Josh Plovanic's Writings and Thoughts

  One of the most fascinating concepts in Buddhism I have encountered in my readings is the concept of "beginningless time." Time that stretches on to an eternity before the present moment.         Beginningless time is a hard concept to grasp for humans, since every human being alive has a clearly defined beginning. Even the universe itself had some sort of beginning, although we do not have a complete grasp on the complexities and intricacies of the beginning of our universe.        As a result, the concept of beginningless time is foreign to many of us. Something that we have a hard time wrapping our heads around.  The concept of beginningless time opens the door to the idea that consciousness and willful entities of all sorts, human or otherwise, have been "doing this forever."            In other words, conscious beings have been interacting with each other, competing and forming relationships...

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."       -Ephesians 6:12.  There is evil in the world. I have no doubt of this. I catch glimpses and hear whispers and rumors and stories of evil here and there, even while I myself am living a rather secure, rather comfortable, and rather good life.       Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. I've learned the truth of this over my life. Many evils, like slavery, abuse, corruption, and criminality are often hiding in plain sight. Right in front of us, sometimes even.   What I know to be true is that the Devil and his angels are everywhere.  Scripture describes the Devil as "the prince and the power of the air" Eph. 2:2 implying that even the air of this world is his territory. Scripture also describes him as ...

We are all made of light, in a sense. All matter is is condensed, structured energy at its core. Light is just energy as well. Light, to me, is the basic energy. The foundation of all things physical and even spiritual is light, from my perspective.  I look at examples from scripture to reinforce the importance of light in my mind. In the beginning, the first thing God said...the very first words out of his mouth was, "let there be light." He spoke existence into existence.     I look later on in the New Testament and think of the Gospel of John and recall Jesus being described as "the light" on multiple occasions throughout the gospel. It said the darkness "did not over come him".    Light is often synonymous with goodness or righteousness. Based on the genesis account, I think I can speak truthfully when I say light is from God. So, obviously, Jesus, being the incarnate word of God as the gospel of John describes him as, its only natural and fitting that...

       We all have a creative side. We all have the ability to create art or to tell a story. It's an inherent component of our humanity and our minds.       Creativity is such an essential component of the human condition. Our society wouldn't be as advanced, nor would our culture and leisure be as rich, without creativity.     Creativity is fostered by liberty. Liberty provides the framework and platform by which creativity flourishes. You need liberty in order for creativity to reach its highest potential or for it to even exist at all. When liberty dies, so does creativity.       Tapping into Creativity can be difficult, but we all have creativity within us.        Fortunately, for me and for everyone else, creativity can never be completely stifled or destroyed. The very concept of creativity comes from the mind of an infinite God. No finite, narrowminded thing can destroy an infinite construct. Nothing...

. "Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.' And they divided His garments and cast lots." -Luke 23:34 Forgiveness is hard. It can be extremely challenging to learn how to let go and be at peace with tragedies and wrongdoings in your life. Some things are harder to forgive than others. Somethings are easier to let go of. The great burden that comes with lack of forgiveness is bitterness. A sour taste in your mouth or a burning anger in your chest that never goes away. Bitterness is poisonous. It makes your mind "stuck in a rut" trapped in a cycle of pain, grief, and anger that can be quite mentally crippling.  If unchecked, bitterness leads to hate, and hate leads to a destruction of relationships and even crimes and physical harm. It's the old "hate leads to suffering" Star Wars quote.  It does. Bitterness poisons you. Hate destroys you. Forgiveness is the only way out of the destruction and mental poisoning o...

    I have always had a hard time with being labeled as sick or disabled, whether that be mental illness or some other handicap that set me apart from my peers. It often implied that there was something inherently wrong with me. With my very being even. A blight on my character and personhood that was dehumanizing and even irredeemable.             It is a label that never completely goes away, even with how functional I am or how successful I get. I always wanted to be on the same level as everyone else and on the same playing field as my peers and friends.  As I got older I learned that we all have a vice, a blight, even a curse that affects our very character, our very nature, and even our very spirit.         No one escapes this, but I often get so caught up in my own selfishness and self-focus that I forget this fact. The thing I am grateful for the most in my sufferings and sin, my sicknesses and failures, is ha...

     Life can be harsh and sometimes even brutal. Harshness is often inevitable in life and we all face adversity at different points in our lives.     Unfortunately, for some people, life can be unnecessarily brutal. Brutality that by all means could have, and should have, been avoided. Brutality can often create monsters. People who would have turned out as decent human beings had they not been so brutalized.         You'd be hard pressed to find a human monster such as a serial killer or mass murderer who didn't have some sort of seriously brutal or adverse condition in their past.        Yes, brutality can, and often does, create monsters, but it can also create heroes.  The difference in the process is usually the content of the person's character as well as how far the brutality goes.       I view brutality as having a "point of no return" where it crosses a line that either leads to the...