Living the Hero’s Story

One of the fundamental story structures that transcends culture time and place is known as the hero’s story, or the hero mono-myth. Many of the most famous stories in the world are in essence, the quintessential narrative of the hero. Think of Theseus and the Minotaur from the Ancient Greeks, the Buddha’s journey towards enlightenment, …

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Is Modernity really Better?

When I was in Sri Lanka in March, I spent one of my mornings in the country's national museum. Set in an enormous old white colonial building and founded by a British governor in the late 1800s, it showcases countless fascinating artefacts from across Sri Lanka's long and ancient history including remnants of its lost …

Uluru, Calvary, Mecca and the Bodhi Tree: Why Sacred Places are Sacred

Every religion and spiritual tradition has them. Places where there is said to be a greater concentration of the sacred than in other locations. Usually, they are places of longstanding tradition where an important event occurred, be it the cave where Muhammad received his revelations, where Jesus was crucified, where the Buddha became enlightened, or …

The Crusades: Attempting to Understand the Dark Side of Religion

What's probably the first thing you hear when someone is denouncing religion? When talking about Christianity, it's probably going to be the religion's violent history of the followers imposing their beliefs on others. The Crusades and the Inquisition are almost always the first examples that will come to mind and the conclusion is always the …

Does the End Justify the Means? Avengers, Game of Thrones and Dictatorships

Spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Game of Thrones It’s one of great perennial questions of morality, one that throughout history reappears time and again. If the end is good, do the means by which it is achieved justifiable? Is it ethical to harm people if it will bring a utopia that may eventually …

FREE E-Book! The Seeker, A Spiritual Novel

For more than a year, my first attempt at a novel has sat by the wayside unused. After numerous failed attempts at getting it published, and eventually deciding to send it to an editor (who gave me some harsh but fair criticism), I simply let it go and began pursuing another work after I did …

The Mystical Experience: Meeting the Face of God

Mysticism is a largely misused term in popular discussion, so much so that it is more commonly understood as being synonymous with magic, mystery and occultism than it is with its proper definition, both historically and academically. Though it may be difficult to give a concrete definition, essentially, mysticism is a widely encompassing term that …

Why should I study Theology in an Increasingly Secular Society?

This is a kind of open-ended question to anyone who reads this. I would love to hear your thoughts on this question. Writing now is a means for me to work out my own answer to this question because I have recently enrolled at the Australian Catholic University to do a Masters in Theological Studies. …

The Scapegoat: A Persistent and Problematic Phenomenon

In the opening statement of Slavoj Zizek's highly anticipated debate with Jordan Peterson, he spoke at length of a phenomenon across much of the Western world, that is to be found in a various assortment of groups regardless of where they are on the social, political or religious spectrum. He pointed out that the "alt-right" …

A Tribute to Sri Lanka, a Land of Peace and Harmony

I, like many others, was devastated to hear the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, which has now killed around three hundred people and injured at least five hundred more. The series of suicide attacks targeted both luxury hotels and churches during Easter service, including the beautiful St. Anthony's Church in Colombo. An …