Joseph Workman

“For starters, a masculine spirituality would emphasize movement over stillness, action over theory, service to the world over religious discussions, speaking the truth over social niceties and doing justice instead of any self-serving “charity.” Without a complementary masculine, spirituality becomes overly feminine (which is really a false feminine!) and is characterized by too much inwardness, preoccupation with relationships, a morass of unclarified feeling and religion itself as a security blanket. This prevents a journey to anyplace new, and fosters a constant protecting of the old. It is no-risk religion, just the opposite of Abraham, Moses, Paul and Jesus. In my humble masculine opinion I believe much of the modern, sophisticated church is swirling in what I will describe as a kind of “neuter” religion. It is one of the main reasons that doers, movers, shakers and change agents have largely given up on church people and church groups. As one very effective woman said to me, “After a while you get tired of the in-house jargon that seems to go nowhere.” A neuter spirituality is the trap of those with lots of leisure, luxury and self-serving ideas. They have the option not to do, not to change, not to long and thirst for justice. It can take either a liberal or a conservative form, but in either case, it becomes an inoculation against any deep spiritual journey. That’s why I call it “neuter.” It generates no real sexual energy or life.”
― Richard Rohr, From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality

“BURNT KABOB Last year, I admired wines. This,
I’m wandering inside the red world. Last year, I gazed at the fire.
This year I’m burnt kabob. Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon’s reflection. Now I am a lion staring up totally
lost in love with the thing itself. Don’t ask questions about longing.
Look in my face. Soul drunk, body ruined, these two
sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it. And my heart, I’d say it was more
like a donkey sunk in a mudhole,
struggling and miring deeper. But listen to me: for one moment,
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms
around you. God.”
― Rumi, The Essential Rumi

“We spend our lives telling ourselves the story of past and future, while the reality of the present goes largely unexplored. Now we live in ignorance of the freedom and simplicity of consciousness, prior to the arising of thought.”
― Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

“Things are not as easy to understand and say as we might prefer to believe; most events are inexpressible, happening in a space where no word has ever set foot, and most inexpressible of all are works of art, mysterious existences, whose life continues as ours passes away.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet