The Heart of Reason

What is Tantra?

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:38:25 GMT

There is much confusion around Tantra and its practices. Here, this ancient practice is contrasted with yoga and clarified in terms of left- and right-handed versions, as well as the use of the practice today.

What is Tantra?

From the beginning of time, we humans have been fascinated by the power of sexuality. In the Western tradition, this fascination was early dispatched with the story of Adam and Eve, in ...

OSAMA BIN LADEN: An American Heresy

William Pennell Rock — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:57:22 GMT

May Day 2011 saw the ignominious end of Osama bin Laden, American public enemy #1. The “justice done,” however, was the ancient Semitic kind, “an eye for an eye.” The swift dispatch of Osama to the bottom of the sea without fair trial violated the keystones of the Enlightenment, the very principles upon which the nation was founded, the Rights of Man and justice for all. But these ethical ideals call for an even higher enlightenment, whose prophet Americans idolize every Martin Luther King Day. The much-vaunted “dream” of Dr King called the nation to the real outcome of enlightened sanctity -- compassion and non-violence -- whose true meaning, as Dr King clarified, is “to see the enemy’s point of view.” Aside from the spiritual and moral value of this dream, it is pragmatic: “For from this view we may… see the basic weakness of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of…the opposition.” Was America’s finest moment of the decade actually a grievous regression from its true aspiration and opportunity?

THE RAPE OF INNOCENCE: The Catholic Crisis

William Pennell Rock — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:30:00 GMT

Summary
The sex scandal within the Catholic Church has reached epic proportions. There is much heated discussion of this crisis and how the problem of pedophilia should be handled on a political and disciplinary level, but the questions about its real cause are rarely approached. The crisis is so grotesque and monumental that only the most basic questioning may lead to an understanding of its underlying causes. These go back to the foundations of the Church’s attitude towards vitality ...

"The Gospel of Judas" Who Betrayed Christ?

William Pennell Rock — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:18:00 GMT

The recent discovery of "The Gospel of Judas" seems to turn Christianity on its head. It raises Judas to the status of the most gifted and heroic of Jesus' disciples and even seems to be mocking ritual. The document is authentic. What does it tell us about the early history of Christianity, the true nature of Christ, and the truth of betrayal?

The Big Lie and the Great Truth

William Pennell Rock — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:41:00 GMT

The split between the spirit and the flesh is a subtle fallacy which has had fundamental and dire consequences in the development of Western Culture from the beginnings of Semitic culture. Bodily consciousness and spiritual awareness are essentially one, and this is the ontological base for realizing the oneness of God.

The Big ...

South America and Beyond March-April 2009

William Pennell Rock — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:18:00 GMT

The AMSTERDAM
Journey from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Seattle, Washington
12 March to 24 April 2009

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What If Jesus Never Existed?

William Pennell Rock — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:37:00 GMT

The new atheism assaults the
excesses of religious zeal, which in our time have become a destructive
force. In its convincing proof that Jesus never existed and its
gleeful rush towards liberation, however, the new atheism overlooks
entirely the existential root of Christianity, which is truer than the
facts.

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True Success

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:17:00 GMT
To Be 95 and Happy

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Gay Marriage: Church and State

William Pennell Rock — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:46:00 GMT

The issue of gay marriage is based upon an ambiguity which can be resolved by resorting to the separation of church and state.

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The Christmas Tree

William Pennell Rock — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Although the Christmas tree is
one of our most beloved traditions, we may have lost our sense of its
essential meaning. The true Gift of Christmas is ecumenical: that our
Source, ever-present but forgotten, may reveal itself to us.

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The Dignity of Final Choice

William Pennell Rock — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:20:00 GMT
The medical model for dealing with death is expensive, degrading, and unnatural. In the matter of leaving this life how did nature provide? Edvard Munch, DeathTHE DIGNITY OF FINAL CHOICE Notwithstanding the serenity of deathbed scenes in the movies, the actual process of dying is not pleasant. In addition to the intrinsic horror of it, compounded by our cultural fear of death, the modern Hippocratic inclination to preserve life by any technological means all too often results in a gruesome attack upon the dignity of the dying and the sensibilities of their loved ones.I once had a ...

Lessons We Learned from W

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:41:00 GMT
Lessons We Learned from W
The disastrous state of the union is the consequence of our country's choice of the W Man as president. What has he taught us?

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The Basic Error of Western Thought

William Pennell Rock — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:17:00 GMT
The Basic Error of Western Thought: Final or absolute reality is conceptually based The dream of a final, scientifically based explanation of reality and God has displaced and concealed the authentic contemplative means to attain true understanding.

The Real Price of a Yale Education

William Pennell Rock — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:21:00 GMT
This article was written shortly after GW Bush became president and before the shock and awe of his administration became apparent. I believe that it describes the underlying flaw in the entire project which has brought America to a nadir of respect in the world.

Foundational Dissent and British Nihilism - Addendum 2008

William Pennell Rock — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:50:00 GMT
In April of 2008, Cambridge in America produced a complementary event in San Francisco, which focused on the humanities. What was demonstrated is that human nature and values can also be treated as an object (the proper study of man) and that no one does it better than Cambridge.

Foundational Dissent and British Nihilism

William Pennell Rock — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:15:00 GMT
FOUNDATIONAL DISSENT The Iconography of Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking, the world famous Cambridge cosmologist almost completely incapacitated by severe motor neurone disease, is at once the most courageous, the most vulnerable, and the most brilliant person I have ever encountered, an icon of human aspiration and of Cambridge itself. To me however, he and his condition symbolize the scientific project to penetrate into the mystery of Being, a crumpled and attenuated attempt to understand our universe when we have overlooked the robust nature of our true home.

The Real Intelligence about Iraq

William Pennell Rock — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:13:00 GMT
Written in 2003, this essay attempts to articulate the real Intelligence that should have prevented the invasion and the reasons we are losing our great war.

What is the Heart of Reason? A Biography

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:55:00 GMT
What is the Heart of Reason? A bio William Pennell Rock In 1959, I formally entered Yale with the Matriculation Ceremonies for the class of '63. Among 1000 other classmates in attendance were David Gergen, future media pundit; L Paul Bremer, future Proconsul of Iraq; Lex Hixon, future Brahmin of all true faiths; and Dick Cheney, future fist of American Imperialism. In the matriculation address delivered by then President Griswold, I was astonished to hear that we were to be trained to become prophets… Here we are half a century later.

1. THE HEART OF THE MATTER Summary, Outline, Introduction

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:24:00 GMT
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2. Nihilism

William Pennell Rock — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:04:00 GMT
What is the essence? What is Truth? There is no such thing. At least, after the conflagration of two world wars, it became fashionable to the point of political correctness to deny essence or Truth. This is a sacred tenet of Western thought from existentialism through post-modernism. How did this happen? In the wake of the nineteenth century love affair ...