10 Deep Dives You May Have Missed on Medium
Deep Dives Vol. II: When sense is nonsense, literary tears, religious exclusivity, God’s underwear, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gnosticism and more. Add these recent stories to your reading list. You’ll be glad you did!
(Non)sense: Trying to make sense of the world?, by Parijat Bhattacharjee
“We don’t know the first thing about the first thing and yet we are all the know-it-alls shouting from the roof tops that we are right and everyone else is wrong…”
This is eye-opening wisdom delivered with humility and humor. This essay sneaks up on you. A quick read you’ll find yourself thinking about all day.
My Life in Tears, by Anna Breslin
This is not an essay about writing, but every writer with literary aspirations should read it. What’s the difference between your life story as diary entry/blog post, and your life story as Literature? How does great writing transform the personal into the universal? This moving memoir is a study in the literary use of extended metaphor. Don’t miss the lesson.
We Can’t Handle What the Internet Has Done to Us, by Jules Evans
The internet in general, and social media in particular, has radically altered how we experience ourselves and the world — to a degree that will creep you out, once you really understand it. Internet consciousness may be destroying us. Or we may all be participating in the next stage of human evolution. If it’s the latter, what will we become?
Critique of Monotheism: The Problem of Religious Exclusivity, by Dr. Boaz Vilallonga, PhD
Most religious people on earth today — Christians, Muslims, Jews, and their subsidiaries — believe only one God exists. They see the gods of unrelated religions not as competitors, but as the product of empty fantasy to be dismissed or ignored. Yet the Old Testament Scriptures at the root of all Abrahamic faiths treat pagan gods as very real competitors for human souls. How did the modern, dismissive view come to be? And what are the implications?
Neither Life Nor God Wears Underwear, by Rachel Nelson
“This is the oddest thing ever: we humans are the very thing that we do not understand… You are the very thing, that you yourself do not understand. You exist as what you can’t put your finger on.”
The world is ridiculous and chaotic. Will you battle the uncertainty or embrace the wild ride?
Rita Marie Meets the Virgin Mary, by Rita Sapunor
How Rita casually considered becoming a Catholic, but then did not. A divinely human comic about religious ambivalence.
Your Life Is Not a Story: The irresistible fallacy of life as narrative, by Timothy Kreider
Homer Simpson labeled life “…just a bunch of stuff that happened.” And it’s true. But we can’t help weaving all of that stuff into a personal life story we allow to define and confine us. We change our stories when new stuff happens, but somehow the narrative always feels consistent. However much we change, we miraculously remain “us.” This is a touching, literary exploration of life, storytelling, and their very human everyday intersection.
The Gnosticism of Harold Bloom — or, What Does the Daemon Know?, by Nathan Smith
Gnosticism is alive and well, especially in America. This 36 minute read is a master class in Gnostic history and theology, from ancient times to the 21st Century. I’ve studied Gnosticism off and on for decades, and I learned stuff reading this essay. Don’t miss it. There’s a terrific bibliography/recommended reading list at the end, too.
The Family Tree Goes Up And Down: Explaining death and rebirth to a child, by Indi Samarajiva
A conversation between a father and his young daughter reveals the grounded beauty at the heart of life. This is not poetry, but when I finished reading it I had the same feeling I get reading good poetry. This essay is breathtaking in its simultaneous depth and simplicity.
Once Upon a Time…, by Ann Litts
Our lives are a story we tell ourselves about ourselves. So, what happens when we claim our power to direct the narrative? To tell a new story? The answer is Magic. Here’s one woman’s firsthand experience.
