The Spirit Within — A Conversation on the True Self
Posted: May 30, 2025 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: identity, philosophy, religion, self Leave a commentHave Polkinghorne, Ó Murchú, and Schwartz develop a formal model of the idea that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is the “true self” we access during inner healing
ChatGPT Prompt
Participants:
- John Polkinghorne (JP) – Theoretical physicist and Anglican priest
- Diarmuid Ó Murchú (DOM) – Quantum theologian and spiritual writer
- Richard Schwartz (RS) – Founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Moderator (MOD) – A neutral facilitator guiding the conversation
Scene
A roundtable discussion at a quiet retreat center, surrounded by tall trees. A fire crackles softly in the background. The mood is contemplative yet animated.
1.0 Opening Exchange
MOD:
Thank you all for coming. Our question today is simple but rich: Is the Holy Spirit the True Self we encounter in deep inner healing? John, would you like to begin?
2.0 Foundations: Spirit and Openness
JP:
Certainly. In quantum theory, we know the universe isn’t deterministic. There’s openness at the fundamental level. I believe that God, and particularly the Holy Spirit, acts within that openness—not as an external puppeteer, but as an indwelling presence that coaxes creation forward. This divine action is subtle, not violating our freedom.
(See: Exploring Reality)
RS:
That sounds remarkably familiar. In IFS, we speak of the Self as an indwelling presence as well. It’s not something we generate—it’s something we uncover. It’s calm, compassionate, connected. When people unblend from their protective parts, this Self just shows up. We don’t create it; we discover it.
Rationalizing the Prophetic (A Response to “On Priesthood” by Scott Alexander)
Posted: May 29, 2025 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: identity, purpose, reform, religion, self Leave a commentAs Scott Alexander, write a solution to “On Priesthood” called Rationalizing the Prophetic.
ChatGPT Prompt
ChatGPT as Scott Alexander
There’s a line I’ve been chewing on for weeks now:
“To be professional means getting identity from vocation.
To be prophetic means getting vocation from identity.”
That’s too clean to be safe, and too true to ignore.
Let’s back up.
Read the rest of this entry »The Embodied Meek Will Inherit the Earth
Posted: February 8, 2025 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: politics, relationships, religion, resilience, values Leave a commentAs Archbishop Óscar Romero preach on Deep Embodiment through the lens of “the meek will inherit the earth” at a National Prayer Breakfast.
ChatGPT Prompr
Brothers and sisters, people of faith and conscience,
I come before you today, not in my own name, but as a witness to the Gospel—a Gospel that proclaims, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
This is not the meekness of the world’s misunderstanding—weakness, passivity, or retreat. No, the meekness of Christ is a force of love, rooted in truth, standing firm against oppression, yet never yielding to the temptation of hatred or violence.
Read the rest of this entry »Celestial Holography and Ritual Purity: A Mathematical and Metaphysical Bridge
Posted: January 29, 2025 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: religion, truth, values 1 CommentCan the math of Celestial Holography help us understand the mechanics of Ritual Purity, both its utility and failure modes relative to true holiness?
1. Introduction
Can celestial holography, a framework from modern theoretical physics, provide insights into the mechanics of ritual purity—its utility, failure modes, and relationship to true holiness? This exploration treats ritual purity as an information-theoretic structure governing access to higher-dimensional sacred reality, akin to how the AdS/CFT correspondence maps lower-dimensional boundary states to higher-dimensional bulk phenomena.
Read the rest of this entry »The Tapestry of Reciprocal Leadership
Posted: December 21, 2024 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: argument, dialogue, humility, purpose, reconciliation, relationships, religion, values Leave a commentSequel to How MAET Turns TEAMS Around (and Also Saves Civilization)
Explain the journey of reciprocal leadership using a tapestry viewed from three perspectives: John Gottman, David Marquet, and later Saint Francis. It starts out exciting, but leads to disillusionment.
ChatGPT Prompt (greatly condensed)
Then something miraculous happens…
Act 1: Shared Excitement
Scene: A serene monastery courtyard. The sun casts a golden glow over an ancient stone wall, where a large, intricate tapestry hangs. The label beneath it reads: “Reciprocal Leadership.”
Enter JOHN GOTTMAN, reflective and warm, and DAVID MARQUET, precise and deliberate, from opposite sides of the stage. They stop in front of the tapestry, staring at it curiously.
GOTTMAN (gesturing to the tapestry)
Look at how interconnected it is. Each thread supports the others, like a family—built on trust and shared understanding.
MARQUET (studying the pattern closely)
Interconnected, yes, but orderly. Each thread has a role and direction, like an organization—efficient, driven by clarity and intent.
Gandhi Meets Bonhoeffer: Can Grace Condone Assassination?
Posted: November 28, 2024 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: dialogue, politics, religion, values, wisdom 1 CommentSequel to Radical Graciousness: Activism as Social Therapy
1. A New Visitor
The ashram courtyard is serene, the afternoon light casting soft shadows. Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Václav Havel, and Abbie Hoffman sit in quiet reflection, discussing the role of grace in activism. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his demeanor somber, his eyes heavy with unresolved questions.
“I’ve come with a question,” Bonhoeffer begins, his voice steady but tense. “Can grace ever condone assassination?”
Read the rest of this entry »The Two Simones: How Fractal Anti-Fragility Marries Spirit to Society
Posted: November 19, 2024 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: philosophy, reform, religion, values 1 CommentA ChatGPT-Powered Dialogue Between Simone de Beauvoir and Simone Weil
Beauvoir: Let’s begin with the obvious: the world is full of adversity. Ethics cannot stop at helping us survive it. It must guide us to thrive through it—both as individuals and as societies. Anti-fragility is an elegant concept: to grow stronger under stress. But what matters most is that anti-fragility does not remain an isolated achievement for the privileged few. It must ripple outward, transforming rigid systems that deny freedom.
Weil: Agreed, but true strength does not come from human effort alone. Anti-fragility, if it is to be ethical, must draw its energy from grace—a spiritual openness that connects us to the divine. Without this, it risks becoming a shallow pursuit of power, leaving systems stronger but souls unfulfilled.
Beauvoir: You always bring us back to grace, but I’m skeptical of grounding ethics in something transcendent. Freedom, for me, is the source of ethical strength. Anti-fragile individuals are those who take responsibility for their own freedom—and in doing so, inspire change in others. If systems become anti-fragile, it’s because they’ve been challenged by people demanding freedom and justice.
Read the rest of this entry »Higher Self Cafe, v3: Chesterton vs Philosophers
Posted: November 16, 2024 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: debate, philosophy, religion, transformation, truth 1 CommentAs the laughter settles, the café door creaks open, letting in a gust of wind. In strides G.K. Chesterton, his broad figure wrapped in a heavy coat and scarf, a walking stick in hand. He scans the room, spots the group, and approaches their table with curiosity. Standing over Maslow’s napkin, now covered in scribbles and redrawn layers, he stares at the pyramid with a slight frown.
Chesterton:
Booming voice, laced with mischief
Ah, the famous pyramid! But I must say, gentlemen, it looks terribly… unfinished. You’ve all been climbing this structure like rational mountaineers, but what happens when you reach the peak and realize it’s upside down?
The Grace of the Included Middle
Posted: November 9, 2024 Filed under: AI-Powered Essays | Tags: culture, dialogue, philosophy, polarization, reconciliation, religion, values Leave a commentChatGPT as Brendan Graham Dempsey
In the age of polarization, divisive ideologies, and unyielding binaries, we find ourselves in need of a profound shift in thinking—a shift that allows us to embrace paradox, complexity, and, most importantly, the grace of what I call the Included Middle. This concept does not merely lie between opposing viewpoints but occupies a space that is both-and: a creative middle that holds the tension of opposites in transformative ways. Embracing the Included Middle offers not just a strategy for navigating our complex age but an invitation to a deeper, more compassionate mode of existence.
Theologically and culturally, this approach represents a metamodern response to postmodern fragmentation. Where postmodernism often focused on deconstruction, identifying every boundary and category as a potential power play, metamodernism seeks synthesis, oscillating between structures rather than dismantling them entirely. Within this framework, the Included Middle is a profoundly sacred space—a space that mirrors the inclusive, reconciling grace we seek to embody in our fractured world.
Read the rest of this entry »Ultimate Harmony
Posted: August 16, 2020 Filed under: Governance Reform | Tags: culture, economics, education, health, philosophy, politics, psychology, reform, religion, systems, transformation Leave a commentThe ultimate purpose and measure of mental, emotional, and spiritual health is a Harmonious Self, where each Part relates constructively to the Other.
The ultimate purpose and measure of political, economic, and cultural health is a similarly Harmonious Society.
The ultimate purpose and measure of parenting, education and religion is our ability to become Harmonious Selves who co-construct more Harmonious Societies. Read the rest of this entry »
Radical Centrism 