MSI Press Blog

  Today's book excerpt comes from  An Afternoon's Dictation  by  Steven Greenebaum . This book has been in the Amazon top 100 among interfaith and ecumenical books on many occasions. PART TWO: DEALING WITH DEATH AND DYING CHAPTER SIX   For me, while the thought of a soul being with God forever was indeed warmly comforting, the idea of a soul dwelling in, or confined to, a gated heaven was not. I’d grown up and indeed lived most of my life surrounded by people who talked about heaven’s “pearly gates.” Heaven as a gated community? The image was perfect—perfectly horrible. Only the “anointed” need apply. And who was the guardian of the gates, checking off who would be admitted and who would be turned away? Peter, a white male Christian saint. No, thanks. I’ve never liked gated communities on Earth. I certainly wasn’t interested in one for our souls. So, what to do with, “You cannot live forever, but you can be with Me forever.”? If religion is but a language for sp...

  WORDS MATTER “If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging symbol.” --I Corinthians 13: 1   My three brothers recently visited from afar. We spent a week together crammed into my small apartment. We exhausted ourselves talking about our lives and our favorite subjects--religion, psychology, and politics. I daily used up my quota of words. Many family and friends avoid talking about these subjects to avoid conflict. But we relish the give-and-take of debate. Coincidentally, the Republican National Convention was televised each night. We watched it diligently and exchanged views. Our convictions ranged across the political spectrum. So our conversations were animated, our disagreements passionate. However, at the end of the week, we learned something from each other and parted friends. Words matter. They have power. Our traditions attest to this fact. For example, God created the world with His word. He be...

  The following excerpt comes from Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. Core Question: Is the world of nature knowable?   The tree represents an existence of obscurity, mystery, metaphor, and silence. While its canopy can stretch up to several thousand square meters, its roots can cover a n area of up to ten million. Such shocking, asymmetrical data prompted a nascent passion within me to carefully reimagine tree roots. Where to find a tree floating tranquilly in a lake, with its wanton crown stretching above shimmering, fluid moonlight; and beneath the water’s surface, as neither a reflection nor an attachment, grows another “tree,” its composition of interweaving, soil-delving roots discarded for an indiscriminate splay into the water? What a spectacular dual-tree picture it would cast upon the lake! Yet, this image is by no means symmetric, since the submerged tree is much more flourishing than its peer above the water – the part we normally see and recognize as a “...