Discerning an Abrahamic Eremitic Blogging Vocation with a Psychiatric Disability

7:30 PM Tuesday. This is my dedicated Christian Astrology study night, but it's not a top priority, or I lack sufficient discipline, or maybe it's a bit of both, and other things have gotten in the way since my previous entry on 19 August ( The Fated Sky: A Decision ). Not wanting to over-prescribe myself with too strenuous a Q4 goal in this project, I am going to keep it light. By the time Tuesday, 30 December 2025 rolls around, I'd like to have made a decent amount of progress with my reading and reflection on three documents: The Fated Sky by Bobrick; Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology by Hegedus; and  "Is Astrology a Type of Divination? Thomas Aquinas, the Index of Prohibited Books, and the Construction of a Legitimate Astrology in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance" by Rutkin. Down the road in 2026, if I find myself called to take my investigation to the next level, I will need to think about acquiring a copy of Jesuit Astrology by Ribeiro. End 7:52...

3:10 PM Tuesday. Little bit of a hard day today. I woke very early, around 1:30 AM, and spent 4 hours researching geopolitics on my smartphone in bed, mostly related to the situation between NATO and Russia. Then I slept for 4 hours. Gradually I got myself together and made it out to the bus stop by 11 AM for a trip to the Honest Weight Food Coop, a Fakin' Bacon BLT treat at the Coop for lunch, and a light ruck back home with my groceries. I couldn't quite figure out what to listen to on my walk, so I mostly just listened to some light fall music and noticed my thoughts. I was being hard on myself for not making any noticeable progress on my Clutter-Free Hermitage since  Breaking My Hermitage Down Into Zones: Part 1  back on 19 August. "There is still too much clutter in my loft, and I haven't made any progress on a home inventory. That inventory was a terrible idea. I am never going to follow through on that. A home inventory is for put-together people, not for the ps...

8:12 PM. I have only had time today to identify two organizations and one academic journal for further study of the sustainable population question. The two organizations are The Overpopulation Project and Population Matters . The academic journal is The Journal of Population and Sustainability .   Video Links:  An Integrated Climate Change Response: The Role of Population Endgame 2050 Panel Discussion End 8:23 PM.

8:07 PM. This is transcendental good news. May the plan succeed:  President Trump Participates in a Press Conference with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel . End 8:09 PM.

2:43 PM Monday. Today on my morning walk I listened to " A Biblical Refutation of Christian Zionism " by Stephen Sizer as a step toward my goal of identifying and evaluating ten of the most important theological arguments against Christian Zionism. In this short video, Sizer presents three arguments that fall short of that mark. Maybe I shouldn't have started with Sizer. There was little method to my choice. I don't know whether Sizer is highly respected in Christian anti-Zionist circles, or in Christian theological circles more generally. Let me do some more research before I continue writing. Ah. According to Google Gemini, the most highly cited anti-Zionist Christian theologians include Naim Ateek, Gary Burge, Mitri Raheb, and Stephen Sizer. Other influential voices include John Stott, Tony Campolo, and John Piper. None of these appear to be Catholic or Orthodox. A search for leading anti-Zionist Catholic theologians returns no results from Gemini, but it does refe...

10:45 AM Monday. So far this morning I've spent a few hours reading sections I, I, VI, VII, and VIII of A/HRC/60/CRP.3 (cf.  The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel | OHCHR ) while interrogating Google Gemini on a host of related questions. I also listened to  Day 723 | Trump's 21-Point Gaza Plan, Broken Down  and scanned the Times of Israel and JNS websites, so I feel reasonably current on events from an Israeli center and center-right perspective. I won't trouble my readers with all of my Gemini searches, but here is one relatively short thread that is appropriate to make public at the outset:  https://share.google/aimode/2S1biE1j45kUP9Z5V So far in my reading, I have not seen any evidence that this COI conference room paper is baseless, though it does seem regrettably one-sided in the absence of a separate or broader COI that considers Iran and its proxies, including Hamas...

6:17 PM Sunday. My daily prayer life has changed somewhat since I wrote  My Church: An April 2025 Snapshot  about six months ago. The photo above shows my new Christian meditation space following some furniture rearrangements after I downsized from a full to a twin bed. Lately, I haven't been sitting in formal 20-minute Centering Prayer sessions twice daily, nor have I been sitting for double prayer sessions on Saturdays. I do usually sit on the cushion from around 5:10 to 6 AM, and then again from 8:15 to 9 PM, but when I do, I tend to spend more time working on my daily notecards - often in collaboration with my smartphone - than engaging in formal apophatic or cataphatic prayer. I am not too worried about it because there are strong undertones of the Ignatian examen in my notecard work, and I don't feel that I need to pray the same way in every season of my spiritual life. On the other hand, if I want to be in conformity with the Centering Prayer standard, two 20-minute ses...

4:34 PM Sunday. I am not sure that it is correct for me to look upon the Holy Spirit as my divine mentor until after my baptism, if and when I take this step. I talked about it with Frank Hoffman from All-Creatures last week and came to the conclusion that I don't have a primary Christian mentor at this point in my life, but I do have a number of supporting Christian advisors, active and passive. What must I do to be saved, according to the Catholic Church? Here is Google Gemini's answer:  According to the Catholic Church, salvation comes through God's grace and is accessed by faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, and baptism. This grace, offered through Christ's sacrifice, must not be refused but must be cooperated with through continued adherence to God's will, which includes participation in the sacraments, good works, and remaining in communion with the Church until death. And here is a definition of salvation from Got Questions Ministries (Protestant) that...

10:43 AM Sunday. I started out last night in prayer just before bed with reflection on the order of salvation. "Where am I, Holy Spirit, in the order of salvation?" Then early this morning, I listened to  The Order of Salvation | Making Sense of Biblical Terms  by Matthew Everhard. After this, I spent a long while studying both my Spiritual Direction webpage and last week's post titled  Sunday Morning Worship Q4 2025 Goal . It was all a bit overwhelming, and it occurred to me that I need to make my workflow simpler and more integrated. What if I start out each Sunday morning by asking a single spiritual question for the week, and then proceed to explore that question through consultation with mentors, daily prayer, religious reading, and theological inquiry? Consideration of this idea led me to review the first chapter in Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Then I read Romans 8:28-30 . This is the passage by Saint Paul from which...

It's 7:18 PM on Saturday as I begin to write this Q4 2025 Week 40 Plan. I didn't get anywhere close to articulating  Q4 goals for each of my 29 active projects during Week 39. I didn't exercise much, and I slept a lot more than I would prefer. I also seemed to put on a little weight, despite my plan for gradual fat loss. While I wouldn't classify Week 39 as a major mental health setback week, I wouldn't classify it as a week of major mental health recovery, either. Moving forward, I am not sure if I should continue chipping away at Q4 targets for each of my 29 active projects, or if it makes more sense to double down on clear next actions. I guess I will aim to do both: Office Organization Weekly Planning Medication Management Personal Hygiene Physical Exercise Plant-Based Nutrition Sleep Hygiene Healthcare Appointments Medical Records Mom Caresharing Sibling Support Dad's Legacy Family Tree Letters to Future Generations Consultation with Mentors Daily Prayer Re...

It's 1:17 PM on Saturday and I am once again wrapping up my weekly office organization session. Last week's phone experiment was a mixed bag - I kept my phone completely out of my sleep and meditation areas for several days, but it didn't work as well as I thought it would. On the days when I allowed myself to use my phone for a bit while in bed and on the meditation cushion, it seems like I got more done.  As far as my new Notsu note card holder goes, I am very satisfied with my first week's test run. Now the question is what to do with my index cards. I am considering a 3x5" index card storage box that is large enough to store my blank cards, at least a month's worth of used cards, and a 43-folders tickler file system. It might also be helpful to have a separate recipe box for the kitchen. I am not ready to invest in 1 or 2 wooden, cardboard, fiberboard, or plastic storage boxes yet, however. I need at least another week to think about it. Do I really want to...

It's 9:33 AM on Saturday and I have just returned from a 55-minute ruck with a #15-pound pack, during the course of which I listened to a riveting 45 minutes of  Daryl P. Domning, PhD | "Teilhard, Original Sin, Evolution, and the Curia: What Went Wrong?"  Domning has inspired me to read  Humani Generis (August 12, 1950) . Ah, that was helpful. It's 10:03 AM, I've just finished reading Humani Generis, and I have to say that without Domning's introductory lecture, I wouldn't have understood what I was reading in nearly the same way. In defense of Pope Pius XII, I see considerable merit in Humani Generis, including its identification of the problem of false "irenism" at the interface of scientific and Catholic dogma. That may be a weakness I need to watch out for in myself in some areas, while in other areas I may be too aggressive. Science also advances through "ecumenical" councils like the IPCC; is convoluted by scientific politics; and...

It's 6:20 AM on Saturday as I begin writing. Normally, I try to compose my Christian Earth Science entry on Saturday evening - after office organization and weekly planning - but this week I am starting here first. Craig Wescoe's study guide and expert instruction in the Vegan Christian Discipleship School on Tuesday gave me much to think about. This class  was just the right intervention at just the right time, and now I am wrestling with my intellectual commitments to theistic evolution and a spiritual reading of Genesis (as opposed to a literal scientific reading). I am also still giving much attention to Catholic discernment and have been feeling called to dig into the evolutionary cosmology of Teilhard de Chardin, an influential 20th century scientist and Jesuit theologian. I think God is using Craig's clear and consistently high-quality instruction to help me stake out more of my vegan Christian position on evolution and Genesis - even if it means I end up in a differ...

It's 6:36 PM on Friday. I listened to Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Debate earlier today, and I read the full transcript . Unfortunately, I don't see any evidence that Dr. Tal Becker was on the speechwriting team. This said, I am not in any way prepared at this stage to agree with Dov Waxman on the genocide allegations against Israel, even if Netanyahu rejects Trump's new Gaza plan in their meeting at the White House on Monday (cf.  Why I changed my mind on the genocide charge against Israel | by Dov Waxman | Aug, 2025 | Medium ;  Some reflections on the critical reactions to the development of my thinking on Gaza | by Dov Waxman | Aug, 2025 | Medium ). While I parted ways with Netanyahu on a strategic level in March of 2025, this does not mean I think Israel has become guilty of genocide since that time. But this does not mean I think Israel has NOT become guilty of genocide since that time, either. I genuinely don't know. And it's possible that I will n...

But it is a refreshingly transparent challenge to elite Democrats to get their act together in 2026 and 2028. Republicans have now given up on climate science in the most dramatic possible way and will pay the price (or reap the reward, if they are right and doing God's will) for the rest of history. Are Democrats serious about leading America and the world through the climate crisis? They will need to address the problem of extreme emissions by America's most affluent, on the one hand, and the problem of population overshoot, on the other. Green technology alone is not the solution. Impact = Population x Affluence +/- Technology. In addition to promoting a competitive and balanced all-of-the-above energy strategy with a clean nuclear moonshot at its core, Democrats need to address both wealth redistribution and population reduction. Sustainable development is an immensely difficult peace and human rights challenge, but American organizations like CASSE are leading the way. If...

It's 7:02 AM on Thursday. I am praying that Bibi agrees on Trump's new plan for Gaza before Yom Kippur (cf.  Trump's Gaza peace plan gets support from regional leaders ), and that we secure the release of the remaining hostages and a permanent ceasefire by 7 October 2025. In addition to all of the other benefits, this would go a long way to disproving the genocide allegations by South Africa, and it would conform to IDF Chief of Staff Zamir's proportionality analysis.

Quick note at 6:45 PM on Monday. This is a timely, brilliant, and important interview. It should be required listening for everyone with a serious interest in the two-state solution. It speaks directly and powerfully to the American Christian Zionist conscience. I hope Prime Minister Netanyahu has Dr. Becker on his UN General Debate speechwriting team. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak at the UN this Friday, 26 September 2025. Link:  U.N. Recognition of a Palestinian State with Dr. Tal Becker .

It's 4:32 PM on Monday as I begin to write. Looking back over my efforts at UN Charter Navigation so far this year, I see a mix of insight, compassion, and structure, on one hand, and presumptuous error, disorganized thinking, and failure of follow-through on the other. Given this track record, I am very reluctant to set a Q4 2025 goal for my UN Charter Navigation project, but I am even more concerned that a failure to do so would leave me lost and chasing circles in the middle of the ocean. I need an achievable quarterly destination to work toward. What port can I realistically hope to arrive at by Monday, 29 December 2025? There are many directions I could go, but at this point I think it's most important that I get a firmer handle on my concerns about Spaceship Earth's carrying capacity. Am I delusional, mistaken, or correct to think that we have a pressing collective legal and moral obligation to bend our peace, human rights, and sustainable development policies toward ...

It's 8:16 AM on Monday morning as I begin to write. I've spent the last couple of hours reflecting on the genocide allegations against Israel with help from Google Gemini. You can see the full thread here:  https://share.google/aimode/n8e9iv5tsF5G4k3kP . I've also downloaded the recent genocide finding of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and a rebuttal from UN Watch to my active project files for further study. I mention all of this because I've reached the conclusion that the COI's genocide finding, while not an international legal determination, requires a crisis of conscience from Christian Zionism, and that impartial consideration of the COI report, together with Israel's defense, in anticipation of an eventual ICJ ruling in the genocide case brought by South Africa, is the single most important way that Christian Zionism can respond to this crisis in the coming quarter. At the same time, Christian Zionism must impartially re-examine the strongest arguments...

It's 4:07 PM on Sunday as I begin to write. We've just rounded the bend on a new lunation, but the Virgo eclipse is still underway astronomically. Astrologically speaking, we will be meditating upon the symbolic implications of this eclipse, combined with the Sun's Libra ingress and opposition to Saturn and Neptune, for at least a few days yet. From a kosher astrology perspective, this will blend into Rosh Hashanah and the High Holy days, culminating with Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. From a mundane astrological perspective, this will further overlap with the UN General Debate in NYC, with a particular focus on the question of balanced justice for the state of Israel and the Palestinian people - a matter that it may well take until the conjunction of Neptune and Saturn in Aries next February to become an order of magnitude clearer. Both the Palestinian people and the Jewish people and their respective leaderships still have many important decisions to make. I do no...

It's 6:30 AM on Sunday as I begin to write. Last Sunday morning, I watched the Daily TV Mass on YouTube, took my mom to the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center for a walk, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. It was such a full morning I did not have a chance to write. This week I am determined first and foremost to think and write about my Q4 2025 goal for the Sunday Morning worship block in my emergent horarium. What exactly am I aiming for here? I see six possibilities: Progress toward live public attendance at Catholic Mass in fulfillment of the Sunday obligation. Progress toward live public attendance at Sunday morning worship in some other Christian denomination, with or without a weekly celebration of the Eucharist, in fulfillment of the Sunday obligation. Virtual attendance at an online Christian worship service, either synchronously or asynchronously. A flexible response to the movement of the Holy Spirit in my life, anchored in a discipline of Sunday m...

It's 7:37 PM on Saturday as I begin to write this entry and I am committed to turning my computer off by 8 PM as part of my new pre-sleep regimen, so I will need to keep this brief. I've fallen behind in my Saturday evening reading plan for  In Pursuit of Wisdom  but maybe I can still finish this book by the end of 2025. That's kind of my goal, but I don't want to be too rigid about it. Tonight, for example, I used my reading time to explore with Google Gemini whether Catholic and other Christian theologians believe animal predation was designed by God or a consequence of the Fall ( https://share.google/aimode/ kz7DvGWlBVhuR9B2P ). This is an important question for Christian Earth Science, and I am asking it now in good measure because it's the subject of Craig Wescoe's upcoming class in the Vegan Christian Discipleship School . In addition to Craig's excellent study guide, here are three links I am processing in preparation for Tuesday's class:  Is Anim...

It's 3:45 PM on Saturday as I begin to write. Week 38 was another powerful recovery week in a powerful Virgo season. I've been spending much time over the last 15 days on issues related to plant-based nutrition, intuitive eating, and the Virgo-Pisces axis. It feels like this has much to do with the upcoming solar eclipse and the Sun's Libra ingress opposite Saturn in Pisces and Neptune in Aries. I won't get into all of that here, but I do want to briefly note that I just started a daily morning dose of 1000 mcg of  Deva's vegan   B12 as methylcobalamin for a 90-day experiment, alongside 315 to 630 mg of calcium citrate (depending on how much calcium I get from my whole foods, plant-based meals that day), and tomorrow I expect to start taking 5 grams daily of Nutricost creatine monohydrate as part of the same 90-day test. On the time management front, I've been using Microsoft To Do on my smartphone for tracking recurring daily and weekly healthcare tasks, and a ...

It's 11:44 AM on Saturday morning and I am just wrapping up my weekly office organization session. I've moved the charging station for my smartphone and earbuds out of my sleeping area and will now try to keep my meditation and bed spaces phone-free at all times. At this point, I am only willing to bring my hipster PDA and hardcopy books into these two spaces. But maybe this resolution won't last long. Let's see what happens. A hipster PDA of graph-ruled index cards for non-recurring tasks seems to be working well for me, but I think a Notsu note card holder will work even better. I'll start trying the product out tomorrow and plan to review my initial experiences with it at the end of this upcoming week 39.   I am closing in on a minimalist "paper-light" office system. There is still much for me to do through the end of 2025 during these Saturday morning office organization sessions, and even then, I probably won't have my office entirely clutter-free...

It's 6:27 AM on Saturday morning and this is just a quick note about four new sleep hygiene rules I intend to start following today. Rule 1 is a commitment to turn off my desktop computer and avoid the use of my smart phone from 8 PM to 6 AM. This rule is going to take a dedicated alarm clock and a major resolution to keep my smart phone out of my sleep and meditation areas. Rule 2 is to prayerfully wash up at 8 PM and put on fresh underwear and pajamas before winding down for bed at 9 PM. Rule 3 is to rise at 5 AM, make the bed, and follow a healthy wakeup routine until 6 AM. Rule 4 is to stay awake all day, napping only if I really need to, and then for not more than an hour and a half.  That's it, nothing fancy. But aspirational and challenging, given the current state of my phone and sleep habits.  I will fill in the details of my pre-sleep and post-sleep rituals once I get them more established.

It's 5:13 PM on Friday evening as I begin to write this update on  Eremitic Spirituality and Hygiene Indifference  (which I published last month). After consultation with my therapist and some research on Amazon, I ordered a 48-pack of McKesson Washcloth Wipes to keep in my closet. Then I made a rule to wipe my entire body down with a disposable washcloth and change my underwear every evening before putting on my pajamas if I did not take a shower that day. This rule worked very well, and I was planning to order more McKesson Washcloth Wipes in October when I received a surprising response from Google Gemini to my query about the environmental trade-offs between hot showers and disposable washcloth wipes. You can see the results of that deep dive here:  https://share.google/aimode/ qgA7E4aKy7CrCillX  (be sure to scroll all the way to the top of the thread to see how it unfolds). Now, instead of ordering more McKesson Washcloth Wipes, I am going to upgrade my pre-slee...