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Process Thought as Source for Ethics
By Dr. Arlette Poland
In Judaism, community and ethical behavior go hand in hand. We are told that our community is our life and our life is best when it is ethical. To be ethical, of course, involves following the mitzvoth (commandments/good deeds). Added to that, however, is the underlying re..
Becoming Christ-like Heathens
by Ann Pederson
“What is done in the world is transformed into a reality in heaven, and the reality of heaven passes back into the world. By reason of this reciprocal relation, the love in the world passes into the love in heaven, and floods back again into the world. In this sense, God is the ..
L’Chaim: To Life and Impermanence
by Dr. Arlette Poland
There is a continuousness about existence that Whitehead recognized. One event, life, thing even memory flows into another. First there is this and then there is that. If there is no this, as we say in Buddhism, then there is no that. Simple. Not easy – but simple, yes. S..
The Meaning of Making Meaning and Time
By Dr. Arlette Poland
Humans make meaning. That is what we do. We decide if we like a color, a person, an object, a country – or not. We make meaning by our words and deeds. Meaning comes from our thoughts. Feelings follow thoughts and thoughts make meaning. The meaning of our making meaning i..
Relation Is: Ethics Must Follow as Care and Connection
By Arlette Poland
Whitehead taught us that everything that ever was is somehow part of everything that is becoming and then that event that becomes will be part of the next things that are becoming. The activity that leaves out one or another of the past is actually a process: the process of be..
Competing Aims
by Carolyn Roncolato
I am racked with worry that my one year old is sick yet again, for what feels like the one-millionth time (but I think is actually the fourth in six weeks). All of this illness-a cold, the flu, an allergic reaction, a trip to the emergency room, a week of diarrhea, and anot..
Distance
by Charles Bowie
I’m always anxious when I fly from one locale to another. My mind always seems to turn to the “bad” that could happen, yet, I always remind myself of the good that could happen. Once in flight however, it’s a different story. In flight I find myself enamored and enjoying the vi..
Chaosmic Process Theology: Deleuze and Whitehead
by Austin Roberts
In recent years, I have become interested in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. What initially attracted me to his work was discovering that Deleuze considered Whitehead to be “the last great Anglo-American philosopher” of the 20th century, calling his magnum opus Process and R..
Power, Authoritarians, and Trump
By Sheri D. Kling
“Super Tuesday” has come and gone, and “appalled” is one of the words that comes immediately to mind now that Donald Trump is the leading GOP candidate. Other words that sit like lead in my stomach are “terrified,” “horrified,” “racist,” and “demagogue.” Paraphrasing David Byr..
Othered Bodies, Social Contract Theory, and the Expansion of Justice
by Brianne Donaldson
This essay is one of a 6-part series titled “What is Justice?”:First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth
In the previous reflection, I examined several types of divine justice (i.e. transcendent or natural justice) that provide foundational social values that become..