O P Sharma International Yoga Day is being observed on June 21, with great enthusiasm and fervor all across the globe in almost over 176 nations. Like other parts of the country, special programs have been chalked out by the Bharatiya Yog Sansthan at Jammu for celebrations with renewed spirit and vigour this year too. It is noteworthy that Jammu and Kashmir State will not lag behind in projection and promotion of Yoga to ensure physical, mental and spiritual development of its citizens. It is a fact that Yoga unites all the human beings and acts as an integrating factor. It is noteworthy that Yoga is voluntary. Because of its usefulness it is being adopted by one and all. It may be recalled that the UN General Assembly (UNGA) had declared on December 14, 2014, that June 21 will be International Yoga Day every year, recognizing ancient Indian civilizations Yoga for its holistic approach to health and well-being for the population of universe. It was Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who proposed and pleaded for adoption of Yoga Day in the UN General Assembly in his speech on September 27, 2014. The resolution for the Yoga Day was solidly supported by 175 of the 193 nations including the United States, Syria, Russia, Britain; China, Philippines as also some Islamic countries as well . The UNGA resolution said a goal of the Yoga Day is the wider dissemination of information about the benefits of practicing yoga would be beneficial for the health of the world population. It amply proves that Yoga is really a testimony to the enthusiastic cross-cultural and universal appeal. It is a holistic way of life that stresses harmony between man and nature and simpler lifestyles and can also help fight climate change. Yoga has the unique power to bring the entire humanity together! It beautifully combines Gyan (knowledge), Karm (work) and Bhakti (devotion). It is noteworthy that Indian Prime Minister rightly raised this vital point at the worId forum and got Yoga its due status among the comity of nations. Yoga is both a philosophy and a science. It is worth mentioning that the people of any faith or even no-faith can practice Yoga for healthful and happy living. Misconceptions about Yoga are now fading away, steadily but surely. Peoples Programme Jammu and Kashmir State also, like other parts of India, is making rapid progress in the field of Yoga. Jammu is emerging as a nerve centre for its activities. Some organizations are functioning to promote Yoga among the masses. This northern State had rich tradition of Yoga and there were great saints and seers, who preached and practiced Yoga so that the new generation adopts it for benefit. A few such Yoga gurus are: Swami Nityaanand, Hari Bhagat, Dharendra Brahamchari, Swami Laxman Joo, Bhagwan Gopinath in the recent past who promoted Yoga in a big way. The Bhartiya Yog Sansthan, J&K is operating for the last more than about five decades. This premier organization is operating from its prestigious building in Talab Tillo, Jammu under the dynamic and inspiring leadership of Satyapaul Sharma, Mahavir Prasad and a band of some motivated persons. This modern and spacious Yog Ashram is carrying on its activities under the experts. The President of this institution, Satyapaul Sharma, in an interview, spoke about the basic objectives and benefits of Yoga activities conducted by this premier institution. He said that Yoga is getting popularity among men, women and particularly the youth. Yog is becoming gradually the peoples programme now, he said and added this Sansthan has spread its wings through its network of more than 110 centres functioning every morning and evening. Yoga Kendras are also engaged in having special classes for security forces and educational institutions. An ambitious future plan has been drawn up, he added. Patanjali Yog Peeth, an organization of Swami Baba Ramdev, too is effectively spreading the message of Yoga through its network in all parts of Jammu and Kashmir. While holding Yog Aasans, training is also imparted and Indian system of medicines promoted. Even the University of Jammu has a separate wing for various courses in Yoga by competent and qualified experts. This is the popular centre in the University. Some other Yoga organizations are also lending their helping hand in promoting Yoga practices among the people by holding early morning Yoga sessions in different places. Sanjay Asen, a reputed Yoga teacher, opined: Yoga is a way of life and an integrative systems of education for the body, mind and the inner spirit. This art of right living was perfected and practiced in India thousands of years ago but since Yoga deals with universal truths, its teachings are equally valid now in our times. Yoga is a practical aid and its techniques may be practised by Budhists, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and even atheists alike. So Yoga is union with all. The awareness of Yogas usefulness is spreading fast in all the parts of the States. Swami Ramakrishna Mission, Udyewalla, Jammu and few other Ashrams are also actively engaged in promoting Yoga practices. On the International Yoga Day, June 21, an impressive function will be held at Yog Sansthan, Jammu. Many other Yoga camps will be organized on this particular day throughout Jammu and Kashmir. Major benefits of daily Yoga are that almost all the minor ailments or even major diseases can be prevented and even cured through its proper practice. Yoga can be useful in weight loss, building up a strong and flexible body, glowing skin, peaceful mind, good health and overall inner strength and whatever one may be looking for yoga has it to offer. It is expected that with the adoption of Yoga by all sections of people will lead to a better individual health and harmony in the humanity. All the nations can look forward to better quality of life with healthy-happy minds and also spiritual enlightenment. All the Indians must take pride in the precious legacy of Yoga bequeated given by our great Rishis of the ancient times. (Starline Syndicate Service)

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Jammu bends to Yoga - Daily Excelsior - Daily Excelsior

The Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has advised Muslims to emerge from the Ramadan (month of fasting) with a renewed commitment to promote national peace, unity and development.

The month of Ramadan, which we are yet to conclude, is a month in which Muslims around the world are reminded of the values that are crucial to leadership, driven by public morality and targeted at effective governance, he said.

Those values, he said, included tolerance, patience, fairness, forgiveness, charity, sacrifice, among others.

The Vice-President gave the advice when he hosted a section of the Muslim community to Iftar, a break from the Ramadan fast, at the Flagstaff House last Wednesday night.

IFTAR

The Iftar is the meal served at the end of the day during Ramadan to break the day's fast. Literally meaning break fast, it is served at sunset each day during the Ramadan. It is often done as a communal thing, with people gathering to break their fast together.

Many Muslims believe that feeding someone at Iftar as a form of charity is very rewarding and that such was practised by the Prophet Muhammad.

Peace

The Vice-President said Ramadan was a period of contemplation, reflection, compassion and reconciliation for the benefit of self and society, both spiritually and materially.

The observance of Ramadan, he said, ought to be a means of bringing strength and the earnest will to live in peace together with fellow humans.

He, therefore, called on the Muslim fraternity to extend their hand to all humanity in genuine brotherliness, saying the quest for peace was an inherent attribute of the great founders of the various faiths who practised fasting and self-denial as the path to spiritual enlightenment and the promotion of peace, love, mercy, justice and forgiveness.

Dr Bawumia said it was crucial for every leader to imbibe those basic tenets that Islam and other religions promoted as the bedrock of ethical living in society.

While declaring that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was a man of peace and tolerance, the Vice-President said the avowed passion of the President was to see all Ghanaians living together in peace, irrespective of their varied backgrounds.

Total inclusion

The President, he said, would not want to see any group left out in national development engagement, stressing: We want to have a Ghana where everybody is included in our development, and this is why President Nana Akufo-Addo has put together the Zongo Development Fund.

He said it was an imposing mark in the history of the country for the President, apart from setting up that fund, to appoint a minister for Inner City and Zongo Development to ensure that all sections of society were involved in national development.

Dr Bawumia described the Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu, who was present at the event, as the embodiment of the Islamic religion in the country and prayed for Allahs blessings for a spirited leadership for the benefit of all.

Present at the event were ministers of state, Members of Parliament (MPs), the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi; the Black Stars coach, Mr Kwesi Appiah; Black Star players Dede Ayew, Majid Waris and Sulley Muntari and some members of the Diplomatic Corps.

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Emerge from Ramadan to promote national peace, unity - Veep tells Muslims at Iftar - BusinessGhana

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Praise be to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon our Messenger Muhammad (S.A.W) the Messenger of peace and Prophet of Islam and Allah"s Mercy to the worlds, and peace be on his family, companions and followers .

It is a pleasure to welcome you, my noble guests, on behalf of President NanaAkufo-Addo and governmentI would like to express my gratitude for accepting my invitation to this Ramadan Iftar (Breakfast) gathering, hoping that such religious meeting will continue to reach common principles to achieve reforms for our nation as a whole, and our beloved country, Ghana, in particular.

One of the cardinal tenets of Islam has to do with the devotion of the self to a month of abstinence. The month of Ramadan, which we are yet to conclude, is a month when Muslims around the world are constantly reminded of values that are crucial to leadership driven by public morality and targeted at effective governance.

These values include: tolerance, patience, fairness, forgiveness, charity, sacrifice, truthfulness and so on. Ramadan is a period of contemplation, reflection, compassion and reconciliation for the benefit of self and society, both materially and spiritually.

The observance of Ramadan should be a means to bring strength and the earnest will to live in peace together with fellow humans. It is a month when we extend our hands to all of humanity in genuine brotherhood.

This quest for perfect peace was an inherent attribute of the great Founders of various faiths, who practiced fasting and self-denial as the path to spiritual enlightenment and the promotion of Peace, Love, Mercy, Justice and Forgiveness.

Any leader should imbibe these basic tenets which Islam and other religions promote as the bedrocks of ethical living in society.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a man of peace. He is a man of tolerance, and he is a man that wants to see Ghanaians living peacefully together. Christians, Muslims and all Ghanaians living peacefully together.

He doesnt want to see any group in Ghana left out. We want to have a Ghana where everybody is included in our development, and this is why he has put together a Zongo Development Fund, the first in our history. He has also appointed a Minister for Zongo and Inner City Affairs, the first in our history.

This is to make sure that all of us feel included and participate in the development of our country.

As we break bread and break fast to day, I would like to thank Allah for giving us all our leaders, led by His Eminence the Chief Imam himself, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu. He is the embodiment of our religion in Ghana today, and may Allah continue to give him long life and blessings.

I thank you all for your attention.

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Photos, Text: Bawumia's first ever public iftar - MyJoyOnline.com - Myjoyonline.com

TVLine

Transparent Season 4: Maura Snacks On an Edible in First Teaser Trailer TVLine The minute-long tease would also seem to suggest that Sarah and Len continue to be on good terms, while Aly is seeking spiritual enlightenment. Maura, on the other hand, is high on life or at the very least is about to be high after eating a gummy ... and more »

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Transparent Season 4: Maura Snacks On an Edible in First Teaser Trailer - TVLine

Have you ever thought that you needed support from other people with mental illness when you are experiencing mental health issues? National Alliance For The Mentally Ill, (NAMI ) peer support group would like to have you attend meetings because we can relate to you. NAMI members have been there. They have firsthand knowledge on what it feels like to suffer with a mental illness. Living with mental illness for me is often challenging.

I sometimes have a focusing problem because of a brain imbalance. I live each day trying to overcome and defeat mental illness. Although, schizophrenia is often colorful and creative, its opposite is dark and stormy. I have spent most of my adult life with mental illness. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 19 years of age. I had never experienced anything like this overwhelming disease in my childhood and teenage years. I started hearing voices and having visual hallucinations in my mind. Some of these experiences were not very friendly.

I was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit and put on intense drug therapy that was as overwhelming as the disease itself. From then on I had to deal with dark depression on and off for three years from medication. I have accepted my mental illness as a chemical imbalance. I have worked with so many wonderful people in the psychiatric field. However, in my belief and experience, schizophrenia is more complicated than a simple scientific analysis. It involves spiritual and ESP enlightenment. With psychiatric medication and spiritual guidance, I have earned a bachelors degree in psychology and have published three books.

Now that I have NAMI meetings I am not alone anymore. We talk openly about our lives and help each other in recovery. We share stories and we all seem to have a connection with each other. One member shared that the first time she attended a meeting she felt at home within a few minutes. Open up with us!

NAMI Peer Support Group meets the first and third Thursdays of the each month from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church located at 410 N. Main St., Centerville.

We have group leaders who guide the meeting. We want to inform others how to end the stigma of mental illness and we will not tolerate discrimination. We meet together in a realistic way and desire to be productive members of our communities. We have a way of humor in this group. We would love to have you come join us if you need some new friends to communicate with.

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NAMI Peer Support Group extends open invitation - Centerville Daily Iowegian

It is highly unlikely that my likeness will ever be photo shopped sitting serenely in front of the Bodhi tree. As for living up to my spiritual name, Hari Jiwan Singh, I can barely pronounce it never mind be the kind, creative and prosperous Lion who understands that God is his life, and who walks with grace and courage throughout his life. Im guessing if the GPS could track me on the path to enlightenment it would show me at the toll gates with a long road ahead.

What frustrates me from making more progress toward the goal of walking with grace is the difficulty of letting go of the past. I want to be complete with a number of regretful events that go back decades, but I continue to berate myself for not having done things differently. Im the lead actor in a scenario that points to me as the villain responsible for having hurt the people who were close to me by not protecting them from the travails that came their way as a result of my divorce and career ambitions.

But little by little Im learning to give myself a break and to shift the focus toward regarding the events of the past as lessons learned rather than a shirt made of steel wool that Im condemned to wear forever. Forgiving myself is a process long past due and on occasion, when Im feeling the spirit of Hari Jiwan Singh, it helps to do a form of meditation called Tonglin, a yoga that transforms pain into forgiveness.

I start with visualization, seeing the beauty of who I am and the pain that keeps me out of touch with that inner beauty. I imagine the pain as black smoke that I inhale into my heart and then exhale as the peace and love of my own true nature. As long as I can, I continue to breathe in pain and breathe out happiness. Its a difficult practice. Half the time I choke on the smoke before it gets filtered.

I know its not enough to see the light while the incense is burning and the harmonium is playing. I recognize that what I do in the harsh light of day is the measure that determines if behavior mechanisms ingrained in childhood have truly been altered.

So I remain patient. I know the sad truth about even the best of intentions; lasting change rarely happens in the sudden glow of epiphany. No guru is going to tap my shoulder with a peacock feather and instill me with enlightenment like a frizzy-haired cartoon cat hit by a lightning bolt. Change, the kind of long lasting alteration to behavior that we strive for, is a gradual and often wearisome process.

True learning rarely takes place in a sudden breakthrough. It takes focus and practice to override the conditioned responses ingrained in our childhood experience. The shift comes from identifying what activates us, recognizing the trigger as a reflex reaction, the alarm, so to speak, not the fire. Within that split second of recognition there is opportunity to alter behavior from rote to choice.

It takes determination but like the muscle memory that develops from continued repetition, over time change will occur. The habitual behavior of the past will give way to a new feedback loop connected to your commitment to becoming the person you are determined to be.

Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

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Cheating Death - ChicagoNow (blog)

Riding the Hearthnot the hedge

After reading this you may think either:

Hopefully you will think I am option number 3 but I am happy to come under option number 1 as a back-up. Please dont think of me as option number 2, I promise you The Craft is my life and I would never dishonour it.

Many years ago, whilst working on a progressive magick course run by Gavin Bone & Janet Farrar I discovered the skill of travelling to the other worlds, something often referred to as hedge riding.

I was immediately hooked and have been working with it ever since.

The hedge is the symbolic boundary between the worlds. Hedge riding is the journey your spirit takes into the Otherworld or Underworld realms, sometimes called the upper and lower realms. The middle realm being our everyday world that we live in.

Hedge riding can take our spirit travelling back into the past to connect with our ancestors. We can meet and talk with our past life selves. The upper realm can provide us with connections to our spirit guides and teachers and the Divine. The lower realm takes us on a journey to find animal guides and to meet the souls of those passed over.

Itis not something to be taken lightly, it definitely isnt somewhere to just visit because you are bored. Thisis something to be taken very seriously and journeys should be taken with a particular question or mission in mind. It might be a journey undertaken for the purposes of healing, seeking an answer to a question, for spell work or to find spiritual enlightenment.

Hedge riding is very similar to shamanic journeys and also incorporates the art of Seidh or seer work in that you will communicate with the spirits. During a journey your spirit, your conscious will travel to the Otherworld.

However, I hadbeen struggling. I would sit in front of the gnarled old tree that usually opens up doorways to the different levels of the other world allowing me totrot over the hedge and into a different realm. But I would enterthe tree and fall into a black hole. One that appeared to be never ending and all I did wasfall without ever ending up anywhere.

I was perplexed. Until I realised that it wasnt working because of my personal pathway. My own journey has twisted and turned and veered off in all sorts of directions allowing me to bring back bits and bobs from other pathways and cultures to create my own unique spiritual way.

No matter what direction I drift off to, I always seem to end up back on the path of a Kitchen Witch, obviously it is at my core. The realisation was that the tree didnt quite fit with my Kitchen Witch persona. So I meditated to find another avenue. An apple tree in a vegetable garden was the first image to appear but it was just an apple tree, sadly no gateways.

Then inspiration struck. My vision was of a large high backed wooden chair (not a rocking chair because me and rocking chairs dont mix well) but an old chair with several comfy cushions in. It was sat in an old kitchen with a terracotta stone floor and beamed ceilings hung with herbs. Yep I know it is a bit stereotypical but hey work with me The chair was placed in front of an old cast iron range with a roaring fire in.

As I sat and watched the doorways revealed themselves to me (I promise I hadnt eaten any dodgy mushrooms). The lower realm became open via the tray of ash that sits at the bottom of the oven, all dark and dusty. The middle world revealed itself via the oven with the doors thrown open. And the upper world is accessible through the smoke that comes out of the fire and up through the chimney.

It was a relief to be back and each time I visit the otherworlds now it is by using my hearth riding system.

My advice to anyone working within the Craft, do what works for you!

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Riding the Hearthnot the hedge - Patheos (blog)

This is the fourth and last post on a series exploring the sacrament of chrismation. Click here for Part One, here for Part Two, and here for Part Three.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov by Violette79 from Brooklyn, NY, USA (Saint Seraphim of Sarov) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Only the Holy Spirit can purify the intellect, for unless a greater power comes and overthrows the despoiler, what he has taken captive will never be set free (cf. Luke 11:21-22). In every way, therefore, and especially through peace of soul, we must make ourselves a dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit. Then we shall have the lamp of spiritual knowledge burning always within us; and when it is shining constantly in the inner shrine of the soul, not only will the intellect perceive all the dark and bitter attacks of the demons, but these attacks will be greatly weakened and exposed for what they are by that glorious and holy light.[1]

In the Apocalypse we can find an example of the internal spiritual warfare going on within us all; until our full reception of the eschaton and the glory of God, we will find ourselves under attack by so-called locusts, powers of evil which seek to destroy us from within ourselves. While Andrew of Caesarea believed the Apocalypse discussed something which would happen in the future, at times he was able to write in a more generalized fashion, and so his statement on these mental locusts which seek to hinder our intellect, is true now as it is for the Christians at the end of time. We who have the seal of the Spirit, those who have been chrismated, will find that through this seal, the Holy Spirit will be working in and through us, protecting us from these powers of chaos, helping to strengthen our intellect so it does not become utterly consumed. Then, with such protection, we can more to enlightenment and share the light of truth to the rest of the world:

And the mental locusts, who sting people like scorpions, show the death which is the harm of the soul hiding at the end of evil deeds, to which those are subjected who had not been sealed with the divine seal on their foreheads and shine round about with the enlightenment of Life-giving Cross through the Holy Spirit, so that according to the saying of the Master, they shine their light before men for the glory of the divine name. [2]

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On The Sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation) Conclusion - Patheos (blog)

Voice America Talk Radio Network, Internet broadcasting pioneer, producing and syndicating online audio and video, today announced that world-renowned spirituality and psychology expert, author and teacher will join Dr. Paula Joyce host of Uplift Your Life: Nourishment of the Spirit radio program on the VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel Thursday, June 15 at 8 AM Pacific Time

This press release was orginally distributed by SBWire

Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/14/2017 -- There's a widespread myth that enlightenment takes years of meditation and study, is confined to Eastern religions and is only possible for a handful of highly dedicated spiritual people. Enlightenment is actually much simpler and available to all of us. In fact, many have already attained this state spontaneously or naturally without trying. Enlightenment, or wakefulness, is simply a shift in consciousness, a different way of being in the world, a lighter, easier way of living life. Even Westerners can live with peace of mind and in harmony.

Steve Taylor, PhD, is the author of several books on spirituality and psychology, including The Fall and Waking from Sleep. He has also published two books of poetic spiritual reflections, including The Calm Center. Steve is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom. Since 2011, he has appeared annually in Mind, Body, Spirit magazine's list of "the world's 100 most spiritually influential living people." His new book is The Leap: The Psychology of Spiritual Awakening with a foreword by Eckhart Tolle. Please visit Steve at http://www.StevenMTaylor.com.

To hear more bestselling authors and world-renowned guests like James Van Praagh, Dr. Bernie Siegel, Dr. Larry Dossey, The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, Keni Thomas, Dr. Joan Borysenko, Rabbi David Stern, David Whyte, Will Bowen, Sandra Ingerman, Dr. Susan Weitzman, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Dr. Stanley Krippner, Dan Millman, Dr. Matthew Fox and Dr. Gary Chapman be sure to listen to these shows on-demand. "Uplift Your Life: Nourishment of the Spirit" airs live on Thursdays at 8 AM Pacific/10 AM Central/11 AM Eastern on The VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel.

To access the show, log on at http://www.voiceamericaempowerment.com. All shows will be available in Dr. Paula Joyce's Content Library on The VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel for on-demand and podcast download, http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2317/uplift-your-life-nourishment-of-the-spirit.

The VoiceAmerica Network offers the latest conversations in a talk radio format, providing education, interaction, and advice on key issues live, on demand as well as through pod cast download. If interested in hosting a talk radio show on VoiceAmerica Network, Contact Executive Producer Winston Price (480-553-5752) also for advertising/sponsorship information or other show details.

About Dr. Paula Joyce Dr. Paula, The Life Doctor, (http://paulajoyce.com/site/) has helped thousands of people improve their health, wealth and relationships through writing, coaching and speaking. Her clients attain success, achieve breakthrough thinking and enhanced productivity with her Ultimate Creative Problem Solving Process, which aligns and integrates information in both sides of the brain. Clients dissolve hidden fears and blocks, solve challenging problems and reach their goals.

Despite being told that she could not write creatively, paint or dance, Dr. Paula is a best-selling author, an internationally shown artist and an accomplished Argentine Tango dancer. She broke the family rules by being a working mother, who did postdoctoral work at Yale and was Director of Leadership Development in a school district where she coached and trained top level executives. She has overcome emotional and psychological abuse and learned to see the positive in every experience and feel the gratitude for all of it.

Dr. Paula is the bestselling author of Nothing But Net, and her column, Ask Dr. Paula, is in Dallas Yoga Magazine, in print and on the web. Her e-book, 33 Tips for Self-Empowerment, is the first in a series of 33 Tips books. Dr. Paula has spoken to organizations such as: American Express Financial Services, Baylor University Medical Center, Unity Church, Jung Society and Voluntary Hospital Association. She was in USA Today, Dallas Morning News and on national radio and television. She was named one of America's Leading Experts and recognized by The National Academy of Best-Selling Authors.

About VoiceAmerica/World Talk Radio, LLC VoiceAmerica is the original digital broadcast company for the production and delivery of Live Internet Talk Radio programming and continues to be the industry leader in digital media, marketing, and distribution. We are the pioneers of digital radio programming and have been since 1999. We create and distribute over 500 unique and innovative radio programs for our millions of engaged listeners worldwide. Our network channels distribute live programs daily that reach a growing domestic and international audience who connect through all devices via our mobile, desktop, and tablet VoiceAmerica destinations.

Learn more at http://www.voiceamerica.com.

Listeners can download the current versions of the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio App at: Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airkast.VA_MASTER&hl=en iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voiceamerica-talk-radio-network/id412135954?mt=8# Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/AirKast-Inc-Voice-America/dp/B00IGH8WPO

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/dr-steve-tayor-world-renowned-spirituality-and-psychology-expert-author-and-teacher-to-join-dr-paula-joyce-on-uplift-your-life-nourishment-of-the-spirit-819489.htm

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Dr. Steve Tayor, World-Renowned Spirituality and Psychology Expert, Author and Teacher to Join Dr. Paula Joyce on ... - Digital Journal

Middle East Eye

Why terrorism is caused by much more than just religion Middle East Eye Bouhlel and those whose religious education derives primarily from IS propaganda cannot draw on that fund of spiritual enlightenment. And so, in the face of personal crises such as Abedi's academic failure and increasing isolation and Bouhlel's ... Richard Dawkins: religious education is crucial for British schoolchildrenTelegraph.co.uk all 14 news articles »

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Why terrorism is caused by much more than just religion - Middle East Eye

Spiritual enlightenment in India, buckets on the beach in Thailand, soft tacos from streets stalls in Mexico, partying like a rockstar in Mykonos or volcano boarding in Nicaragua. The frequency with which this stuff circulates on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook demonstrates how accessible world travel has become for the kids of the middle class.

Decades ago, cheap, lengthy world travel was something only people of a more radical mind-set embarked on. If your mum and dad backpacked in the '60s, they probably also took acid, had dreadlocks and continue to remind you they went to Woodstock (whether or not they actually did). If they didn't go backpacking, they probably didn't take acid, and probably don't claim to have attended Woodstock.

Nowadays, if you don't set off on at least one backpacking trip during your twenties, people begin to judge; you haven't lived, you're a square, you're boring, and you won't ever understand the world, or yourself.

Wanderlust is all over the interwebs. This German-derived noun has become a 21st-century cliche, carrying slightly varying definitions of "(n.) a strong desire to roam or travel the world". Its connotations are of authenticity, uniqueness and passion. The people who use the word will probably also describe themselves at some point as "gypsies", ignorant of the history of racism that underpins that term.

Now, I'm a strong advocate of world travel. I've been known to get pretty pushy with friends as they toss up between full-time work or jumping on the global party bandwagon. "Man, what's wrong with you? Do it while you can!" And I have never refrained from posting on social media while gallivanting around the world; look where I am, look what I'm doing (it's probably better than what you're doing).

But this is exactly my point. With the expansion of social media, travel becomes less about learning and understanding the world, and more about show. The bigger the show becomes, the more it makes me think about the things we don't see.

The shit parts of travel are the parts that truly change and challenge you as a person. Simultaneously, they should make us realise what a privilege it is to be able to return home to a country with clean water, a stable energy supply, reliable food sources, and a police force who can't be bought (most of the time).

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Think Bali Is Too Bogan? Think Again.

There's also the deep isolation you feel when you are alone in a country where you don't speak the language. Sitting in a supermarket crying because your bus driver said he was going for a lunch break four hours ago and hasn't returned (he happens to have your entire luggage, including your passport and bankcard). Grumbling because you've spent four days straight in a mouldy hostel room without Wi-Fi and the torrential rain won't let up. Realising, after boasting about your strong stomach for weeks, that you've finally got that infamous Indian gastro bug five hours into a mountain trek.

These kinds of experiences make their way into every overseas trip and, more often than not, will leave a greater imprint on your memory than whatever "hot-dogs-or-legs" moment you decided to share on Instagram.

So keep travelling, but stop boasting. Don't use travel as a way to implicitly pit your exciting life against the boring lives of the people you left in your hometown. Realise that it is only the luck of your relative wealth that allows you to travel. Be thankful for the experiences travel gives you, but mostly, be thankful that you have safe, comfortable hometowns to return to.

Oh -- and stop saying "wanderlust".

This post first appeared at Global Hobo.

ALSO ON HUFFPOST AUSTRALIA

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Look At What I'm Doing (It's Probably Better Than What You're Doing) - Huffington Post Australia

Ahmedabad: It was a festival of enlightenment - Prakash Parv - that saw congregation of thousands of devotees at Sabarmati Riverfront behind NID on Sunday to mark 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani inaugurated the event with Nitin Patel, deputy CM, being the chief guest. The CM donned a Sikh turban for the event while visiting the Gurudwara shrine made on the venue and met Sikh community leaders. "Persons of all faiths had gathered for the event as it was a celebration of humanity. We had especially invited noted kirtankaar and performers from Punjab and Delhi for the cultural programmes," said an organizer. "The performances gave a glimpse of Sikh history and told the tales of gurus and struggles." "While young performers enthralled with their Gatka (Sikh martial art) demonstration, audience was mesmerized with Saheb-e-Kamaal performance by Patiala Rangmanch," he added. The langar prasad (community meal open for all) started early in the morning and continued throughout the day.

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Basking in spiritual glory - Times of India

MAKING connections was everything for Tom McGrath, the late poet, playwright, jazz pianist and all round seeker of artistic and spiritual enlightenment, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 68. This is something Edinburgh International Film Festival senior programmer Niall Greig Fulton recognised as a young actor in the 1990s. Then, McGrath took Fulton under his wing after seeing him play his old friend and fellow traveller of the 1960s counter-culture, novelist Alexander Trocchi, in a one-man show.

This came at a period when a new wave of Scottish writers, actors and thinkers were exploring counter-cultural thought and reinventing it in their own image through a fusion of punk-inspired lit-zines such as Rebel Inc and a free-thinking rave scene. Theatrically speaking, in Edinburgh this manifested itself in what would now be known as a pop-up venue, where Fulton first crossed paths with McGrath.

Tom turned up at the first performance, says Fulton, and someone said there was someone who wanted to talk to me. That was Tom, and the first thing he said to me was 'This is an evening of great triumph.'

McGrath went on to work closely with Fulton to develop the show, giving notes, telling old stories of the sixties involving himself, Trocchi and R.D. Laing, the radical psychiatrist who formed the third part of Scotland's counter-cultural un-holy trinity.

My clearest memory is of being in the Lyceum with Tom, says Fulton, and him saying, okay, you're Alex, you're at a party in New York in the 60s, and there's a woman on the other side of the room you want to get to, but you have to negotiate with room full of people to get there. I'd act it out, and then Tom would say, there's quite a few things Alex wouldn't have done. There was a generosity there, a gently provocative mentoring.

More than two decades on, Fulton is squaring the circle with Electric Contact: The Visionary Worlds of Tom McGrath, a programme of play readings, screenings and talks either by, about or inspired by McGrath. The former will feature a new look at The Hard Man, McGrath's controversial prison drama co-written with former Glasgow gangster turned artist Jimmy Boyle. This will be given a new twist, with director Tam Dean Burn casting acclaimed actress Kate Dickie in the title role. Also on show will be a look at The Android Circuit, McGrath's rarely seen science-fiction play, which was performed at the then Grassmarket-based Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, where The Hard Man had premiered the year before.

In keeping with a science-fiction theme, the season will feature a screening of The Nuclear Family, McGrath's 1982 TV work for the BBC's short-lived Play For Tomorrow strand of stand-alone dramas. With its mind-expanding look at both dystopian and utopian futures, science-fiction was as much a liberating force for change adopted by the hippy underground as sex, drugs, poetry and jazz.

There is a programme of TV interviews with McGrath alongside a screening of Wholly Communion, Peter Whitehead's film of the 1965 gathering of the counter-cultural clans at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where a young McGrath read his poetry alongside Allen Ginsberg in an event hosted by Trocchi.

Two lectures see historian and lecturer Angela Bartie look at McGrath's 1960s and 1970s past, while Scott Hames analyses how McGrath used language in The Hard Man. McGrath's poetry comes under the spotlight in a concert by jazz saxophonist Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. The band will play work by Miles Davis and Duke Ellington, both of whom McGrath brought to Glasgow in the 1970s while director of the Third Eye Centre, now the site of the CCA, and Tam Dean Burn will read some of McGrath's hard-to-find poetry. Linking all this together suitably loosely will be a screening of Shirley Clarke's film of The Connection, Jack Gelber's jazz and drugs steeped 1959 play, first produced by Julian Beck's beat-inspired Living Theatre.

I first saw the film in 1996, when Tom was launching his book, Birdcalls, says Fulton, and he was asked by the Shore Poets, who were putting on the event, to choose a film to go with it. That introduced me to the work of Shirley Clarke, and I ended up programming a season of her work at the Film Festival. So there are all these links that all go back to Tom.

Another link in the chain comes through Burn, whose role in proceedings stems from appearing in McGrath's version of Quebecois writer Daniel Danis' play, Stones and Ashes, at the Traverse.

It meant so much to Tom to get that play on, says Burn. He was all about being in the moment, and was enthusiastic for whatever was going on there and then. He was enthusiastic for other writers as well. He was very selfless.

Burn's work has straddled several generations of the counter-culture, ever since he was a young punk fronting Edinburgh band Dirty Reds, who, with Burn departing for an acting career, later morphed into Fire Engines. How things connect up is illustrated further by the fact that Fire Engines records were released by Bob Last. Now the producer behind successful films including Terence Davies' version of Sunset Song, Last co-founded concept-based record label Fast Product. A few years earlier, he had been the set designer of the original Traverse Theatre production of The Hard Man. McGrath would have loved such connections.

Music was such a driving force for Tom, says Burn. That was where he came from, and that was what we had in common. In that way he wasn't of the same ilk of a lot of people in theatre at the time.

Fulton concurs with Burn's observation, particularly in relation to jazz.

There were traces of jazz in everything he did. It was all about rhythm, and one thing leading to another without you ever being quite sure where you were going with it.

Fulton tells a story which McGrath related to him about when he brought Miles Davis to Glasgow, and how he was heartbroken when Davis refused to acknowledge him, leaving all niceties to a middle-man while he just stood there smoking. This continued until just before Miles' departure, when, on the way up the stairs as Miles and his middle man were going down them, he heard a voice.

Hey, said Miles, who had stopped and turned to face McGrath. It's not a bad suit for a white man.

Electric Contact forms part of The Future is History, a post Brexit nod to the 1970s and 1980s through the filmic identities of Great Britain, Scotland and the grandly named Western World of the Future. This will feature screenings of key films made by former Beatle George Harrison's HandMade Films, including A Sense of Freedom, John Mackenzie's take on Jimmy Boyle's life story, and Bruce Robinson's ultimate look back in languor, Withnail and I. A season of science-fiction films will feature the Glasgow-shot Deathwatch.

It's very personal to me, says Fulton about the season. Tom did so much, and trying to draw all those things together has been quite a job. What fascinates me about Tom is what he could see that others couldn't. Whether he ever fulfilled what he wanted to fulfil creatively I'm not sure, because everything he did fed into something else. He couldn't stop creating. I used to say playing Trocchi changed my life, but actually it was changed by Tom McGrath.

Electric Contact: The Visionary Worlds of Tom McGrath runs as part of The Future is History at Edinburgh International Festival from June 21-July 2.

http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk

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Edinburgh International Film Festival remembers Tom McGrath, the ... - Herald Scotland

Hometown: Cary

Latest Book: Life Is Your Party ... With A Little Pixie Dust

Publisher: 220 Communications

Release Date: Nov. 9, 2016

Available: Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Whats your new book about?

Life Is Your Party ... With A Little Pixie Dust is a humorous, inspiring, light-hearted, enlightening comparison between the elements of party planning and spiritual awakening. Author Sarah Vargo combines two journeys in her life experiences as an event planner or party girl and her continual spiritual evolution leading to enlightenment. Join her as she begins to rejoice in her inner journey, not just in creating festivities in her outside world. A little pixie dust can lead to magic on the dance floor under the disco ball! Ride that rainbow and celebrate life every day ... fashionably late but always right on time!

Where did the idea come from?

I was a party planner for many years and loved hosting events. I felt I had so many fun tips to share, along with a lot of positive energy. As I started writing the book, I realized how many similarities there were between parties and life. As I was writing, I actually had a spiritual awakening and my book shifted quite a bit in the process.

What genre is your book, and why were you drawn to it?

My book is categorized on Amazon as Self-Help, Humor and Religion and Spirituality. I have always wanted to help people and inspire them. At first I was hesitant to write a book about spirituality, but as time went by there was no way I could not because it is such a big part of who I am today.

Who is the intended audience?

I am intending to reach anyone who it will help. I find it can help everyone in some way.

Why is this story important to you?

Over the years, I feel I have learned some very powerful and inspiring prayers, energy purification techniques, and I infused my book with so much love ... and of course pixie dust! I also wanted to bridge my earlier years as a party girl on the scene with a new kind of inner party from my spiritual journey.

How long did it take you to write? What was your process?

It took me about five or six years to write the book. I actually wrote most of it over a period of two weeks. While I was working on the book, I was going through a rapid spiritual evolution and changing very quickly. I am glad I actually let myself have time to write it because it came out the way it was intended.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book? What was the hardest part?

I loved coming up with the idea and concept in the beginning ... it poured out of me. I also enjoyed writing my childhood stories that I include. I also was excited to come up with the concept for the cover and have my Dad paint it. I found it challenging to incorporate my earlier writing with the more recent writing, as I wrote the majority of it later. The editing process also was challenging but so rewarding at the end.

How are you publishing this book and why (traditional/indie/self-publishing)?

My publisher is 220 Communications. Glenn Murray, the founder, is a good friend who has always supported me, and I felt really comfortable during the process.

What is your education/background?

Author Sarah Stargo Vargo is a certified Reiki Master, Holistic Life Coach, Energy Alchemist, graduate of the University of Illinois and Party Girl who loves to ignite the inner star inside all of us so we shine a little brighter.

Her work brings inspiration, cheer and sunshine to the world through the love, grace and beauty her clients find on the inside and outside.

Sarahs current creation Stargo specializes in energy clearing and balancing, Self Love Reiki, Divine Path Reiki, Feng Shui, high frequency energy-embedded art, and angelic intuitive healing and readings.

Her professional background ranges from marketing, events, social media, charity work to energy and intuitive healings, readings and life coaching.

Through the Stargo vision, Sarah is excited to be a personal life cheerleader and awaken the inner star for many through inspiration, laughter, motivation, leadership, coaching and love.

How/why did you decide to write a book?

I always have loved writing and I felt the message coming out of me very strongly and had to share it. The content and ideas poured out of me in the very beginning,

Who are your favorite authors?

Louise Hay, Jane Austen

Pick one: Danielle Steel or John Grisham?

John Grisham

Pick one: Stephen King or Nicholas Sparks?

Nicholas Sparks

Pick one: Ebooks or hard/paperbacks?

Hard/paperbacks

Have you written anything else?

I have two children books that are written and now I am working on illustrations.

Whats next for you?

I am exited to continue writing, painting and doing my energy healing work. The two childrens books I have are about a partying unicorn and a clumsy angel.

How can readers discover more about you and you work?

Website: http://www.sarahstargo.com

Blog: http://www.stargolove.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sarahvargo

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahvargo

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Your-Party- Little-Pixie/dp/1513610406/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16102275.Sarah_Vargo

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Author Spotlight: Sarah Vargo - Northwest Herald

Katy Perry hasRussell Brand to thank for a wellness practice that changed her life.

E! News' Zuri Hallsat down with the "Chained to the Rhythm" pop star to learn about how meditation has reshaped Perry's songwriting process, an activity first introduced to her by the English comedian she was married to between 2010-2012.

"[Russell] is an avid meditator and I learned when I was in India getting married," Katy explained, referencing famed meditation teacherBob Roth from the David Lynch Foundation. An admitted skeptic, Perry said that because of her conservative upbringing, she held many preconceived notions about meditation and its purpose.

"My parents are both born again Christians and I love them," she shared. "I love how I was raised and I don't regret anything. I'm not dismissing it. I respect all religions, but I did think that meditation was more of a religion. Transcendental meditation is not a religion."

Getty Images/Dave Hogan for One Love Manchester

The 32-year-oldcredited meditation as the "biggest help in my life" when it comes to disconnecting from the chaos. She added, "Life can get a little crazy, and I am always juggling a thousand balls at once."

"I'm just like anyone else. I'm addicted to my phone. I have my phone next to my bed. I would say that especially when I'm single, but even in a partnership, I'll look at my phone before I look at my partner," Perrywho last datedOrlando Bloomadmitted.

From a musical standpoint, Perry said that meditating aids creativity. "When I meditate, I get to the real well of creativity. It stirs up all of these creative juices and I get my best ideas," the chart-topper offered.

It also lifts the celeb's mood when she's feeling down. "I have been crabby many times and I'll just say, Look, I'm in a really bad mood. I need 20 minutes to reset,'" Katy recalled. "I come back; my mood has changed 100 percent."

For more about Katy's quest to reach spiritual enlightenment, watch the video above!

Katy Perry: Witness World Wide is streaming on YouTube. Pick up Perry's albumWitness out now before her tour kicks off Sept. 7.

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Katy Perry Credits Ex-Husband Russell Brand for Inspiring Her ... - E! Online

By Darshnik Vyas

The role of a newspaper, it is believed, is to inform. But that is only a part of what a modern newspaper is supposed to do. A greater part of its mandate is to act in the manner of an ancient sage, or rishi, to help the reader in contemplation, meditation and, finally, spiritual elevation.

The term Kurukshetra has, for long, symbolised something more than a geographical location. It is a metaphor for the ceaseless tumult and conflict of the material world. In the modern context, it signifies the mode of being of the social, political and economic world.

The newspaper presumably has to reflect this. The editors, however, must not delude themselves into believing that they are aiming for, or arriving at, some objective representation of reality. Because reality is simply the name we give to our most cherished ways of looking at the world.

A newspaper has to move away from a problem-posing to a problem-dissolving attitude. A lot of the so-called problems arise because of familiar habits of thought. If you are enabled to see them differently, they will simply disappear. In that sense, the process is similar to the movement from ignorance, or avidya, to spiritual enlightenment.

Thats why a newspaper should endeavour to present perspectives that transcend our obsessive human-centric view of life.

This is how this newspaper has consistently addressed the question of diaspora or foreign origins, telling the reader that nationalism in this day and age is a liquid phenomenon, with no clearly defined contours.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Good morning, Kurukshetra - Times of India (blog)

By Dan Fischer

We are told that a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who lived around 400 BCE, left his home and family, went on a spiritual quest and became enlightened awake. Buddha can be translated as awake. From then on he was referred to as The Buddha.

According to Wikipedia: No written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. So the stories of his early life may or may not be true. What is true is that there is a tradition of teaching ascribed to him that survives to today. This tradition includes the Four Noble Truths," and the Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths:

1: Life is suffering;

2: Desire is the cause of suffering;

3: The path to liberation from suffering is to renounce all desire; and

4: The way leading to the cessation of suffering is the noble eightfold path.

The Noble Eightfold Path: Right View; Right Intention; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

I have no grief with the teachings as I read them. I wholly support them. Control your desire, you control your suffering!

But I do question the story of Siddhartha. Heres why: I hold responsibility in high regard. I honor people who are responsible and not irresponsible people. The story I heard of Siddhartha is that as a young man he left his wife and child and went off to discover the truth of the world. He discovered that the rest of the world was not as privileged as he and that suffering was rampant. He endured the life of the common person and became aware of the way out of suffering. He became awake.

The part that bothers me is the leaving of wife and kid. I have always had a problem respecting men who leave their families. To me, when you commit to a family and particularly when you commit to having kids you take on a lifelong responsibility that cannot be ended. To me, that responsibility can be part of the path to enlightenment, but it must be trod!

I dont believe that abandoning ones responsibilities can lead to enlightenment. I do believe that having a family can make reaching enlightenment a little harder.

A responsible person can lead a single life. A single person can achieve enlightenment. A person with a family may have a harder time to reach enlightenment. (Or not!) I dont know. I only know my own experience.

Ken Keyes said, Today is perfect. It cannot be improved upon. Unless you compare it to the imagined future or the dead past, neither one of which exist. Embedded in this statement is the truth that you can only feel what is happening right now. Your whole life is right now. There is the trite statement that 'The past is dead. ... The future is a promise. All you have is now. Thats why its called the Present!

I think it was also Ken Keyes who said, There is always something happening. You only get bored when you call it nothing.

If youre feeling good, pay attention. Enjoy it. If youre in pain, pay attention. Pay attention. My dad used to quote some wise soul who said, One by one thy duties wait thee. Let thy full strength go to each. Let no future dreams elate thee. Learn thou first what these may teach. Aldous Huxley said that the residents of Island taught the parrots to say Here and now, boys, here and now! Thats not a bad mantra for any of us.

Piet Hein said Living is a thing you do, now or never. Which do you? I dont think he was a Buddhist either.

While I am not a Buddhist, I do agree with almost all of the teachings that have come down from The Buddha. I strive to be aware, aware of myself, of my surroundings, of other people. I try to be awake not because of The Buddha, but because that is what I think is most appropriate for a human to aspire to.

On second thought, maybe I am a Buddhist.

Dan Fischer lives in Ashland. He occasionally teaches at OLLI at SOU. His blog is http://www.danielcfischer.com, or Google The Crazy Mud Caper.

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Inner Peace: To be or not to be a Buddhist - Ashland Daily Tidings

We used to romanticise everything love, work, war, even death. It was the 1970s, a time of regional conflicts, protests, the Vietnam war and, in China, the Cultural Revolution. The headlines were as gloomy as those today. But for a developing teenage mind, it was heaven for exploration, offering endless possibilities to experiment with the world without and engage with our changing selves deep within.

Part of growing up involves experiencing the blues various kinds of depressive moods. It was a sign of maturity, a rite of passage into the adult world. But soon, we learnt that the blues, in their severe form, can take a toll. A close friend decided to end his life when he was about to graduate from university. In a restaurant, he had talked to me about his troubled family and his love life. It was deep stuff.

Psychological distress may be a necessary junction in the path of personal growth

That meeting was our last. A day later, I saw his name in the papers. The blues took on a new meaning. My friend suffered from depression, later thought to be the result of a prolonged family feud.

But the blues are a part of life. Later that year, my relationship issues were followed by bouts of depression and sleepless nights. I also started to suffer panic attacks: the fear so intense, uncontrollable, and unpredictable that you can doubt your own sanity.

That made me see a clinical psychologist for the first time. Just being told these attacks are quite common for people my age was almost half the cure.

The panic attacks returned later. But this time, I got to know them. I could name them and knew their shapes and sizes, and learned to live with them. Those sessions were important. I came to see that psychological troubles can be managed, at times with the help of someone. I also came to see that psychological distress may be a necessary junction in the path of personal growth, depression included.

Twenty years ago, scientists still hoped to find a simple biological marker underlying depression. Some researchers pointed to serotonin levels, believing the poor regulation of this neurotransmitter was responsible for the mood disorder. Antidepressants were developed as an attempt to regulate serotonin uptake by neurons. But the picture that has emerged is not that simple.

These days, we know that the use of antidepressants without psychotherapy is ineffective. Not only that, there is talk of side effects that could be particularly damaging to the well-being of young patients. The dream of a cheap and effective treatment for depression is gone.

Many who have gone through depression often say their life orientations have changed with recovery

To recognise that depression is not purely a biological phenomenon is a good sign. It opens up a new window of understanding. A more recent conception of depression describes it as a continuum with a variety of symptoms with different intensity. In this sense, depression is not a diseased psychological state that can be separated from a normal state. Depending on events that trigger it, its intensity, and other personality factors, it may be experienced as grief, sadness, melancholy or severe depression.

Depression is one of the many psychological issues that accompany adolescence. In the past, research focused on emotional problems at this stage of life and on ways of coping with these challenges. Less discussed, though, is whether these negative moods have any role to play in an individuals growth and development.

Many who have gone through depression often say their life orientations have changed with recovery, for some with the help of psychotherapy. If this is true, then depression can possibly play a certain role in the development of a fuller, deeper, more resilient human being. Perhaps consistent with this is a recent study conducted at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which found that participants with a history of depression exhibited greater character strengths than a comparison group with no depression history.

Depression is a genuine and deep response to a complicated world

The relationship between depression and personal growth may not be accidental. Religious literature is littered with authors whose faith was deepened by their episodes of depression. I am thinking of C.S. Lewis and John Bunyan, who wrote about their journey in their Christian faith.

It would not be hard to find similar depression-mediated enlightenment patterns in Eastern religions. If so, then depression is a genuine and deep response to a complicated world and may serve as a catalyst, in this particular case, for spiritual growth.

Recently, an interesting line of research suggests that there may be purposes to depression. Studies have shown that for some, ruminations associated with depression can be self-reflection that may serve to solve problems, or enhance creativity. For others, however, it could just be brooding which may lead back to depression.

Our relationship with depression is more than that. The blues cannot be separated from the world of art. In literature, we have Frost, Dickinson and Hemingway, and in Chinese literature, Qu Yuan and Li Bai. And in painting and music, the works of Van Gogh, Tchaikovsky and Schumann, to name a few.

A recent study by Simon Kyaga and colleagues in Sweden also shows a link between depression and specific creative professions, although the functional relationship is unclear. It is as if, without these different shades of sadness, humanity is not complete.

However, these cultural norms are no longer in vogue. In a practical, no-nonsense society such as ours, we are obsessed with the pursuit of quick wealth and happiness, thus depriving young people of the chance to reflect on the darker side of life.

But for young people, the blues of life continue to scream to be heard, tasted, explored and understood. Warmly received by a young audience was the film Mad World, which juxtaposes the manic pursuit of financial power and depressing living conditions perfectly mirrored in the main character of the film an individual suffering from bipolar disorder.

About the same time that the movie was released, another dark tale Shakespeares King Lear, played by a youth group, came to theatres. One young actor who played one persona of Lear explained Lears shadows and that we all have our own shadows things we dont want to face or think about, and are not conscious of. If we do not want to be ruled by our shadows, we have to be conscious of them.

Studies have shown that self complexity, or the degree to which we know ourselves, is negatively related to depression it is as if self knowledge can ameliorate the severity of depression.

Young people are romantic. This is a phase when people still possess the power to experience in a fresh way, to be conscious of the shadows of humanity, of ourselves and learn from it. This can be healing.

Depression is a complex phenomenon. Here in Hong Kong, we desperately need multiple narratives to address the issue, that go beyond the over-institutionalised and medicalised lines.

Depression is not simply a disease in a strong or weak form, waiting to be cured. It is a part of us. We need to understand it more.

Elbert Lee is an adjunct member of the faculty at Upper Iowa University, Hong Kong campus, where he teaches cognition and human development

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How depression can be a journey to self-discovery and spiritual healing - South China Morning Post

Photo courtesy of Tyson Amir

This is Day 11 of the 2017 #30Days30Writers Ramadan series June 6, 2017

By Tyson Amir

It is not my preference to speak on my faith. Im not one to speak on things that Im doing; I am more in favor of letting the process speak for itself. As we immerse ourselves in Ramadan, I am reflecting more on my process of faith and application of it.

Im a Black man in the United States. Im very proud of my peoples history and of the lineage from which I come. That pride and love never wavers, while at the same time Im finding myself more and more distant from the communities being created by my co-religionists in America.

My great-great-great grandfather was born in the early 1800s in the state of Georgia. He was, like millions of other black men and women, forcibly enslaved for the purposes of economic benefit of the white elite and the economy of the U.S. As family tradition states, Bartlett was a Muslim.

He practiced Islam throughout his life. I reflect upon him and what his experience mustve been like attempting to observe Ramadan and practice his faith while being held against his will.

For him, Islam, prayer, Ramadan, ayat (verses) from Quran and all artifacts of his faith became armor, inspiration and weapons to help him in his spiritual journey as well as to confront the oppression he and his fellow African brothers and sisters unjustly faced in the U.S. I proudly come from that tradition of Islam being mixed with a fight for the freedom and liberation of Black people and all oppressed peoples.

This fight began once the first men and women were stolen from their homeland and placed aboard Portuguese ships to be carried across the Atlantic Ocean. The reality is their fight didnt end with them; their fight has been passed down to every generation of their offspring.

My generation is attempting to practice Islam and fast Ramadan in the age of mass incarceration, school to prison pipeline, the war on drugs, the era of every 28 hours a Black person being killed by law enforcement or security personnel. And all of this was alive and well way before Donald Trump became the 45th president.

As I stated before, I am a Black man in America. My brothers and sisters in hue are the primary targets of all the above and more. My fast cannot be separated from this context. Meanwhile, numerous religious communities and institutions that populate the American landscape fast and attempt to practice Islam while ignoring these realities as if theyre attempting to fast from the awareness of them and responsibility to do something about it.

At best, they might pay these issues lip service. A few conversations have been held on #BlackLivesMatter or on the prison industrial complex. There are very few Muslim organizations that are actively working to address some of these issues, but the overwhelming majority have no interest in confronting any of them, while at the same time appropriating the Black experience and the history of Black Muslims in America to legitimate their place in American society.

This is highly offensive and serves as the catalyst to what begins to create that distance between us. You cannot stand on the shoulders of Black men and women who planted the seeds of this faith in this soil with their lives and bodies and ignore their legacy and the struggles that have been handed down to their offspring.

You cannot name drop Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali to validate Islam in the 21st century but ignore the conditions that produced them and not give energy to the struggles they pledged themselves to. By ignoring these struggles and refusing to forward them, these communities are actually working to perpetuate the racism and imperialistic capitalism that are hallmarks of western hegemonic domination the world over.

My fast, faith, and fight are all intertwined just like my ancestor Bartlett, because being Black in the United States doesnt spare you from that reality. It doesnt matter how you identify religiously, politically or economically; it is your fight.

As the days and nights of Ramadan pass, I fast with hopes of spiritual enlightenment and guidance to benefit me in my journey as a human being. I also fast with the painful awareness that Im standing on the battlefield of my people, hoping that this sacred time and spiritual state will enhance my contributions to my peoples struggle.

Sadly, from this vantage point, as the centuries old battle of my people continues, I see too many of my co-religionists on the wrong side of the fight.

Tyson Amir is an author, musician, educator, community organizer and freedom fighter born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the spirit of The Dragon, George Lester Jackson, he endeavors to utilize any and all resources at his disposal as weapons to bring about the eventual liberation of his people. Tysons activism has influenced his artistic work. Black Boy Poems, his debut release as an author is an example of that.

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On the Bodies of My People My Faith, Fast and Fight as a Black Man in the US - Patheos (blog)

Summer vacation brings the suggested reading list kids bring home from school. Here are our suggestions for the grown-ups fiction and nonfiction titles in which religion and spirituality play a role, but without proselytizing or offering self-help platitudes.

The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

Post-apocalyptic novels are all the rage, but the reviews for this book promote it as an instant classic of speculative fiction (aka science fiction). The year is 2049 and the Earth is beset by global warming and a band of space marauders who siphon off its waning resources. Enter a potential savior, a young woman from the countryside who can unite the surviving creatures to fight back. Her story is told by Christine Pizan, who tattoos Joans saga on her own body as a form of protest.

Faith factor: Joan is a futuristic Joan of Arc on a spiritual quest, this time across the world, not just France. The character of Christine Pizan is drawn from the 16th-century Italian writer Christine de Pizan, a contemporary of Joan of Arcs who wrote a famous biographical poem about her.

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What the critics say: Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Jeff VanderMeer (whose own novel, Borne, is being hailed as one of the years best) called it a brilliant and incendiary new novel, which speaks to the reader in raw, boldly honest terms, full of maniacal invention and page-turning momentum.

All The Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan

Ah, the eternal enticement of the Romeo and Juliet story. This one is between Liat, an Israeli, and Hilmi, a Palestinian, who meet while visiting post 9/11 New York City. Can their love survive the conflict between their countries?

Faith factor: The book, translated from Hebrew by Jessica Cohen, focuses more on the cultural and political conflict between the characters. The protagonists different religions are backdrop to their story. The author has said of the story, My real subject was Liats fear that her Jewishness would dissolve into her partner Hilmis Arab identity.

What the critics say: Author Amos Oz called the book astonishing and said, Even the (asymmetrical) tragedy of the two peoples does not overwhelm this precise and elegant love story, drawn with the finest of lines. Some Israeli readers were less ecstatic the book was banned in Israeli schools.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Another pair of star-crossed lovers, Nadia and Saeed, populate this novel, which takes place among refugees in an unnamed city in the midst of unrest. Allegory alert: Magical doors open between people and places. Nadia and Saeed step through one together, entering new lives in new places that will threaten their relationship.

Faith factor: The main characters are both Muslims, but religion is something they take on and off, like a garment. Saeed thinks prayer is a ritual that connected him to adulthood and to the notion of being a particular sort of man, a gentle man, a man who stood for community and faith and kindness and decency, a man, in other words, like his father.

What the critics say: Michiko Kakutani, chief book critic for The New York Times, said, Hamid has created a fictional universe that captures the global perils percolating beneath todays headlines, while at the same time painting an unnervingly dystopian portrait of what might lie down the road.

The Yoga of Maxs Discontent by Karan Bajaj

Max, a young man with a tragic past, reaches Harvard and Wall Street. But when his mother dies, he questions the meaning of life and gives everything up to journey to India and find answers.

Faith factor: Yogic spiritual practices are key to Maxs enlightenment. The author is a Hatha Yoga instructor who lives in an Indian ashram.

What the critics say: Reviews are mixed. Bajaj is best at balancing the tensions of place and practice: Indias privilege and poverty, Maxs mind and body, yogas mix of the spiritual and the terrestrial, Publishers Weekly said. Kirkus concluded, Do not try this at home.

The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn

There are already enough Jonestown books to fill a library. But in this one, Guinn, a former reporter, draws on his investigative skills to literally retrace the Rev. Jim Jones footsteps from Indiana church pastor to jungle madman.

Faith factor: Jones was a Disciples of Christ pastor before he was a mass murderer. Many of his followers thought he was Jesus, while others thought his religious faith was a tool. But they all followed him into the jungle.

What the critics say: Jim Jones Jr., the surviving son of the Rev. Jim Jones, said, The level of research and detail in The Road to Jonestown is the best ever, and really lets readers understand not only what happened, but how and why.

The Islamic Jesus by Mustafa Akyol

Jesus is revered as a prophet by Muslims, and in this book, Akyol, a Turkish journalist and a Muslim, takes the non-Muslim reader through Jesus life and times as told in the Quran.

The faith factor: Did we mention its about Jesus and Islam?

What the critics say: The book has received glowing reviews, with a few quibbles. Most critics have focused on the last chapter, What Jesus Can Teach Muslims Today. In it, Akyol says of Jesus, The three great Abrahamic religions of our battered world, despite all the past and present tensions between them, come together. ... Whether we are Jews, Christians or Muslims, we share either a faith followed by him, or a faith built on him, or a faith that venerates him.

Pontius Pilate: Deciphering a Memory by Aldo Schiavone

Drawing on the historical accounts of Josephus and Philo of Alexandria as well as the New Testament, Schiavone re-examines what might have happened when Jesus and Pilate met.

Faith factor: Schiavone, a classicist, tries to suss out the real from the fictional in the Gospel story of Pilate.

What the critics say: Schiavones account nicely lures Pilate out of the shadows, albeit briefly, even providing a measure of rehabilitation, Randall Balmer said in The New York Times Book Review.

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

Growing up in a fundamentalist Mormon enclave, the author had 41 siblings and underwent beatings, neglect and sexual abuse. Happy ending alert: She and three of her sisters escaped and Wariner became a high school Spanish teacher.

Faith factor: Wariners father, the founder of a break-away Mormon sect, was considered a prophet and her mother felt she was anointed by their marriage.

What the critics say: Spare, precise prose lifts what could have been a mawkish misery memoir about a wretched childhood in a fundamentalist Mormon redoubt into an addictive chronicle of a polygamist community that bred helplessness, dependency and fear. Boris Kachka in New York magazine

My Utmost: A Devotional Memoir by Macy Halford

Halford grew up reading the Christian classic My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and found it a great comfort as an adult navigating New York City. Here, she explores Chambers life, the story behind his perennial book and its effect on her own life and work.

Faith factor: Halford grew up a Southern Baptist. Chambers became a minister.

What the critics say: Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Carlene Bauer said the book will be most enjoyed by those who share Halfords background as well as those who struggle, or struggled, as Halford did, to reconcile the person who wants to believe with the person who wants to think.

Organ Grinder: A Classical Education Gone Astray by Alan Fishbone

What if a biker got a masters degree in the classics and philosophy and wrote a memoir? Spoiler alert: He does.

Faith factor: Fishbone drives off into explorations of the nature of the soul, weighing faith against skepticism. Oh, and he hears voices, which may or may not be God talking to him.

What the critics say: Fishbones mental mazes, irrepressibly personal, sexed-up, funny philosophical, and unconventionally spiritual, make for thought-provoking, entertaining reading. Annie Bostrom in Booklist

EXTRA CREDIT

The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances FitzGerald

Just lifting this 740-page book could qualify as exercise. FitzGerald, a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award winner, traces the influence evangelicals have had on American politics and culture, making this a book vital for anyone who wants to understand how we got to where we are now.

Faith factor: While the book focuses on a history of American evangelicalism, it also delves into its branches Pentecostalism and Christian fundamentalism.

What the critics say: The reviews of this book are not just glowing, theyre on fire. Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Alan Wolfe called it a page turner and said, We have long needed a fair-minded overview of this vitally important religious sensibility, and FitzGerald has now provided it.

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Joan and Jonestown among our favorite new faith books - The Morning Sun