The New Spirituality

December 19, 2025

Human progress from superstition and mythology to more complex spirituality ultimately leads to…. where? Science and logic provided another path during the enlightenment, and some thinkers rejected the old Gods entirely to focus on provable theories of our origins, our place in the universe and our ultimate fate.

I suspect that even in the face of overwhelming proof of a strictly materialistic universe, there will be believers of many kinds. The dialectic between belief that promises meaning and heaven – and a harsh, realist view of life and death, will always be a feature of human existence.

The question will always remain …is there any form of spirituality available to the rational thinker? Those who accept that we will live and die with no supernatural intervention might still find a spirituality that focuses on the best of our philosophies. With no God directing us, you must concede that every good idea attributed to our religions came from a human mind. So those old laws, sermons, and proverbs are part of our non-supernatural spiritual heritage.

At this festive time of year, we create stories to enchant our children …. stories of a jolly elf placing presents beneath tree boughs laden with sparkling ornaments. And we remember the adult stories of a savior sent to save a world sore-beset with sinfulness – the sinfulness we recognize through our own consciousness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

The Transcendent

December 21, 2025 8:01pm

Why did humans first speculate about meaning? Why did this lead to myth, philosophy, and religion? I think it was to seek the transcendent. We all want to find a way to escape the reality we face and find our Nirvana, our heaven, our perfect life. We seek the transcendent in love (the veil in which we wrap our reproduction to give it more meaning) wherein two people each elevate their partner and thereby achieve union with something bigger than the individual.

Sometimes this desire for the transcendent is an obsession and when the obsessed realize that their transcendentalism is futile, the realization can be life-altering.

A Christmas Message

December 24, 2025 8:04am

Let us, for a brief moment, put aside all cynicism, pessimism, and doubt – instead focusing on the true existence of that divine spark that rests in the spirits of those who seek truth, beauty, and justice…. and all the virtues that struggle with the base impulses in the hearts of humans.

On this Christmas eve, I watch a choir of monks singing Veni Veni Emmanuel in an ancient cathedral in Basel Switzerland. The soft lantern light and the incredible harmonies create an other-worldly experience. As the young men enter the nave, I can see enough of their faces to wonder about each one – how did they come to this life of poverty, chastity, and obedience? What drove them to seek the divine above all desire for comfort, family, and love?

And then, a tear forms as I grasp, ever slightly, the devotion to all that “God” represents to us in this Christmas season….the dedication to fairness, mercy, kindness, justice, charity, patience, humility, faith, hope, and as scripture says – above all….love.

Merry Christmas to believers and skeptics alike, may all find that divine spark which is our only hope.

Veni, veni, Emmanuel | Mark D. Templeton | Männerstimmen Basel, Switzerland