In his State of the Union Address, President Obama signaled his interest in launching a renewed collective effort to explore the nature of the human brain. The more we learn about how the brain functions as a whole, the more we will learn about the psychological dimensions of religion.

My dreams at night were about Destrehan and New Orleans. School friends from the 1980s were mixed together with my seminary studies, with my church, and with my family in 2005-2006. It was like time ceased to exist and everything and everybody were all stirred in together in one big kettle.

More than anyone else in the 20th century, the psychologist is responsible for our wide interest in what we can call "inner directed spirituality." He saw the unconscious mind as a hidden treasure, not a basement or cellar where we hide away everything about ourselves we'd rather not face.

But my question remains: is it ever even possible to feel and experience a sense of utter and absolute safety in this life in the very same breath that we inhale the daily news?

Congress threatens the "fiscal cliff." Violence, bloodshed, hatred and disregard for the planet threatens the future of humanity. We have some big, big problems we're not handling so well. Today, though, I'm going to relax.

Recent neurological studies have been exploring Jung's insight, leading to discoveries that have many important implications, including how we might understand traditional Buddhist teachings today.

Lucid dreams, while clearly owing a lot to the imagination, often contain a spiritual element which is not merely "imaginary."

By my rough estimation, we spend perhaps 50 percent or more of our waking hours in storytelling. Humans make stories but, in some sense, we are also made by our stories.

If life were like a movie and we were able to slow it down we would see the blank spaces between each frame, between each moment, between each change. Kabbalah is the system where we try to see those spaces.

Are inexplicable coincidences merely random or meaningless? Or might there be something more to them?