Category: Six Minute Read
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My First Novel is Here
Successful businessman Phoenix Adams has it all: wealth, status, a beautiful wife, and a respected position as an elder in his church. Yet as he lands in New York after closing the biggest deal of his career, an overwhelming emptiness threatens to consume him. When a business acquaintance directs him to an unmarked door in…
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What I Learned Spending a Day with a Master Chef from Basque Country Spain
Since my retirement at age 48, I have loved cooking, but now that we are here in Spain, it has become one of the supreme joys of my life. The Basque Country in northern Spain is celebrated worldwide for its haute cuisine. The combination of Spanish zest and French elegance is evident in every bite….
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Four Days of Solitude and Magic at Montserrat Monastery
For the past four days, I have disappeared from the world. No media, no people, no news, just me. Alone with myself. For three nights and four blissful days, I retreated to the Montserrat Monastery, high in the mountains of Spain. Montserrat is a Spanish name derived from the Latin terms “mons” (mountain) and “serratus”…
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I Grew Up Much Like JD Vance. How Did We End Up So Different?
I read Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance when it first appeared. The first part moved me as he described the Appalachians and his family and friends. The rest of the book felt disingenuous, with deceptive descriptions and hollow chapters. After the excitement that somebody had written a book much like my memoir, A Renaissance Redneck, it left…
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La Alquimia del Otoño
Siempre me ha fascinado la misteriosa práctica de la alquimia. Es un proceso que intenta transformar metales básicos como el plomo o el cobre en plata u oro, descubrir una cura para las enfermedades y prolongar la vida. He encontrado alquimia en los escritos de Carl Jung (un pensador profundo), Paulo Coelho (un poco superficial),…
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The Alchemy of Autumn
I’ve always been fascinated by the mysterious practice of alchemy. It is a process that attempts to transform base metals such as lead or copper into silver or gold, discover a cure for disease, and extend life. I’ve encountered alchemy in the writings of Carl Jung (a deep thinker), Paulo Coelho (a bit shallow), Gabriel…
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The Yes Within Ourselves
We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, to affirm our deepest cravings. The yes within has been educated out, churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out of our being. The heartbreaking truth of life is that we get farther away every year from the yes that was born within us….
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Ejaculation: What It Is and Why It Feels So Good
It’s best to imagine this post as an episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. It makes the title sing when imagined in his striking British accent, complete with hand and face gestures. He would very likely emphasize the last two words by slowing them down and adding the accented word “fucking” in the middle and slapping his palms…
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Why This Christmas Was My Best Ever
As Gina and I reflected on this holiday season while enjoying a festive cosmopolitan a few evenings ago, I told her it was my best ever. She asked why. Here are a few significant reasons. —I love new things. And moving to Barcelona has provided a multitude of them: new languages, new routines, new foods,…
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Our First Day In Spain
At long last, we are here—the beautiful and seductive city of Barcelona, Spain. I plan to chronicle the first day, the first month, and each month after that to see if this dream of life in Spain matches the reality. I asked Gina her thoughts on the first day this evening (we are six hours…
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My First Encounter With Militant Christians
I had just graduated high school in 1976, and my new girlfriend’s church’s music director invited me to summer camp. It sounded like a great way to spend time with her and a much-needed break. I was working two jobs (one was the third shift at a yarn mill) to save money for college the…
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Do I Regret 30 Years of My Life As A Christian Minister?
08/29/2023 Over the past seventeen years, I’ve had several social media comments asking how I reconcile spending thirty years in Evangelical ministry and, in their words, “deceiving people.” These comments deeply wounded me as I struggled with the first half of my life spent making a career in a religion I have renounced. Was all…
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Candid Thoughts on Baring It All (Nude Beaches)
I write about the meaning of our sexual fantasies in my latest book, “The Quest.” In it, I mention renowned sex therapist Robert Stoller and his insightful observation that our porn preferences reveal our personal myths—our life stories—things we have repressed, our attachment styles, our hidden longings, and more. Psychologists describe levels of porn. For…
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Candid Thoughts About Going Forward After Insurrection Day
I’ve taken 24 hours off media to formulate my thoughts and gather my emotions. My mood has changed from furious rage to smoldering anger. I stand resolute as an American against these seditionists. THEY ARE TERRORISTS—They traffic in fear. All one needs to do is read your Facebook wall and see all the threats and…
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Ten Things That Helped Me Get Through This Year From Hell (Sorry Santa, A Few Are Naughty)
Desperate times call for desperate measures and 2020 was possibly the worst (and best) year of our lives. Because Gina is high-risk we have both quarantined the entire year. We went out to eat (one time since February) for our anniversary—and only after I rented the entire restaurant to ensure a private dinner. We put…
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Enantiodromia — My Latest Watercolor
18″ x 24″ Original Graphite and Watercolor As far as I can remember, I have never given an interpretation for one of my 200+ watercolors. I prefer the observer to form their own opinions and ideas. But this painting is so important to me personally that I feel it might be of interest to some….
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Are My Watercolors Art or Pornography?
Look at this painting. Is it of a nude person, or would you label it a naked person? Is it a woman, a female, a girl, or a lady? Which word is precisely the right one? From my perspective, as the artist, none of the gender words are correct. But the painting remains the same,…
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The Search for the Holy Grail
It is 4:38 am. The following thoughts woke me a few minutes ago. They have been roiling around my mind for a lifetime. But for some reason, they rose to the top of my thinking in the early hours of this new day, and I feel compelled to write them down. The book I am…
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My Top Ten Books of the Decade
You can tell a lot about a person by knowing the books they read—and particularly the books that impact their lives. That is one reason I love the goodreads.com community. Founded in 2006, the online community provides a world of insight into my fellow book lovers. For a person that is a voracious reader, Goodreads…