Last week Laura Anderson spoke to a crowded Sydnor Auditorium about religious trauma. For those of you unable to attend, Laura is a licensed psychotherapist and author of the recently published When Religion Hurts You. She describes religious trauma as…

On a recent Saturday morning, our group, eighteen strong, journeyed from campus to Yogaville, otherwise known as Satchidananda Ashram. Our journey was not far—a little more than an hour’s drive from Lynchburg to the ashram. An ashram is a form…

In the early morning, I see the end of night through a window in my house facing east. Later, walking to the kitchen, I see a dark brocade of shadowed branches against the brightening sky. Sometimes I stop what I…

Recently I read a story in the New York Times about Friedrich Schelling, an eighteenth-century German philosopher. Schelling created and promoted a philosophy of nature that upended the mechanical models developed by thinkers such as Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes.…

Recently I took part in a celebration of the Buddha’s birthday, which was organized by the University of Lynchburg’s Buddhist Community. The ceremony took place in the front yard of the Spiritual Life Center on a windy afternoon. On this…

Diwali, which comes from the Sanskrit word deepavali, or “rows of lighted lamps,” is one of India’s biggest and most important holidays. The five-day Festival of Lights follows the Hindu lunar calendar, so the date changes from year to year.…

Like so many people yesterday, I waited restlessly to hear the verdict. What would the outcome be? I had no certain expectation as to how the jury would decide. So many times before, police officers were acquitted of murder despite…

Saturday marks the arrival of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. For the pagans of Old Europe, this night marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. Yule is what they called this time of year,…

At every Sangha meeting, it seems, we have a conversation about the stresses resulting from the attempt to jam a seemingly endless list of obligations and responsibilities into the confines of the 24-hour day. There are all of the things…