On the Blog

To make the world a better place is an intimidating challenge. But what if we focused on our immediate surroundings?

Can being lost be productive? Our columnist on lingering in the mystery of our purpose — and surrendering to the paths that choose us.

We can communicate with almost anybody at any moment and all the time. But are we losing our capacity to be alone, and therefore our ability to think anew? Rediscovering this ability just may be pivotal to the health of democracy.

An antidote from Margaret Atwood for the hubris that leads us to claim ownership over the living lands that nourish us.

Our Letter from Loring Park opens our application process for the inaugural On Being Gathering. And, articles on the complexities of family and love, giving up on the myth of perfection, grappling with inherited prejudice and being recognized for who we are, and words from Dorothy Day on a revolution that starts within.

Rather than focusing on what’s beyond the limits of ordinary experience, we might be better served focusing on what’s within.

In a turning cultural tide, non-religious Millennials and the Christian church find themselves at odds. But do they have to be?

Shame and defensiveness about racism are not the path to change. Our columnist extends a challenge to white progressives, and to herself: to face the reality of deeply embedded racism directly, and to resolve to change the prejudices that remain.

How our tech is distorting our attention; wisely examining places where we might grow, rather than scrutinizing our strengths; acknowledging each other’s full identities structurally and spiritually; and revisiting the visionary work of theologian and sociologist Peter Berger.

How can we nurture our identity and faith if we don’t feel recognized for who we are? A reflection on yearning for a community that truly sees us.

A monk with a “wicked sense of humor” inspires our columnist to pack his bags when it comes to attaining perfection.

A woman’s evolving understanding of mortality, identity, and letting go — through a poem that has accompanied her through life and loss.

American politics is caught between two competing ideologies: Nietzsche’s doctrine of strength and power over weakness, and the Judeo-Christian ethics of humility and compassion for the weak. A young theologian seeks to understand American civil religion.

A woman’s story of her family — fractured and bruised but not without deep, complex love. A reflection on mental illness and divorce, the infinite shapes a home can take, and the courage to carve out space in a world built around conventions.

Do we second-guess ourselves to the point of poisoning the trust in our own abilities?

Omid Safi on the experience of being institutionally invisible — and how our structures and spirits might change to acknowledge each other’s entire being.

Our editor in chief turns to other sources for understanding and pondering: brain science on why our brains are wired for hate, African-American spirituals as a monument to our nation’s history and resilience, and focusing our attention on what really matters.

Mary Oliver’s knack for finding the grace in life’s big questions, and reflecting on them with the calm and clarity of an afternoon on a quiet pond.

A grassroots initiative is taking a road trip through America this summer to facilitate messy but healing conversations across political divides.

For the closing days of Ramadan, a young Catholic scholar shows us that we can look to many sources outside one’s own religious canon to find meaning and pay attention to the world before us.

Might our obsession with every tweet and news bite be too much? The difference between misguided fixation and engaged awareness — and how to redirect our attention to what really matters.

The extraordinary is revered and celebrated, but where does that leave the ordinary? On rediscovering the meaning of awe, and finding it in the quiet majesty of the daily grind.

Our weekly Letter from Loring Park compels us to witness all before us close-up, whether the frailties and strengths of our fathers or the spirit of reciprocity around us.

In the wake of the attacks in Manchester, an artist’s impassioned appeal to the West to cast off the scourge of collective responsibility for terrorism — and embrace the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims as partners not adversaries in the battle against extreme violence.