YouandTheTarot

  Just like Roman Catholics had established their own institutions of higher education, so did the "Quakers," that is the Society of Friends. In Wichita, Kansas there is Friends University , which brands itself as "higher education with a purpose." Here's a list of other Friends universities. Overall the higher-education sector is in turmoil. There's broad-based questioning of everything from the return-on-investment to the politics. The exception is the faith-based university, mostly Christian-oriented. The model is trusted. Its growth outstrips that of secular higher education:  " ... data from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that religious schools grew by 82 percent from 1980 to 2020, while the national average was 57 percent." In addition, the brand is known for innovation, especially in acclimating first-generation college students to the system and establishing affordability.  This trend aligns with the surge in membershi...

  Someone to listen, then maybe provide some insights. That's why most human beings come for a tarot reading.  And, deep listening is highly inefficient. For example, there's no rush to connect the dots, then spit out a "finding." The same, of course, applies to effective psychotherapy, pastoral counseling and meditation. In friendships, no, we don't welcome an efficient response to sharing difficulties.  Yet, achieving efficiency and continually increasing it have become the holy grail of a growing number of pursuits globally. Amazon just announced it's cutting jobs in the book division to, you got it, be more efficient. US government is now about being more efficient. AI screeners in both resume review and interviewing supposedly make the hiring process more efficient. So, here we are: Efficiency is killing off what it used to mean "to be human." During the Industrial Revolution novelist Charles Dickens chronicled that loss in everything from worki...

Whether it's a work issue or access to some other goody there are those who come to a tarot reading in despair about the "unfairness" of things.  The attractive man/woman got the promotion to the C-Suite. Not them, the hardest and most innovative middle manager.  The neighbor who inherited money and could afford a top lawyer got a slap on the wrist for a DUI.  Their partner went to jail. Is it naive to even try to get ahead, get things and all that?  That matter of seeming inequality has surfaced like a sea monster from the deep in China. The New York Times reports that there are: " ... fierce online debates in China about privilege and inequality" Meanwhile, here in America the source of the growing political polarization is rage about who gets to have the edge in this current economy of scarcity.  Some are so unraveled by that noise that they're returning to traditional religion to find trust in their ability to navigate what seems increasingly unfair. Ess...

  The exception is the mega church, such as Calvary. Its membership keeps growing and new outreach programs, such as substance abuse recovery based on the bible, keep being added on. Otherwise, many of those in the spirituality, mysticism and life coaching niches are experiencing a decline in their "businesses." Yes, for them, along with the mission, there is the matter of a fee-for-service. Standard in tarot readings is one dollar a minute. A posting on Reddit Psychic focuses on this development. The query asks if there has been a decline in demand. There are those established businesses over the years which haven't experienced a falloff. But the rest have. Confirmation goes like this: Live-Sherbert-6267  - " ... am a spiritual healer and coach and everyone I know in this space has seen a decline in business. "  The reasons? Reddit posters offer these explanations: Hard times. Essentially, as more and more pay for groceries out of savings or on credit, these ...

  Humans are a very flawed species.  That highly imperfect state the Roman Catholic Church calls "original sin."  William Shakespeare defines it as "cankered in the grain."  Psychologist Carl Jung labels it "shadow self." Alcoholics Anonymous sums it up as "character defects." That's what we're told. And we wind up going to ministers, counselors, psychiatrists or bartenders to learn how to handle being such a mess.  Along the way, given our inherent sinfulness, we usually hurt others - as well as ourselves. Recall that Sigmund Freud sized us up as self-destructive. So far, defense lawyers at firms ranging from Kirkland & Ellis to Paul Weiss have become wealthy and powerful bailing us out. It shouldn't be a shocker that the brandname financially secure professional gets nailed for embezzling or insider trading.  It's becoming less radical to consider wiping out this failed creation. Seemingly many different nations are on the w...

Remember those documentaries we watched in culture class about primitive tribes. A snippet would focus on laundry day. Women from the village spent the time by the river talking and laughing with one another as they washed clothes. For years that same sense of a get-together also prevailed at the laundromat. Part of the ethos were those bulletin boards on which we hunted for love, roommates and information about what to do after-work.  This Friday, having just blew into this midwest large city from a border town in Arizona I went to the laundromat a few miles from my residential complex. I bypassed the machines on my floor. See, I was hoping to effortlessly meet folks I could talk with. Anyone on anything, after 1,200 miles of isolation on the road. Who doesn't want to complain about laundry day. No one looked up when I came in. All eyes were on their screens. For the total 90-minute process, no one talked with each other. Incidentally, that laundromat, totally high tech, has the l...