Tom Robbins on Religion, God, & The Spiritual Life

Tom Robbins is the kind of author who people often say you either love or hate. All things considered, that is probably the best kind of author to be, as it reflects that level of truth telling which always inspires radically opposing emotions in others. Robbins is also the kind of author that we at The Living Hour would identify as an excellent example of the SBNR Progressive Christian, even though he would undoubtedly not describe himself in such terms. Regardless, Robbins displays the kind of attitude, wisdom, and joie de vivre that we admire.

The following are selected quotes from Tom Robbins covering the subject of God, religion, and the art of living:

**”A sense of humor…is superior to any religion so far devised.”

**”We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.”

**”If by the quarter of the twentieth century godliness wasn’t next to something more interesting than cleanliness, it might be time to reevaluate our notions of godliness.”

**”What difference does it make if the Gospel is mostly a lie? It’s an engrossing story and the words of its hero are excellent words to live by, even today.”

**”If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that’s perfectly valid – but don’t go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in, and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change yourself.”

**”Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.”

**”All depression has its roots in self-pity, and all self-pity is rooted in people taking themselves too seriously.”

**”Anyone who maintains absolute standards of good and evil is dangerous. As dangerous as a maniac with a loaded revolver.”

**”Solace? That’s why God made fermented beverages and the blues.”

**”I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.”

What might Tom Robbins say if he were a Zen teacher? Click on Zen to find out!

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

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Kahlil Gibran & The Ass Loaded With Books of Wisdom

The Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran is best known for his elegant and moving book The Prophet. But Gibran produced many other works during his short life, which ended in 1931. Since his death, Gibran has inspired countless spiritual progressives, including artists like John Lennon who paraphrased Gibran’s famous verse, “Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you,” in the Beatle’s song Julia, from the White Album.

In A Second Treasury of Kahlil Gibran there is one passage that is especially poignant and should be recalled frequently by Progressive Christians and all who are walking the path of spiritual progress:

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. If your knowledge doesn’t teach you the real value of things, nor frees you from the bondage of matter, you will never come near the altar of Truth. If your knowledge doesn’t teach you to rise above human weakness and misery to help lead others on the right path, you are indeed someone of little worth and will remain so until judgment day.¹

Learn the words of wisdom uttered by the wise and apply them to your own life. Live them, but do not make a grand show of reciting them in public–for someone who repeats what they do not fully understand is no better than an ass loaded with books. Remember that one person who is just gives the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers in God.

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

1. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. This does not mean that we are to wring our hands over yesterday’s sins, so as to prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s final day of judgment. There is no singular last day. Our day of judgment is here with us always, and in a million different ways. It demands only that we make a decision, and make it on our own. – The Lord’s Prayer For Daily Life, pg. 27 [↩]

Immortality & The Evolution of Christianity & Religion

Continuing with our theme of cultural evolution and the long arc of the moral universe, we turn to the subject of the evolution of Christianity, Religion, and Christian thought. For insight we go to another progressive figure who long has been forgotten by many: British historian Henry Thomas Buckle, who arguably was the first scientific analyzer of social evolution. Like the Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, Buckle is an individual who Progressive Christianity can look toward in re-discovering its heritage.

The following passage on immortality comes from The Essays of Henry Thomas Buckle circa 1863 (unlikely to be found at your local library, unfortunately). Here the SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) Buckle talks not just of immortality but the necessary evolution of religion and religious creeds.

One thing I would repeat, because I honestly believe it to be of the deepest importance. Most earnestly would I again urge upon those who cherish the doctrine of immortality, not to defend it by arguments which have a basis smaller than the doctrine itself. I long to see the glorious tenet rescued for the jurisdiction of the narrow and sectarian theology, which foolishly ascribing to a single religion the possession of all truth, proclaims other religions to be false, and debases the most magnificent topics by contracting them with the horizon of its own little vision.

Every creed which has existed long, and has played a great part in our history, contains a large amount of truth, or else it would not have retained its hold upon the human mind. To suppose, however, that any one of them contains the whole truth is to suppose that as soon as a creed was enunciated the limits of inspiration were reached, and the power of inspiration exhausted.

For such a supposition we have no warrant. On the contrary, the history of mankind, if compared in long periods, shows a very slow, but still a clearly marked, improvement in the character of successive creeds; so that if we reason from the analogy of the past, we have a right to hope that the improvement will continue, and that subsequent religious creeds will surpass ours.

Using the word religion in its ordinary sense, we find that religious opinions depend on an immense variety of circumstances which are constantly shifting. Hence it is that whatever rests merely upon these opinions has in it something transient and mutable. Those of us who take a distant and comprehensive view are thus filled with dismay when we see a doctrine like the immortality of the soul defended on such transient grounds.

These advocates imperil their own cause; they make the fundamental depend on the casual; they support what is permanent by what is ephemeral; and with their books, their dogmas, their traditions, their rituals, their records, and their other perishable contrivances, they seek to prove what was known to the world before it existed, and what, if these transient things were to die away, would still be known, and would remain the common heritage of the human species, and the consolation of myriads yet unborn.*

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*A few small edits were made to Buckle’s text to make it more easily read and understood by contemporary readers.

Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

The Progressive Christian: A Working Definition

Readers of LivingHour.org have noticed that we cast a pretty wide net when talking about Progressive Christianity and the works of Progressive Christians. In our online bookstore, our motivational series, and our video picks we include people who’ve never identified themselves as Christians, much less Progressive Christians. Indeed we’ve even included atheists, like Albert Camus, among our sources of Progressive Christian inspiration.

Although our definition of a Progressive Christian may seem a little loose, it is by no means vague. At The Living Hour we see the writers, scientists, philosophers, and preachers that we’ve placed inside the Progressive Christianity circle as all possessing certain defining characteristics–all of which find a voice in the life story of Jesus of Nazareth. These characteristics are:

1) A Progressive Christian questions established thought and refuses to accept blindly the status quo.
2) A Progressive Christian uses their vocation to push the world a little further in a positive direction.
3) A Progressive Christian approaches their work with both joy and a devout temper.
4) A Progressive Christian demonstrates great intellectual curiosity and a generosity of spirit.
5) A Progress Christian shows genuine concern and compassion for humanity.
6) A Progressive Christian follows the truth wherever it may lead.
7) A Progressive Christian is fearlessly honest.

Ultimately a Progressive Christian need not identify themselves as a Progressive Christian to be one or to fall within the circle of Progressive Christianity. For as Jesus once said, there are many folds of people¹ and one doesn’t need to follow Jesus and his disciples directly to do the work of Christ.²

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1. “I have other sheep besides, which do not belong to this fold.” – John 10:16 [↩]
2. “Sir, we saw a man driving out demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow you with us.” “None of you must prevent him,” Jesus said to John; “he who is not against us is for us.” – Luke:9-49-50 [↩]

John – Gospel 8 – Jesus Judges No One

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he went again to the temple courts, and all the people gathered around him; and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman who had committed adultery; and when they set her before him, 4 They said to the Master: “This woman was taken in the very act of adultery. 5 Now, the law of Moses says that we must stone her. What do you say?”

6 They asked this to tempt Jesus, so that later they may have something to accuse him with. But Jesus only stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. 7 When they continued asking, he stood up and said: “He that among you is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her.” 8 And again he stopped down and wrote on the ground. 9 And those which heard it, being stricken by their own conscience, left one by one, beginning with the eldest unto the last. Jesus was thus left alone with the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus lifted himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her: “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?” 11 She said: “No man, Lord.” And Jesus replied: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

12 Then Jesus spoke again to the people, saying: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 13 “You are bearing testimony to yourself!” exclaimed the Pharisees, “your testimony is not trustworthy.”

14 “Even if I bear testimony to myself,” answered Jesus, “my testimony is trustworthy; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, nor where I am going. 15 You judge by appearances; I judge no one. 16 Yet, even if I were to judge, my judgment would be trustworthy; because I am not alone, but the Father who sent me is with me.”

17 “Why, in your own law it is said that the testimony of two persons is trustworthy. 18 I, who bear testimony to myself, am one, and the Father who sent me also bears testimony to me.” 19 “Where is your father, then?” they asked. “You know neither me nor my Father,” replied Jesus. “If you had known me, you would have also known my Father.”

20 These statements Jesus made in the treasury, while teaching in the temple courts. Yet no one arrested him, for his time had not then come.

21 Jesus again spoke to the people. “I am going away,” he said, “and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin; you cannot come where I am going.” 22 “Is he going to kill himself,” the Jews exclaimed, “that he says: ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”

23 “You,” added Jesus, “are from below, I am from above; you are of this present world, I am not; 24 And so I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am what I am, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Why ask exactly what I have been telling you?” said Jesus. 26 “I have still much that concerns you to speak of and to pass judgment on; yet he who sent me may be trusted, and I speak to the world only of the things which I have heard from him.”

27 They did not understand that he meant the Father. 28 So Jesus added: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will understand that I am what I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but that I say just what the Father has taught me. 29 Moreover, he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone; for I always do what pleases him.”

30 While he was speaking in this way, many came to believe in him. 31 So Jesus went on to say to those Jews who had believed him: “If you remain constant to my message, you are truly my disciples; 32 And you find out the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” was their answer, “and have never yet been in slavery to anyone. What do you mean by saying ‘you will be set free’?” 34 “In truth I tell you,” replied Jesus, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 And a slave does not remain in the home always; but a son remains always. 36 If, then, the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”
37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you are seeking to put me to death, because my message finds no place in your hearts. 38 I tell you what I have myself seen in the presence of my Father; and you, in the same way, do what you have learned from your father.” 39 “Our father is Abraham,” was their answer.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” replied Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But, as it is, you are seeking to put me to death—a man who has told you the truth as he heard it from God. Abraham did not act in that way. 41 You are doing what your own father does.”

“We are not bastards,” they said, “We have one Father—God himself.” 42 “If God were your Father,” Jesus replied, “you would have loved me, for I came out from God, and now am here; and I have not come of myself, but he sent me as his messenger. 43 How is it that you do not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message?”

44 “As for you, you are children of your father the devil, and you are determined to do what your father loves to do. He was a murderer from the first, and did not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he does what is natural to him; because he is a liar, and the father of lying.”

45 “But, as for me, it is because I speak the truth to you that you do not believe me. 46 Which of you can convict me of sin? Why then do not you believe me, if I am speaking truth? 47 He who comes from God listens to God’s teaching; the reason why you do not listen is because you do not come from God.” 48 “Are not we right, after all,” replied the Jews, “in saying that you are a Samaritan, and are possessed by a demon?”

49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” Jesus answered, “but I am showing reverence for my Father; and yet you have no reverence for me. 50 Not that I am seeking honor for myself; there is one who is seeking my honor, and he decides. 51 In truth I tell you, if anyone lays my message to heart, they will never really die.”

52 “Now we are sure that you are possessed by a demon,” the Jews replied. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets; and yet you say: ‘If anyone lays my message to heart, they will never know death.’ 53 Are you greater than our ancestor Abraham, who died? And the prophets who died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be?”

54 “If I do honor to myself,” answered Jesus, “such honor counts for nothing. It is my Father who does me honor—and you say that he is your God; 55 And yet you have not learned to know him; but I know him; and, if I were to say that I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him, and I lay his message to heart. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; and he did see it, and was glad.”

57 “You are not fifty years old yet,” the Jews exclaimed, “and have you seen Abraham?” 58 “In truth I tell you,” replied Jesus, “before Abraham was, I am.” 59 At this they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and left the temple courts.

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 9.

This Online New Testament Gospel of John is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.

John – Gospel 13 – Jesus Washes Feet

Before the Passover festival began, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father. He had loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them to the last. 2 The devil had already put the thought of betraying Jesus into the mind of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon;

3 And at supper, Jesus—although knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God, and was to return to God—4 Rose from his place, and, taking off his upper garments, tied a towel round his waist. 5 He then poured some water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel which was tied round him.

6 When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said: “You, Master! Are you going to wash my feet?” 7 “You do not understand now what I am doing,” replied Jesus, “but you will learn by and by.” 8 “You shall never wash my feet!” exclaimed Peter.

“Unless I wash you,” answered Jesus, “you have nothing in common with me.” 9 “Then, Master, not my feet only,” exclaimed Simon Peter, “but also my hands and my head.” 10 “He who has bathed,” replied Jesus, “has no need to wash, unless it be his feet, but is altogether clean; and you,” he said to the disciples, “are clean, yet not all of you.”

11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said: ‘You are not all clean.’ 12 When he had washed their feet, and had put on his upper garments and taken his place, he spoke to them again. “Do you understand what I have been doing to you?” he asked. 13 “You yourselves call me ‘the Teacher’ and ‘the Master’, and you are right, for I am both. 14 If I, then—’the Master’ and ‘the Teacher’—have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet; 15 For I have given you an example, so that you may do just as I have done to you.”

16 “In truth I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor yet a messenger than the man who sends him. 17 Now that you know these things, happy are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but this is in fulfillment of the words of scripture: ‘He that is eating my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 For the future I shall tell you of things before they take place, so that, when they take place, you may believe that I am what I am.”

20 “In truth I say that you who receives anyone that I send receives me; and you who receives me receives him who sent me.” 21 After saying this, Jesus was much troubled, and said solemnly: “In truth I tell you that it is one of you who will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, wondering whom he meant.

23 Next to Jesus, in the place on his right hand, was one of his disciples, whom he loved. 24 So Simon Peter made signs to that disciple, and whispered: “Tell me who it is that he means.” 25 Being in this position, that disciple leant back on Jesus’ shoulder, and asked him: “Who is it, Master?”

26 “It is the one,” answered Jesus, “to whom I shall give a piece of bread after dipping it in the dish.” And, when Jesus had dipped the bread, he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; 27 And it was then, after he had received it, that Satan took possession of him. So Jesus said to him: “Do at once what you are going to do.” 28 But no one at table understood why he said this to Judas. 29 Some thought that, as Judas kept the purse, Jesus meant that he was to buy some things needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.

30 After taking the piece of bread, Judas went out immediately; and it was night. 31 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said: “Now the Son of Man has been exalted, and God has been exalted through him; 32 And God will exalt him with himself—yes, he will exalt him forthwith.”

33 “My children, I am to be with you but a little while longer. You will look for me; and what I said to the Jews—’You cannot come where I am going’—I now say to you. 34 I give you a new commandment: love one another; love one another as I have loved you. 35 It is by this that everyone will recognize you as my disciples—by your loving one another.”

36 “Where are you going, Master?” asked Peter. “I am going where you cannot now follow me,” answered Jesus, “but you shall follow me later.” 37 “Why cannot I follow you now, Master?” asked Peter. “I will lay down my life for you.” 38 “Will you lay down your life for me?” replied Jesus. “In truth I tell you, the cock will not crow till you have disowned me three times.”

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 14.

This Online New Testament Gospel of John is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.

John – Gospel 17 – Christ Is The Messenger

After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes heaven-wards, and said: “Father, the hour has come; honor thy Son, that thy Son may honor you; 2 Even as thou gave him power over all mankind, that he should give eternal life to all those whom thou has given him. 3 And the eternal life is this: to know thee the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent as thy messenger. 4 I have honored thee on earth by completing the work which thou has given me to do; 5 And now do thou honor me, Father, at thy own side, with the honor which I had at thy side before the world began.”

6 “I have revealed thee to those whom thou gave me from the world; they were thy own, and thou gave them to me; and they have laid thy message to heart. 7 They recognize now that everything that thou gave me was from thee; 8 For I have given them the teaching which thou gave me, and they received it, and clearly understood that I came from thee, and they believed that thou has sent me as thy messenger. 9 I intercede for them; I am not interceding for the world, but for those whom thou has given me, for they are thy own—10 All that is mine is thine, and all that is thine is mine—and I am honored in them.”

11 “Now I am to be in this world no longer, but they are still to be in the world, and I am to come to thee. Holy Father, keep them by that revelation of thy name which thou has given me that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them, I kept them by that revelation, and I have guarded them; and not one of them has been lost, except that lost soul—in fulfillment of scripture. 13 But now I am to come to thee; and I am speaking thus, while still in the world, that they may have my own joy, in all its fullness, in their hearts.”

14 “I have given them thy message; and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, even as I do not belong to the world. 15 I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil. 16 They do not belong to the world, even as I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; thy message is truth. 18 Just as thou has sent me as thy messenger to the world, so I send them as my messengers to the world. 19 And it is for their sakes that I am sanctified myself, so that they also may be truly consecrated.”

20 “But it is not only for them that I am interceding, but also for those who believe in me through their message, 21 That they all may be one—as thou, Father, are in me, and I in you—so the world may believe that thou has sent me as thy messenger. 22 I have given them the honor which thou has given me, that they may be one as we are one—23 I in union with them and thou with me—that so they may be perfected in their union, and thus the world may know that thou has sent me as thy messenger, and that thou has loved them as thou has loved me.”

24 “Father, my desire for all those whom thou has given me is that they may be with me where I am, so that they may see the honor which thou has given me; for thou did love me before the beginning of the world. 25 O righteous Father, though the world did not know thee, I knew thee; and these people knew that thou has sent me as thy messenger. 26 I have made thee known to them, and will do so still; that the love that thou has had for me may be in their hearts, and that I may be in them also.”

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 18.

This Online New Testament Gospel of John is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.