Generalism is the art and practice of becoming reasonably proficient in multiple skills and knowledge-disciplines. Generalists are those who live lives characterized by a deep sense of generalism. We see generalists in nature, such as the coywolf, who, in their...

Greetings... Provided below is a prayer I crafted many years ago. In this prayer, I ask God to help me slow down so I can be with Him more The Way He Is With Me. Consider adding a prayer like this to your life shared with God. In all arenas of my life, I've begun to...

NOTE: THIS WILL BE MY LAST BLOG POST UNTIL AFTER AUGUST 1ST. I'M TAKING MY SEMI-ANNUAL BLOGGING AND PODCASTING SABBATICAL. -- What has eBay taught us about the value of something? It’s taught us that something’s inherent worth is what someone is willing to pay to...

While most everyone knows physical exercise (and just moving a lot) is important, few of us exercise, move well, or move enough on a consistent basis. The verbalized reasons for this are varied, but I think they can all be paired down to just one: At the point of...

I’m A Rebel at Heart. I’ve been one my whole life. And, at times, it’s gotten me into significant trouble. In many instances, what our culture teaches (sometimes even within The Church) are lies, and I refuse to accept or live my life in accordance with such lies....

All of us are gifted. All of us. All of us have genius in one or more arenas. All of us. All of us have developed skills. All of us. Sometimes, though our giftedness, genius, and skill can be harmful. Like when we put too much trust in such things. To help me with...

Provided below are the principal health practices and strategies I implement every day.  The hope in my practicing them is that not only will I live a long life, but I’ll feel well and energetic well into old age. 1/I go to bed early (at or before 9:00p). 2/I get up...

Provided below are just a few of my greatest fears. While my faith, of course, trumps all these, to not identify them would be disingenuous on my part. 1/Dying and my death being the absolute end of my existence. 2/Losing all Hope, dying without God, and experiencing...

Pain. We all feel it, struggle with it, suffer through it. As challenging as it is to bear, I’m exceedingly grateful for pain; for it, in and of itself, can be intensely illuminating. Pain, if I’m listening properly to it, can tell me a lot about my current situation....

"AS WE BEGIN TO EXPERIENCE THE SIMPLE PLEASURES THAT COME FROM GOD THROUGH HIS HELPING US TO WALK MORE AND MORE IN WHO WE TRULY ARE…  LIFE WILL BEGIN TO BE AND BECOME, EVER-INCREASINGLY, SOMETHING TO BE ENJOYED AND EXPRESSED VIBRANTLY, RATHER THAN JUST WEATHERED,...

"NONE OF US CAN ANTICIPATE, OR EVEN KNOW IN RETROSPECT, MORE THAN A FRACTION OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS. SO… GIVEN THIS, A SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF WISDOM MAY ACTUALLY MEAN ACTING (OR REFRAINING FROM ACTING) IN FULL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR OWN ALMOST COMPLETE...

"I WANT ALL MY HUMAN ENERGIES TO BE CHANNELED, ORDINATELY AND SUPERNATURALLY, BY YOU. ENABLE ME, O GOD, TO PARTNER WITH YOU SO AS TO MAKE SUCH A WAY OF BEING THE ENDURING REALITY OF MY LIFE." (To read more, well, just keep reading!) O Holy Trinity... With all my...

"CHASING THE FIRE… WELCOMING THE HAMMER… BECOMING A SWORD… BEDOMING UNBREAKABLE…" (To read more, well, just keep reading!) Provided below are prayers and sayings I pray over, and over, and over again while I'm out and about. Pick one today and, when you're out and...

"I AM THE VICTIM.  THAT PERSON ATTACKED ME." (To read more, well, just keep reading!) If you ever have to defend yourself physically (and you survive), say these three things to the police when they show-up at the scene: 1/Tell the officers, "I am the victim." 2/Point...

Provided below are a few of the meditative sayings I recite each morning to help me "prime the pump" as I launch into Morning Worship: Dave… Take what’s Mine, and make it yours. —Jesus Nobody cares, Dave… so just work harder. —Unk [adapted] At best, “correctors...

"The Truth is… Yes, I was once A Little Child. The Truth is, too, that I (very mysteriously) still am." To read more, well, just keep reading :o)... -- Jesus... I was Once a Child; but, somewhere along the line, I forgot Who I Was. And, as a consequence, I (through...

Four Factors that Enabled The Faithful (in the first and second centuries) to Thrive [Note: Again, these overlap and are synergistic] in “this current Earth-life”… 1/The Person and Presence of The Holy Spirit. 2/The deeply supportive role of The True (and local)...

When I’m lost in rebellion and transgression, The Holy Presence of God is experienced as wrath, darkness, and dread; and all I want to do at that point is hide from Him (like Adam and Eve did when they fell [see Ge 3:8-10]). To read more, well, just keep reading… --...

Greetings... This post is NOT my attempt to control anything anyone posts.  That's not my place.  I'd rather use this forum to encourage anyone who posts on social media to post only things that are GOOD, TRUE, and/or BEAUTIFUL.  If what you're about to post is...

On The Revellious podcast, I've been talking recently about the fear of God. Provided below is a brief distillation of what I believe comprises the fear of God (aka the fear of The Lord). Granted, what I've provided below is really just a snapshot in time of where I...

O Holy Trinity… YOU… Are The Author of My Life and Story. Write… as You see fit. And enable me to write with You… again, as You see fit.

Greetings... Below is the test of a prayer I've been praying for a while now.  Perhaps you'll begin to pray this (or something like this) yourself. Pace to you, Friends... Daver -- Lord Jesus Christ… I long to be and become… 1/Wholly Alive (that is, Wholly Martyr-like...

Greetings, Friends! It's been a LONG year for me... A VERY LONG YEAR... Beginning (on 20 Dec) right before Christmas last year (in 2024), and then ending (on 20 Jan) exactly one month later (in 2025), I lost three very close family members.  The most devastating was...

I tell folks all the time: "Get your black belt in 'something,' and then start exploring other arts." Every martial art (MA) has it's gaps. What are the gaps in yours? Once you get your black belt in one MA, you've graduated kindergarten. Now it's time to start...

What is human aging? The passing of time, where a person gets older? Sure. But it’s much more than that. The factors that lead to aging are multiple. Here are twelve that I focus on. I want to encourage you to do the something similar. 1/Loss of fluids. 2/Loss of...

Jesus to me (as I think upon and respond to the words of those around me): “Dave… Those who are full of talk and themselves know nothing; Those Who Are Wise speak very little, and then only cautiously, candidly, frankly, humbly, respectfully, and reverently of the...

It's been said, human beings can, typically, survive for only… 1/Thee seconds [see Note below] when attacked or mauled by a wild predator (such as a lion, bear, moose, boar, or wolf). Note: These times are not absolute (as everyone is different). These times are...

Jesus to Me: “Dave… I want you to own everything in your life: This includes your thoughts, feelings, wise choices, poor choices, selfless actions, self-centered actions, inactions, words spoken, words unspoken, good deeds done, good deeds not done, bad deeds done,...

While the practices of theoria (or contemplation) can take on a variety of nuanced forms in Christendom, they most often fall into one of two camps of contemplative practice: Camp 1: The pursuit of vision (that is, a vision of God). Camp 2: The pursuit of...

Jesus to Me: “Dave… You can’t rightly call yourself M-my Loved One [M-my Beloved] if you don’t live as I live. And you can’t rightly live as I live without M-me. I am, in totality, The I AM of Your Life and Being. There’s no one beside M-me.” Scriptures: “Remember the...

Prayers for Healing, Miracles, Consecration, and Divine Enablement *image* Holy Trinity… In Your power, kill the devilish diseases within me; heal the wounds, injuries, and traumas I’ve sustained; dissolve or eliminate that which doesn’t belong; and raise to life or...

1Co 14:1… The Apostle Paul writing: "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of The Spirit, especially prophecy." -- "As I Lay Me Down to Sleep..." Holy, Glorious, and Gracious Father…As I lay me down to sleep, I ask (in obedience to You [Note: In October...

Provided below is a way in which I honor the Holy Spirit in prayer. This is apart of my praying through the hallowed be Thy Name portion of The Our Father Prayer: -- Holy Spirit… The Breath of I AM and The Unquenchable Fire of the Almighty… As The Eternal Third Person...

O Holy Trinity… I want to live and breathe Your holiness; humility; and purity-, nobleness-, wholeness-, fullness-, and revelliousness-of-heart-mind all the days of my existence (both in “this current Earth-life” and in “the world and glorious, lingering life to...

From time to time, life seeks transcendence—the self-actualized progression from one state of being to a higher one. Differing from the transformation of condition (for example, the easing of one's hunger pangs by eating) or the transformation of circumstances (for...

O Holy Trinity… THANK YOU for going ahead of me and for surrounding and being with me as I slept last night… THANK YOU for coming for me, at me, and after me in my dreams… THANK YOU for bringing me rest... And… THANK YOU, too, for waking me up this morning. I’m so...

Great Leaders... 1/ Live congruently (in accordance with their conscious values). 2/ Do their work and inspire others to do theirs. 3/ Use accountability systems (including positive peer pressure) to help them and those they lead stay on the straight and narrow. 4/...

In the photo heading this blog post, I've provided a photograph of Ted Bundy, who was highly educated and quite the charmer. Prior to his being executed in 1989, he confessed to killing at least 30 women in seven states. It would be good to note that most serial...

“The Practice of Engineering” Leonardo [da Vinci] took an artist’s vision into science. He understood that science, as much as painting, has to find the design of nature in her detail. He gave science what was (and is!) most needed: The artist’s sense that the detail...

Where violence is concerned, I think both men and women want people to give it to them straight. As much fun as I have engaging in and teaching life-preservation techniques, lives are truly changed when people start to gain a better understanding of violence as it...

Friend… God loves you. He loves you not because you’re a well-behaved person but because He’s so prodigally extravagant and inexpressively good that He cannot help but love you. At the risk of sounding blasphemous (and I pray you see the spirit behind what I’m about...

Self-knowledge (the primary form [see Note below]), a meditation… Note: There are, essentially, two kinds of self-knowledge: 1/The Primary Form, which I discuss in this mediation. And... 2/The Secondary Form, with has to do with how well a person understands his [or...

In many of the church circles in which I move these days, there’s much talk about God’s love (as there should be!) and the identity we now have in Christ (also, as there should be!). Yes, of course (!!), we’re loved by God! And, yes, of course (!!), we’re New...

This is my response to the following quote by Sengai [see Note at the end of this post]: When I die, “I will not go with death…” Earlier in life, I thought I was unattached (and that I should strive always to be and remain unattached) to the continuing of my life, but...

Anthropologically, I am A Human Being. I am also—in this very moment—An Unfolding Event. My life is—and will forever be—an ever-expanding, never-ending (that is, eternal) stream of unfolding events.

The older I get the more “No” I say. These days, I say “No” to a lot of really good things. I do that, so I can say “Yes” to great things. This is the overarching philosophy behind true minimalism. A minimalist is NOT just someone who lives with less. A true...

We live in an age saturated by hyperbole and verbal imprecision. Sinking ever deeper into the quagmire of group-think, ill-informed labeling, and inanely voiced opinions based in half-truth, egregious polemics, and lack-luster social analysis, our culture has somehow...

Jesus… O Living, Illuminating, and Loving God… Y-you’ve loved me with an everlasting love, and Y-you’ve drawn me with unfailing kindness. Y-you, O Living, Illuminating, and Loving God, are enough; and Y-your Grace [see definition below], O Living, Illuminating, and...

Where violence is concerned, I think, women [and men] want people to give it to them straight. As much fun as I have engaging in and teaching techniques, lives are changed when people start to gain a better understanding of violence as it could be used as a tool...

So, you're small. That's okay. Did you know small creatures can inflict great damage on big creatures? A few examples are as follows: · Bees · Spiders · Snakes · House cats · Small dogs Here's an assignment: Study the above, and learn one or two ways (from each) in...

Counting the days, weeks, months, or even years in training is as pointless as counting the grains of sand in a sandbox. MY LIFE-QUEST… in training in and through the following holy grails of wisdom-practice… 1/Revelliousness… 2/Meditative Prayer (and prayerful...

I am and am becoming Uncommon Amongst Uncommon People, Unorthodox Amongst Unorthodox People, and Unreasonable Amongst Unreasonable People. In partnership with Jesus, I am in a state of constant, iron-grinding war with the echoes and residuals of my crucified—and,...

Question: If the path of least resistance is, ultimately, the path of anguish and failure, what comprises the path of conquest and triumph? Answer: The path that promises [offers, provides] the greatest resistance. My Conclusion to the Matter: Therefore, I will GO,...

A warrior practices everything. He [or she] relinquishes his pride, he lays down his efforts to orchestrate his life, he cleans up his habits and rituals, he lets go of his attachments, he becomes increasingly mindful of his emotional states and of his connection to...

Accept, choose, and embrace what is and whatever arises with enlightened wisdom—that is, without judgment, without resistance, without attachment. Welcome it with unconditional friendliness. Forgive eagerly, completely, and freely all those who’ve hurt you in your...

Like many people, I love competition. Actually, I thrive on it. (But maybe not in the way you might think.) Sure, in all my training partner relationships, we compete against each other (and do so all the time). But it's really very friendly, and I care very little if...

Every day, I pursue revelliously and reveliently the evolution of my being. I do this by looking and listening, and by training at my limits—not just physically but also emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. To get what I want, I pay the price in every moment of...

In Ec 4:6, Solomon penned the following words: “It is better to have one handful with tranquility than two with toil and chasing after the wind." See? Minimalism (or maximalism [see Note below] is NOT a new concept. It's a philosophic approach to life that's been...

I'm a huge fan of praying all the time. Sometimes, I use words. When I'm moving about and decide to use words, I often go with one or more of what I call "My Traveling Prayers." Traveling prayers are memorized prayers that I just pray over and over again in a...

The older I get, the less I train. What I mean by that is this: The older I get the less I train in terms of the sheer number of techniques I practice. Throughout my life, I've trained in a host of useless techniques. I'm not upset or angry about it. In fact, I'm...

What would your life be like if everything you did was just for practice? And not just to prepare for some future performance or competition, but to experience the simple joy that comes from working at a skill, be it sinking a jump shot, finishing a piece of...

The My Papa Prayer [see Note below] Note: Again, this is just a synthesized (and expanded) rendering of the Words of Jesus from The Lord’s Prayer (aka The Our Father Prayer ) recorded in Mt 6:9-13 and Lk 11:2-4. Jesus to Me [minus (in this instance) quotations]: Dave…...

It’s been said that the highest form of human knowledge is self-knowledge. I both agree with and disagree with this statement. My disagreement lies, mostly, with the stopping of the argument at the general (and exquisitely broad) category of “self-knowledge.” To...

What is faith? Faith is the yielding—the Trinity-breathed, Trinity-ordained yielding—of oneself to God in and through the organic (that is, the naturally supernatural or supernaturally natural) consent of one’s absolute belief. The soul drive of faith is to breed...

When I die, “I will not go with death [Sengai (spoken when he was on his death bed)]…” Earlier in life, I thought I was unattached (and that I should strive always to be and remain unattached) to the continuing of my life, but these thoughts were not true. Why? Well,...

Verse 1: When I kept silent and allowed the evilness dwelling illegally within me to eagerly plow and then seed-sow (with death) the fields of my heart, my frame grew old and, through long days of deep mourning, wasted within me. REFRAIN: O, Holy, Glorious, and...

In the martial arts, we train for several things. Among them, to be able to come to our or another's defense. The techniques we train in are for defense, not bullying. Any time we venture past defense, we tread a treacherous path. Yes, there are times when the dragon...

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of The Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. —1Co 6:19-20 Subtle: Challenging (or difficult) to understand or...

Lord Jesus Christ… Nearly everything around me has become polluted and been made toxic—literally. The air I breathe; the water I drink; the food I eat; and the environments in which I live, move, breathe, and experience my personhood [beingness] have all been affected...

Ps 70:1… O God [Elohiym: The Master of Forces], come to my assistance [natsal: to snatch away, at all, defend, deliver self, escape, without fail, part, pluck]; O LORD [YHVH: The Name of Existence], make haste [chuwsh: to hasten, make haste; figuratively, to be eager...

Culture (from Webster's): An integrated pattern of living; the characteristic features of everyday existence; a set of conventions associated with living one's life. While most everyone knows physical exercise (and just moving a lot) is important, few of us exercise,...

When under attack, assume your assailant means either to end your life (and the lives of those around you) or to cause you (and those around you) great harm. Assume he's heavily armed with multiple weapons (knives, a gun, fists, feet, knees, etc.); and assume, too, he...

Work here in the west is, typically, so different from what I’ve witnessed (and experienced directly) in other cultures. It was through my exposure to some of those cultures, as well as those many times when I went up north to live with the monks, that I discovered...

Hello friends... What's provided below is a partial list of truths that our current (and predominant) western culture will not acknowledge as being true. In fact, our culture will do whatever "it" can to silence those who espouse such truths (or, if you're among them,...

Hello, friends... We live in very difficult and uncertain times. As a friend of mine recently said to me, "Dave... it's becoming harder and harder to be a human in our day." Like you, I look at what's going on in the world around me, and I feel perplexed; and, at...

Silence—the extended ear of deep attentiveness, quietness, and gentleness—is golden. Why? you ask. Because it is in being and becoming silent that we can hear God breathing us and speaking us into continuing existence and enduring health, uprightness, and...

To put it succinctly, prayer is “life shared with God.” Prayer is God sharing His Life with us and His partaking of, participating in, and enjoying our life; and prayer is also our responsive sharing of our life with God and our partaking of, participating in, and...

Greetings, friends... I wrote this list of meditative aspirations about two months after my late wife, Brenda Hollis (9/29/66-6/3/02), passed away on June 3, 2002. It’s a list of the things I wanted in life at the time. Now, more than twenty-one years later, most of...

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." --Mark Twain So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of...

Greetings friends... I'm excited to share with you today's blog post subject: The Practice of Scripture Amplification. Scripture Amplification is a way of expanding out a portion of Scripture in a way that feels meaningful while still remaining faithful to who God is...

All of us are starving for God; this is a fact. I would surmise, though, that many of us are suffering from a kind of spiritual anorexia [see definition below]. Because we feed so infrequently upon God and His Word, we no longer feel our hunger for Him or our hunger...

Greetings, friends... I first wrote this letter almost ten years ago. I wrote it to myself and to a few other people I was thinking of at the time. Have you ever written yourself a letter before? Maybe after reading this, you'll write something to your own heart that...

Solitude… While such a word can conjure images of mountainside cabins and far off, secluded places, far more often than not, solitude has little to do with whether we're around people or not. In fact, true solitude has nothing to do with the presence, or lack thereof,...

For many of us, prayer can feel intimidating. Especially when we start talking about lofty prayer concepts like intercession, supplication, and prayer and fasting. I’d like to invite you to approach intercession in a way that may feel a little different from the ways...

Greetings, friends... This is Part Two of--and the conclusion to--the small blog series I began last week. From Part One (last week)... Instead of trying to change the world to make it better for you (or to just give you a break), why not focus on trying to change you...

Greetings, friends… Both today’s and next week’s posts will be difficult to read... and to consider... and to implement. I'm just warning you ahead of time! -- Many people want to change the world. While, on the surface, such a goal might seem laudable, I don't think...

Greetings, friends... This is Part Three of--and the conclusion to--the small blog series I began two weeks ago. From Part Two (last week)... Our health and healing as people are dependent upon BOTH God and us. God is our healer; the body God gave us is also our...

Greetings, friends... This is Part Two of the small blog series I began last week. From Part One... For us to function on a more harmoniously integrated level requires first and foremost an understanding that both our material and immaterial parts are extremely...

Greetings, friends... This post (as well as the next two after it) is provided in direct response to what one of my readers/listeners said they'd like to hear from me. Here's the essence of what this person wrote: Dave... Something you're really good at is learning...

Greetings, friends... I'd like to begin this post with a passage out of the Old Testament: Job (speaking for God) to his friend, Zophar [see Job 12:8]: "Speak to the land, and it will teach you." I'm often saddened by how those in the church--primarily in...

My personal revelliousness—My Jesus-life, My Revel-Life, (as I am herein defining it)—is my life lived in and through my pursuit of intimate and Divine union with (1) God (what I call participative-theoria), (2) my own self (personal integratedness), (3) the people...

When I look at nature (including humanity), it's the generalists (and not necessarily the specialists) that seem to come out on top. The coywolf, the frog, and the U.S. Navy SEAL are near perfect examples of this hypothesis. ​ Strive to become a generalist by...

In the Temple Elements of Jiin Senshi Do, we train in three overlapping training arenas, what I call The Training Trinity: Martial Arts Practice, Holistic Life Discipline, and Meditative Prayer. Martial Arts Practice: Training should always begin with the body....

But we have this Treasure (that is, Jesus) in jars of clay (our personhood—individually and collectively) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. [2Co 4:7 (expanded rendering).] My fallen nature was crucified with Y-you, Jesus. It has been...