Your Identity Is Not Your History
The article argues that personal identity is shaped by current actions rather than past events. While history provides useful lessons, it does not set immutable limits on who you can become. Changing one’s self‑narrative requires deliberate, often uncomfortable, deviation from established patterns. The author ends with a practical prompt: identify a limiting belief rooted in the past and act against it today.
Why I Became Buddhist
On March 6, mindfulness teacher Gerry Hōshō Rickard formally took Zen precepts (Jukai) in an online ceremony led by Roshi Joan Halifax at the Upaya Zen Centre. The vow marks a shift from intellectual study of Zen to living the teachings...
The Universe Inside Your Skull
Physicist Joachim Keppler proposes that consciousness emerges when the brain’s cortical microcolumns resonate with the universal zero‑point field, a persistent quantum vacuum that vibrates even at absolute zero. The theory frames the brain as an antenna rather than a generator,...
The God of Second Chances • Daily Devo #496
Daily Devo’s #496 devotional, titled “The God of Second Chances,” delivers a biblical reflection on forgiveness, renewal, and moving beyond past sins. The post incorporates scripture from John 8, Romans 6‑8, and Philippians 3, urging readers to embrace God’s grace and transform their...
Engineering the Present Moment
Alan, owner of a non‑emergency medical transport firm in Tacoma, was overwhelmed by constant operational fires, shifting Medicaid rules, and fragmented AI scheduling tools. Seeking relief, he turned to Dr. Joe Dispenza’s "Becoming Supernatural" to rewire his stress response. A consultant...
Essay Five – Facing the Abyss
Essay Five contends that civilization’s core process—systematic erosion of relational being—has transformed human societies from integrated hunter‑gatherer cultures into a fragmented, abstracted modernity. The narrative links the origin to Sumerian grain‑distribution controls, then follows religious‑secular amalgams that reinforced relational loss,...
The Art of Disengagement: Reclaiming Your Energy in a World That Pulls at It
The article explores how constant external demands drain personal energy and why polite disengagement often meets resistance. It highlights the emotional toll of others’ mistakes and the resulting gaslighting, hostility, and stubbornness. The author advocates for deliberate boundary setting and...
Rivers of Living Water
The Daily Devotional for Women titled “Rivers of Living Water” aired live on March 23, 2026, thanking participants such as Tru Lov3 Letters and Caroline Goings. The host announced a potential shift to a Friday‑evening 7:00 pm Eastern slot to better serve working women. Viewers were...
The Unseen Currents: Navigating Philosophical Uncertainty
The essay explores philosophical uncertainty, questioning the foundations of knowledge, reality, and ethics. It illustrates how doubt can generate existential angst, moral relativism, and decision‑making paralysis, while also offering a path toward intellectual humility. By invoking thinkers like Camus and...
The Wedding Dress Metaphor: A Powerful Lesson on Being Authentic
The piece uses a wedding‑dress metaphor to illustrate how leaders often reshape themselves to be chosen, only to lose authenticity and confidence. It argues that true belonging and effective leadership stem from embracing one’s unique design rather than conforming to...
Hey, What's the Idea?
Soil & Roots marks two years on Substack by urging readers to examine the hidden ideas that shape Christian discipleship. The post argues that Western spirituality is crippled by three corrupted concepts—the Discipleship Dilemma, the Formation Gap, and the Forgotten...
When I Held Up a Mirror, Hate Was Staring Back
The author, still mourning his wife and daughter, confronts a sudden, explosive reaction to a terse message from his brother, exposing lingering guilt and anger. A somatic experiencing therapist guides him through shadow work, revealing that the hatred he felt...
Joseph Spent Thirteen Years in a Pit. God Was With Him the Whole Time. That's the Problem.
The post argues that biblical periods of hardship—Joseph’s thirteen‑year pit and Moses’ forty‑year desert—are intentional divine timing, not punishment. By highlighting verses such as Jeremiah 29:10 and Romans 8:28, it shows that delays have precise lengths and destinations. The author urges readers...
The Freedom of a Clear Conscience
The post argues that Christ’s sacrificial blood fully cleanses a believer’s conscience, turning it from a paralyzing accuser into a confident guide for service. It explains that forgiveness is not earned but granted, freeing Christians from guilt, shame, and fear....
Sunday's Hymn
The blog reflects on Passion Sunday, marking the start of Passiontide, and highlights the hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” as a central piece of Lenten worship. It traces the hymn’s origins from a 13th‑century Latin poem attributed to Arnulf...
Moving Forward • Daily Devo #492
The March 22, 2026 Daily Devo #492 reflects on Ruth 1:16‑17, highlighting Ruth’s choice to follow Naomi despite uncertainty. The author contrasts logical retreat with faith‑driven commitment, emphasizing that true faith means moving forward without guarantees. The post invites readers...
Utrecht Meetup #2, Making Beliefs Pay Rent
Utrecht Meetup #2 builds on the earlier Meet & Greet, inviting participants to examine beliefs that may not be "paying rent." Attendees are asked to bring one or two personal convictions they suspect are unproductive, fostering hands‑on discussion. The event...
The Deep Code - 02: You’re Not Undisciplined. You’re Entropic.
The post argues that setbacks in personal change aren’t caused by a lack of discipline but by a hidden cognitive mechanism that blocks conscious decisions from reaching the brain’s execution layer. This "entropic" process operates independently of character, effort, or...
March AWAKE Collective Live with Jen Hatmaker Replay
Jen Hatmaker released the March 20, 2026 replay of her AWAKE Collective Live session, inviting listeners to revisit a candid conversation about personal well‑being. The event opened with the simple yet probing question, “How are you, really?” which sparked a rapid, high‑energy...
Discipline Means Nothing Without Change
The post reflects on Muhammad Iqbal’s teaching that true discipline survives beyond Ramadan’s ritual, emphasizing the cultivation of the self—or *khudi*—as the real test of faith. Iqbal, writing under British‑ruled India, warned against merely borrowing ideas without rebuilding inner strength....
The Morning Dew • Daily Devo #489
The Morning Dew #489 delivers a daily devotional centered on Job 12:7‑9, urging readers to pause, breathe, and recognize God’s glory in creation. It frames nature—beasts, birds, earth, and sea—as silent teachers that testify to divine sovereignty. The author contrasts modern busyness...
The Relief Of Not Being Perfect
The post argues that true freedom comes from accepting personal limits rather than striving for perfection in every area. It emphasizes that being brilliant in some domains while ordinary in others is not a flaw but a realistic self‑view. The...
The Holy War Delusion
The post reflects on how Israel’s wartime conduct is eroding Jewish self‑identification, as rabbis confess that Zionist symbolism now overshadows their faith. It draws parallels between this crisis and the United States’ own identity turmoil under Trump‑era politics, where religious...
Waiting on God… or Just Wasting Time?
The author reflects on a recent conference talk about Christian revival, arguing that believers have lost moral direction and become passive, allowing other ideologies to fill the void. A audience member questioned whether Christians should wait for divine instruction rather...
Backup and Death for Humanlike AI
The article imagines conscious, human‑like AI agents that can be precisely backed up and restored, turning what we call death into a reversible process akin to loading a saved game. It explores scenarios where an AI “dies” in an accident...
What Forgiveness Takes
Maria Popova’s latest essay on The Marginalian reflects on forgiveness after a friend shared Lucille Clifton’s poem “blessing the boats.” Using Clifton’s line as a prompt, Popova writes a lyrical piece that likens forgiveness to the tide’s endless, gentle work, turning...
First Love: Raised Christian, Practicing Buddhist and Closing the Gap
The article examines how people raised Christian who adopt Zen Buddhism bridge two spiritual traditions. It highlights post‑World War II Catholic priests in Japan who studied with Zen masters such as Hugo Enomiya‑Lassalle and Yamada Kōun, creating a lasting Zen‑Christian exchange. The...
Scramble of a Q7: “Do I Have a Purpose?”
Mike Foster’s newsletter explores the Q7 primal question – “Do I have a purpose?” – and defines the “Scramble” as the chaotic reaction when that need isn’t met. Q7s either freeze in endless dreaming or over‑commit to every cause, both...
Day Thirty-Nine: Why Do You Fear God?
In Day Thirty‑Nine of his "Radically Genuine" series, Dr. Roger McFillin asks why people fear God and argues that this fear is a product of religious conditioning rather than divine intent. He frames the question as part of a broader...
THE AWAKENING THEY CANNOT MEDICATE
The post tells the story of a composite client, Amanda, whose bipolar diagnosis was used to mask deep childhood trauma and emotional attunement. It argues that psychiatric labels often serve pharmaceutical interests, noting a forty‑fold rise in childhood bipolar diagnoses...
I'm Looking Forward to Going to Evangelical Hell
John Pavlovitz recounts a pivotal moment at a gay couple’s Christmas dinner where he abandoned belief in a literal hell, finding the doctrine incompatible with a loving God. He argues that evangelical leaders weaponize damnation to rally bases, generate fear,...
My Spiritual Reflection on Holy Week and Easter
The author released a short eBook titled “My Spiritual Journey to Easter,” designed as a gentle companion for Holy Week. It offers daily reflections that can be read in one sitting or revisited throughout the season for prayer, journaling, or...
The Ancient Seers Who Claimed to Access All of Human Knowledge: India's Rishis and the Mystery of the Akashic Field
The post revisits India’s ancient Vedic Rishis, who claimed the Vedas were heard from the universal Akashic field rather than authored. It describes Akasha as a primordial information reservoir that records every thought, event, and vibration. The author links this...
The Whole Problem of Life
In a 1962 letter to Keith Manship, C.S. Lewis explains that spiritual growth follows John the Baptist’s paradox—Christ must increase while the self decreases—yet it unfolds slowly and imperceptibly. He advises Manship to keep performing his ordinary duties, enjoy friendships,...
What's Your Antidote?
Danielle LaPorte released a new Substack post titled “What’s your antidote?” as part of her weekly “Wednesday wisdom” series. The piece encourages readers to identify personal antidotes to life’s challenges and frames self‑reflection as a therapeutic practice. Access is gated...
A Funeral for My Christianity
An introspective essay recounts the author’s growing anger and grief over the perceived death of his personal Christianity. He frames his emotional turmoil as a mourning process, likening it to the “second death of Jesus” within American Christianity. The piece...
Fight For It • Daily Devo 486
The March 17, 2026 entry of Daily Devotional for Women, titled “Fight For It,” interprets Ecclesiastes 9:11 to emphasize perseverance through faith rather than luck. The post urges readers to trust God’s word even when no visible evidence appears, describing faith...
What if the Bridge Doesn’t Exist?
The post uses Indiana Jones’s chasm scene to illustrate that faith is not about certainty but about stepping forward when the path is invisible. It defines faith as assurance for unseen outcomes and argues that true faith replaces explanations with courage....
Most Male Ambition Is Grief in a Suit
The essay argues that modern men’s ambition often masks underlying grief caused by the loss of a purpose‑driven world once defined by necessity. Grandparents worked because survival demanded it, giving their labor clear meaning, whereas today’s abundance severs that link,...
Called By Name • Daily Devo #485
The March 16 2026 devotional explores the transformative power of names, drawing on four biblical examples where God changes a person’s name to signal a new identity and purpose. Jacob becomes Israel, Gideon is called a mighty man of valor, Simon is...
The Nature of Intelligence and Selves.
Agüera y Arcas reframes consciousness, free will and intelligence as predictive models rather than illusory constructs. He argues that self‑applied theory of mind, internal randomness, neural instability and selective pruning generate genuine free will without invoking dualism. Consciousness emerges when...
The Slow Funeral of Self
The post “The Slow Funeral of Self” urges believers to embrace Christ’s call to die to self‑hood, framing the grave as a doorway to true freedom rather than an end. It draws on Luke 9:23 and biblical examples to illustrate how...
Overwhelm the Inner Critic
The post urges creators to "overwhelm the inner critic" by committing to an eight‑hour art sprint. The only requirement is finishing a new piece, regardless of quality, to shift focus from perfection to completion. By removing the pursuit of "great,"...
Turning Unbearable Loss Into Ground of Shared Life
The blog post highlights a conversation with members of the Parents Circle – Bereaved Families Forum, a joint Israeli‑Palestinian community of families who have lost loved ones in the conflict. Hosted in New York by American Friends of the Parents...
The Most Dangerous Lie in the Church
An evangelical writer condemns the church’s tendency to avoid confronting sin, labeling it a dangerous lie that prioritizes comfort over truth. He recounts personal experiences where fear of conflict led to spiritual neglect and even loss of life. The post...
The Deep Code - 01: You’re Working on the Wrong Layer
The Deep Code course argues that most wellness tools operate only on the mind’s surface, leaving the deeper subconscious architecture untouched. It claims lasting personal transformation requires reshaping that invisible structure, which is shaped long before conscious intent. Drawing on...
The Invitational Identity
The article explores the "invitational nature of reality," arguing that every action and perception functions as an invitation—whether conscious or unconscious. Drawing on Buddhist teachings, biblical references, and personal anecdotes, the author highlights how we often hide behind defensive griefs,...
More Instrumentalisation
The essay argues that modern culture increasingly treats nature, art, learning, and friendship as mere tools for utilitarian outcomes, stripping them of intrinsic value. It highlights how research on wellbeing often overstates activity‑specific benefits, reducing them to generic truths about...
The Clearing Podcast Ad-Free: Elissa Altman
The Clearing Podcast released an ad‑free episode featuring author Elissa Altman, available to paid subscribers. Listeners who start or renew an annual subscription in March enter a prize draw for a signed copy of Altman's book, writing supplies, and branded...
The Two Swords and the Eternal Soul
The essay, authored by retired mathematics professor John Emil Thomas Bernard, argues that Christianity’s belief in an immortal soul obliges believers to active, heroic virtue rather than passive piety. Historically, Christians embraced a dual‑sword model—spiritual warfare through prayer and sacraments,...