent and deceitful leadership. WE WON’T GO BACK!

Do you enjoy watching more than reading? Many episodes of Tracks for the Journey are videos on Youtube! The Index lists more than 25 short and full length episodes. Gain insight from “Get Better Sleep Tonight,” “Don’t Sabotage Your Well-Being,” “When the Bible Failed America,” or many others.

Watch one today at https://www.youtube.com/@tracksforthejourney77