You might know of Paula White as the televangelist who preaches the good (bad) and highly contested news of the prosperity gospel. You know, the one that says that if youre rich it means that God loves you and if youre poor its because God just doesnt like you very much and thats your own fault. Joel Osteen is also a big fan of these teachings, which direct you to give money to the church so that God will return the favor. Amazingly both of these individuals are ridiculously wealthy.

If not from her televangelizing and money grubbing then perhaps you might know her as the spiritual advisor to President Tr**p, and the Special Adviser to the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative. Meaning shes the funnel through which God has apparently been speaking to the president and to the country at large.

Yesterday, a sermon she gave on January 5th was posted on Twitter, and while it is absolutely batshit bananas, it does provide a little clarity as to why the president is so detached from the Christian values he purports to be core to his belief system. Its not just because he has no moral compass or sense of compassion by which to conduct his life, its also because his spiritual advisor is saying things like We command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now!

White is from, you guessed it, Florida, so her bonkers prayer is all to familiar to me, having spent much of my collegiate career dodging preachers on my campus telling me that I was going to hell in between class periods. Nevertheless, she makes some pretty outrageous requests of the Almighty that make me wonder just how bad things have gotten in my home state since the last time I visited.

Outside of her asking God to have satanic pregnancies miscarry, which is strange when you consider how vehemently anti-choice she is, a position she holds under the pretense that all pregnancies are divine gifts from above, she also apparently has beef with the entire ocean and most of earths wildlife.

We come against the marine kingdom, she says, pacing the stage, we come against the animal kingdom. Correct me if Im wrong but isnt like the very first thing in the bible a story about how God created the literally everything on the land and in the sea and saw that it was good. The rumors White never actually graduated from seminary school appear to be true because I havent cracked open a bible in a decade and even I remember that girl.

Its also shocking that, considering how aligned she is with the conservative media that is dead set on creating a narrative around the damaging effects of cancel culture, she has an entire section of her prayer dedicated to canceling things. Maybe she didnt hear, but Jezebel already did that. Among the things White asks God to cancel are; surprises, hexes, spells, witchcraft, and, of course, any Jezebel. I assume she wasnt talking about this website specifically, but I kind of hope she was.

Of course since the clip has made the rounds, White has come forward and said that her words are being taken out of context, and that she wasnt praying for literal miscarriages of satanic pregnancies, but rather for metaphorical miscarriages of satanic pregnancies. Honestly Im relieved because if pop culture has taught me anything, its that the little devils that result from satanic pregnancies are usually pretty hot (Im looking at you American Horror Story: Apocalypse and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Im hoping for more sexy lucifers, not fewer.

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According to Trump's Spiritual Advisor It's Apparently Okay to Ask God to Terminate Pregnancies as Long as They're Satanic - Jezebel

PETERSBURG, Wis. (WXOW) - Michael Day is this month's recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service.

He serves as a Native American Advisor to Wisconsin colleges and Wisconsin prisons.

As a youth, Michael was mentored into the spiritual Native American practice by Lakota Medicine Man Henry Crow Dog.

Today, people come from all over to meet him and to attend his monthly prayer ceremony that takes place in a sweat lodge.

"All you have to do is ask for help and I'll help you. I'll do the best I can," said Michael.

Michael is a respected elder of the Ho-Chunk Nation. He is also a sanctioned spiritual teacher.

Barb Schaeffer attended one of Michael's sweat lodge ceremonies.

"I had autoimmune issues. I had two failed spinal surgeries and I was in chronic pain. I was on 600 pills a month," said Barb.

Today, Barb is healthy and says she owes it all to Michael and his work here in this sweat lodge.

"It was the most profound life experience I've ever had," said Schaeffer.

Michael learned early on about service above self. The lesson was given to him by his grandfather using an ear of corn.

"He said look at this. There's a red one, there's a white one, there's a black one, there's a yellow one. We're here together," said Michael.

LEARN: Jefferson Awards

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Jefferson Award winner is a spiritual healer that attracts people from all over the country - WXOW.com

Some of us have been blessed to live long enough to have seen and experienced quite a few things. Because of the experiences that involved the use of our eyes, ears and other senses, some of us have acquired the spirit of discernment.

We have learned the difference between fact and opinion, moral from the immoral and godly from the ungodly. We have to discriminate in a Godly manner and recognize such things as being attentive and ignored. Discernment enables us to sift for truth and genuine interactions.

Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary outlines six synonyms that hopefully assist us in digesting the traits of discernment, a power to see what is not evident to the average mind.

Discernment stresses accuracy (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art).

Discrimination stresses the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent.

Perception implies quick and often sympathetic discernment (as of shades of feelings).

Penetration implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious and superficial.

Insight suggests depth of discernment coupled with understanding sympathy.

Acumen implies characteristic penetration combined with keen practical judgment.

Unlike Websters and Biblical definitions of discernment and spiritual discernment respectively, common sense is defined by Webster as sound and prudent but often unsophisticated judgment. One would think that some parents and other family members would properly dress themselves and their children in the appropriate clothing for weather in the teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. One would think that children and adults would not walk in the middle of the street when they see vehicles approaching them.

One would think that all parents and extended family members would teach their children the necessity for having good manners, respect for rules, regulations, procedures, people and property as a basic requirement for success in life that relates to education, employment opportunities and just being a good person.

Some of us have lived long enough to recognize the differences between being invited, uninvited, disinvited and ignored. Children and adults who might not be able to read can read insincerity. They know the difference between someone who cares and respects them from persons who are shucking and jiving.

Proverbs 16: 2,3 states that All a mans (including women) ways seem right in his (her) own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives. Commit your activities to the Lord and your plan will be achieved. Consequently there is discernment of gifts, spirits, intents, and the course of the times we live in.

Proverbs 3: 5, 6 tells us to Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your ways, and He will guide on the right paths. Thus, the implementation of spiritual discernment is an imperative for all of us at home, in the faith houses, and in all of our work places, irrespective of our position or title. To do otherwise would be rationally inexplicable and morally unjustifiable.

At the heart of spiritual discernment is being able to distinguish the voice of the world from the voice of God. Spiritual discernment, also known as wisdom, comes from knowing God and is a gift from God, more than anything else. I read somewhere that spiritual discernment (1) acts as a means of protection, guarding us from being deceived spiritually, (2) acts as an instrument of healing, when exercised in grace, (3) functions as a key to Godly freedom and (4) serves as a catalyst to spiritual development.

Perhaps one of the most important character traits of one who has discernment, particularly spiritual discernment, is a constant and consistent display of sensitivity. Whether in agreement or disagreement, irrespective of ones socio-economic status, job title, faith, gender or any other factor, everybody is important and is to be respected.

Allie E. Brooks Jr. is a former superintendent of Florence School District One and past principal of Wilson High School.

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CITIZEN COLUMNIST: The value of discernment and spiritual discernment - SCNow

The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions. Junius, 1769

Sometimes when a good man or a good woman leaves this earth, attention must be paid.

He was not a media celebrity, so when he died last week, his passing was reported but not as a big story. Think page three of the newspaper, below the fold. He was not particularly good looking or photogenic, a seeming requirement for todays well-coiffed news anchors. He didnt hob knob with political or cultural bigwigs or command a multimillion-dollar salary as do so many of the self-important media talking heads the public worships these days: Maddow, Hannity, Ingraham, Cooper, Cuomo, Morning Joe.

For 36 years he reported the news on the least flashy of TV networks, on a channel known more for animal shows and Downton Abbey and Mister Rodgers, the Public Broadcasting System, and so his ratings were never sky high, nor his audience huge. He was married to the same woman for almost 60 years and served in the Marines with distinction. His first big story was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, which he witnessed and reported on firsthand. His biggest claim to fame was being the moderator for more Presidential candidate debates than any other journalist.

His name was Jim Lehrer, and you are forgiven if that doesnt ring a bell but, he will be missed, at least by this news junkie and journalist. Not for anything in particular he wrote nor for any one story he reported. No. It was how he carried himself, how he lived, how he practiced his craft, that I remember. How the words he spoke matched the life he lived, and how when you watched him deliver the news or interview a politician or stay calm and focused while his more famous peers yelled and preened before the cameras: you knew he never saw himself as more important than the story itself.

In a word, he had integrity.

Thats the human virtue of trying to live by a code of right and wrong, guided by an inner moral compass that directs a person and provides a framework to live a good life, in the deepest sense. Being honest. Making a promise and keeping a promise. Talking the talk and walking the walk. Leading by example. Remembering life is not just about you, what you think or desire or need; life is, instead, about others, serving them. Doing a job well, whatever the task might be.

Integrity is a virtue that some of us actually still look for in others, especially from the people like Lehrer who lead us, who report the news, make the laws, govern us, run our businesses, bring us joy in the arts or on the playing field. The women and men who have the power and authority to shape events in this world.

Like a President. Like a news anchor or reporter. Like a star athlete. We also need to experience integrity in regular life: from the accountant who does our taxes and the teacher who teaches our kids and the coach who guides our sons and daughters and the preacher who speaks from the pulpit. We need to be able to trust them and to believe what they say.

Lehrer actually had nine principles he tried to live by; Lehrers Rules, he called them. A sample: Do nothing I cannot defend. Assume there is at least one other side to a story. Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and as good a person as I am. No one should be allowed to attack another anonymously. And my favorite? I am not in the entertainment business.

Lehrers death and the loss of that voice reminded me that, yes, Im still actually crazy enough to expect integrity from others and from myself too. I want to live in a community and nation and world where the ones who lead and serve us are the best and the brightest, not the least and the lowest. Not leaders who bully their way into power, and survive by threats and cruelty. Not those leaders who rise to the top just because they are rich. Not the ones who have the best spin doctors to shape their public persona. Not the leaders who lead for ego or self-aggrandizement.

Give us leaders, give us neighbors, with integrity. They who know what the right thing is to do and then try their best to do just that. So, thanks Jim Lehrer, for your integrity and for reminding us what that rare virtue looks like in a life well lived.

And thats the news.

The Rev. John F. Hudson is senior pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn (pilgrimsherborn.org). If you have a word or idea youd like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org or in care of the Dover-Sherborn Press (Dover-Sherborn@wickedlocal.com).

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Spiritually Speaking: Jim Lehrer: To live a life of integrity - Wicked Local Sharon

This past Monday, January 27, marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I decided to read about some of the plans for this auspicious occasion before writing, but I must now share some initial reactions.

It is not my purpose to criticize anyone who spoke or wrote of this milestone, especially survivors. They are already an endangered species and should be guarded with all the strength, wisdom and wherewithal we have. I, too will be heading iyH to that horrific destination, leading a group of chaveirim, mostly from my shul, during the appropriate period of Sefiras Haomer. However, I must add a cautionary note that much of what is being said, although most of it is meant sincerely, does not begin to address the issues and inner meaning of the place and concept called Auschwitz.

I confess, as I have before in these pages, that I am not dispassionate about this subject. As a child of survivors, I cannot and do not presume or dare to be. My own parents, aunts and uncles have long since left this world and I have only memories of what they said, and more importantly their silence. Following in the footsteps of our ancestor, Aharon Hakohein (Vayikra 10:3), for decades they said nothing. But that eloquent speechlessness said more than what I have heard recently. The unseemly squabble between the leaders of Russia and Poland, each claiming innocence against each others everlasting guilt, proved that both understood nothing. Both still carry our nations blood on their dripping hands and should have had the decency to stand respectfully mute.

But what of us? What, if anything, should we say upon this dubious anniversary? I once had the privilege of listening intently all night to the great Churban Europa writer Moshe Prager zl, who visited my home and captured my attention, as we say in the Haggadah, until we left arm in arm for Shacharis. He sang for me the ghetto song mir vellen zei iberleben we shall outlive them, and perhaps that is all that is worth saying. We did. Enough said. However, since last Monday, all the speakers around the world and at Yad Vashem spoke of the recurring anti-Semitism, we, too, cannot ignore the specter of evil hanging over us. From Pittsburgh to Monsey and too many in between, as even The New York Times (January 26, 2020, International, page 10) concluded, 75 years later, a fear that Never Again is not assured.

To be sure, our gedolim never liked, let alone used or endorsed, the phrase never again. Of course, no one wants anti-Semitism, but any declarations, claims or protests to that effect fly in the face of all of Jewish history and our acceptance of certain inevitable trends and traits in humanity.

So what, if anything, can and should be said upon this occasion?

Last week, the editor of this newspaper wisely adjured us to look at the good and to notice the so many good things going on. In these somewhat bleak times, this is very valuable advice. Yet, when history and the calendar force us to remember Auschwitz, we must look realistically but with Torah eyes at the milestone before us. Although my parents zl were survivors themselves, they always turned to the tzaddikim and gedolim who were role models of emunah and bitachon in the death camps to chart a path through the darkness. For them, the Klausenberger and Bluzhever rebbes and the Chuster and Sosnovitzer rabbonim were the arbiters of what to say and think about the churban. I can certainly do no less.

When a Belzer chossid asked the rebbe, Rav Aharon Rokeach, to intervene with Hashem to save Klal Yisroel from further destruction, he repeatedly answered that it was a gezeirah min hashomayim a heavenly decree (Moshe Yechezkeeli, Hatzalas Harebbe MBelz, page 51). His brother, Rav Mordechai, the rov of Bilgorai and father of the current rebbe, agreed that it was a period of horrific hester ponim the hiding of Hashems face, but also of tremendous hashroas haShechinah manifestation of the Divine presence (ibid., pages 120-121).

The Novominsker Rebbe quotes his mother-in-law, a rebbetzin who survived the war, as having been asked the perennial question, Where was Hashem? Her terse but profound answer was in yeder vinkel in every corner.

My own rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, famously discouraged the use of such terms as Shoah and Holocaust because the word Shoah in Hebrew, like Holocaust in English, implies an isolated catastrophe, unrelated to anything before or after it, such as an earthquake or tidal wavethe churban of European Jewry is an integral part of our history and we dare not isolate and deprive it of the monumental significance it has for us (A Path Through the Ashes, page 52).

We may conclude at this point that our gedolim agree that the Torah perspective on Churban Europa is that no single event in Jewish history is outside the eternal guidelines of constructs such as golus, geulah, tochachah and yissurin exile, redemption, admonishment and suffering. Of course, each era and even individual is dealt with on a unique level, as befitting the Divine wisdom and decree. But far be it from any of us to attempt to separate one aspect of Jewish history from the overall grand plan of the Creator.

All of this being said, let us listen to the words of Rav Yaakov Weinberg ztl, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel of Baltimore. After placing the Nazis in the direct line of Amaleik and Haman, he identifies the similarity. He does not speak simply of incredible evil or unbridled power gone insane, but of the total denial of G-d-given criteria for human conduct. He points out that the hallmark of the worldview [of Amaleik] came to full fruition in Nazi Germany. Indeed, this unique churban crowned an era when mans conduct was determined by man-made ethics, formulated by his own understanding of right and wrongan era when man believed in the greatness of his own scientific thought and his own instinct for goodness.

These prophetic words, spoken at the Agudah convention 45 years ago (1975), can help us to develop a Torah reaction to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We must be honest with ourselves. Have we moved far from the philosophies and public policies which led to Auschwitz so that we can celebrate liberation? Or should be redouble our efforts to repudiate, as Rav Weinberg put it, the graphic and painful lessons of a G-dless humanity? He concludes bluntly that It is essential not only for Jewry to be Jews but for mankind to function as human beings that we declare our total submission to Divine wisdom and Divine rule. Until we accept that there is no other source of truthwe will continue to face the very same crises affecting all phases of human existence, awakening alienation and disaffection among all of humanity. We are guilty of neglecting to learn what that entire epoch was about. For our own sake and for the sake of our children, we must affirm that truth and justice stem only from G-ds Torah and our submission to Him. This is the only hope for Jewry and all of mankind.

Indeed, celebrating the liberation of 7,000 sick, starving and freezing precious souls was a moment of light in the darkness. I have spoke to American soldiers who participated in liberating Buchenwald who were changed forever by the experience. They looked evil in the eye and none will ever forget the moment. But much of the rest of mankind has totally forgotten what and why it transpired. Yes, I will go to Auschwitz, but I will not celebrate liberation. I believe that since aino domeh shemia lreiyah seeing is believing, people should go to see the evidence of the churban so that we can be witnesses against the deniers. But I also hope to remind myself and others who may be listening that it is now up to us. There are forces in almost every country in the world that are willing to unleash the same atheism and at least agnosticism onto the world. Hospitals across the globe are making medical decisions about life and death not unlike those of the Nazi murderers. There are laws that could become universal, allowing viable healthy babies to be murdered because they are not wanted. Jewish lives have been snuffed out and ruined by Amaleik- and Nazi-like individuals and groups simply because they hate us.

And so the question returns: What can each of us do? The answer is that we must begin with ourselves. We are now learning in the Gemara Brachos that we must accept Hashems monarchy upon ourselves, known as kabbolas ohl malchus Shomayim. Both chassidim and baalei mussar have commented pithily that it is not hard to accept Hashems malchus upon the entire universe. The hard part is to accept it upon ourselves. Like the rebbe of Sanz who had hoped to change the world, then Poland, then Sanz, and finally realized that all that was expected and all that was possible was to change himself. We must think of those 7,000 who were liberated and the millions who sadly were not and make whatever changes we require. The light will radiate outward from each of us. When we liberate ourselves from our personal evil, we will liberate the world as well.

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The 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz: Returning in Spiritual Triumph - Yated.com

Its been a weird week in conservative Christendom. We saw pastor Rodney Howard-Brown step up and claim that Jesus Christ would take a whip and beat the crap out of former National Security Advisor John Bolton for blowing the whistle on the president. Weve seen Pastor Howard-Browne before; he was one of those who gathered in the Oval Office for the beautifully awkward photo-op where all the spiritual leaders laid hands on the president in prayer. Browns insistence showed very little understanding of what really angered Jesus. The only time Jesus was ever recorded as resorting to violence was when he turned over tables and snapped a whip at the people in the temple who were trying to take advantage of worshipers by selling them their wares. It seems to me that in the modern scenario, if Jesus would be whipping the crap out of anyone, it would be the likes of Pastor Howard-Browne and his ilk for taking advantage of worshipers by selling their political agenda.

But more interesting to me was the bizarre message sent by Trumps own spiritual advisor, Paula White. Delivering a message from a pulpit on January 20th, White suggested that the people pray that God would cause all the Satanic pregnancies to miscarry. That one really raised my eyebrow. First of all, why are all the far right conservative Christians not standing up and demanding that Trump choose a man to be his spiritual advisor? A lot of churches I know would relegate the likes of Paula White to nursery duty, or perhaps let her teach the toddlers Sunday school class, where she couldnt do too much damage. But here this woman is giving spiritual counsel to the President of the United States? What heresy is this? Am I right? (big grin).

Shouldnt all conservative Christians be taking to the streets to protest Paula Whites message? Am I missing something or did she just come out in favor of abortion? Sure sounded like it to me. What else would you call it if you pray that God cause miscarriages to certain pregnancies?

People, peoplemy brothers and sisters on the Christian Rightwhere is the outrage? This Jezebel that has been allowed into the Oval Office is polluting the planet with her pro-abortion garbage. What kind of president seeks the counsel of such a heretic? That blasphemer should be run out of office, dont you think? (wink wink)

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Trump's Spiritual Advisor Comes Out in Favor of Abortion - Patheos

Most people know they need to care for their physical bodies. Millions, perhaps billions, of dollars are spent each year on soap, toothpaste, vitamins, medicines, exercise equipment, etc.

When the body becomes injured, one goes to the doctor or even the hospital to make sure things are alright. This only makes sense, as without proper upkeep and care the body will wear out sooner than expected.

Seeing how much is done to keep the physical body healthy, it must also be seen that there is a need to make sure the spiritual part of man is healthy also.

There is one to who all should go for a spiritual checkup: Jesus the great physician. He supplies the needed care for spiritual well being.

And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:31, 32).

Sin is the great ailment that plagues mankind. Sin will cause spiritual death if something is not done to combat its effects.

James wrote, Blessed is theman that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren (James 1:12-16).

The care that Jesus offersmust be accepted by thepatient. Just as one can refuse the words of a physical doctor, they can also refuse to heed the words of the great physician.

Sadly, so many today are doing just that refusing the only medicine that will savetheir soul. God created man in his image (Gen. 1:27) and gave man the power to choose between obeying and rejecting his creator.

In caring for our physical bodies, one tries to avoid situations that may cause them to become sick or injured. This same idea should be continued when dealing with the soul.

In caring for the soul one must also avoid contamination. Sinful things should be avoided, as Paul warned in the letter to the Galatian Christians: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,wrath, strife, seditions,heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

These works of the flesh will cause one to miss heaven. These items are a cesspool of danger for the soul and must be avoided.

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Tend to spiritual needs too - Bryan County News

The 1015-km stretch of the Ganga from Bijnor in west UP to Ballia in the eastern part of the state will be abuzz with activity for five days from January 27 to 31 when governor Anandiben Patel and chief minister Yogi Adityanath set out on a journey to raise public awareness for restoring the Gangas purity.

To motivate people to join the mission for purity of Ganga, the state government plans to invoke the spirituality and faith associated with the river.

A state government spokesperson said governor Anandiben Patel will inaugurate the yatra from Ballia while chief minister Yogi Adityanath will flag off the other leg of the yatra from Bijnor.

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Rawat will be present in Bijnor and Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi will be there in Ballia, the spokesman said.

The governor, the chief minister, ministers, officers and volunteers will travel on steamers, boats as well as taking the land route during the journey, he said.

The dignitaries are expected to call upon the people to make the river clean by checking the discharge of pollutants, organising plantation campaigns on the riverbank and promoting organic farming.

Each day, the yatra will begin with Ganga puja and end with Ganga aarti at various spots in 27 districts on the route.

The Ganga is a symbol of the countrys culture and the economy of the state is also linked with the river, Adityanath has said.

The state government also plans to showcase welfare and development schemes.

While the newly formed jal shakti department has been made the nodal department for programme, the government has roped in two dozen departments to highlight schemes and associate the people in various programmes that will be organised during the yatra.

The urban and rural local bodies will organise a seminar on the environment.

The state government will prepare a documentary film of the Ganga yatra.

After the yatra, the film will be screened in villages and towns to increase public awareness.

To promote sports activities in the rural areas, the state government plans to set up Ganga maidans (fields) in gram panchayats on the yatra route.

Ganga talab (pond) will be constructed to promote water conservation.

To promote horticulture, parks and nurseries will be developed on both sides of the river. The district magistrates of the 27 districts will constitute Ganga zila committees for coordination between all the departments at the local level, said an officer familiar with the programme.

People residing in the urban and rural areas will be told about the Namami Gange programme run by the central and state governments. Village chaupals will be organised in the rural areas.

Health camps, animal health fairs, sports competitions, programmes for school children, cultural programmes will be organised in the villages during the yatra.

To boost tourism, the religious, spiritual and cultural centres located on the bank of the rivers will be highlighted during the yatra.

Ministers will address public meetings in various districts and participate in the welcome programmes organised by the district administration. The Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and The State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) will throw a security cordon around the yatra.

The volunteers of the social organizations working to make rivers pollution free will also join the yatra.

Public meetings have been organized in Rae Bareli, considered a Congress stronghold, and the Samajwadi Partys sphere of influence in Kannauj and Badaun.

Jal Shakti minister Mahendra Singh said the state government had set a target to make 1638 villages on the yatra route open defecation free.

Drains flowing into the river will be diverted, he said, adding the government had released funds for establishment of the sewage treatment plants (STPs) in various cities and towns on the riverbank.

An effort was being made to make the Ganga pollution free with restrictions on the use of polythene and plastic, he said, adding measures should be taken to stop the discharge of effluents in the river. Villagers will be urged not to dump bodies and carcasses in the river, he said

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Ganga yatra to invoke spirituality, focus on need to clean river - Hindustan Times

Ma Anand Sheela, the controversial former secretary of godman Osho Rajneesh, claimed on Wednesday that she finds meditation "boring", and would prefer to be a "criminal" rather than "spiritual".

"People sell meditation and enlightenment," she said, seeking to debunk the hype surrounding spiritual leaders.

The 70-year-old Sheela, who was convicted of crimes in the United States and served a jail term, was speaking at the annual Tiecon, a conclave of start-up entrepreneurs, here,

She would prefer being "a criminal" over being spiritual as crimes are committed with "honesty", she said.

Sheela returned to public consciousness with "Wild Wild Country", a documentary about how Rajneesh's ambitious 'Rajneeshpuram' commune in Oregon, USA, unraveled.

Sheela claimed that she finds meditation "boring" and never meditated herself.

"People sell meditation and enlightenment. Spiritual leaders make false promises. I do not want to discourage anybody here who is meditating or who is spiritual or is into enlightenment, but I cannot be duped by that," Sheela, who lives in Switzerland, said.

A native of Vadodara in Gujarat, Sheela said she was never into meditation herself and during one of their many private meetings, Osho himself told her not to worry about it as her work was her meditation.

Painting walls in prison in USA and thus saving USD 150,000 for the jail authorities helped her shorten her jail term in the 1980s, she said.

As the "queen" of the Oregon commune, she owned up to all the charges levelled by US law enforcement agencies, including attempt to murder for trying to poison local voters, and thus shielded fellow commune members, Sheela claimed.

Rajneesh had leveled several accusations against her, prompting her flight from Oregon and subsequent arrest in West Germany. However, Sheela on Wednesday said that Rajneesh was still the best man she had met in her life.

She also said that Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt reminds her of her younger self.

She also joked about Deepika Padukone tying the knot with Ranveer Singh, asking why she had to marry at all.

Sheela, who visited India for the first time three months ago after a 34-year hiatus, said she is pained by the amount of filth on the streets and wants to start a movement to do her bit to clean up the country.

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I never meditated, would rather be a criminal than spiritual: Ma Anand Sheela - India Today

Its a sweltering afternoon in Hollywood and Im navigating a grittier part of town in search of my soul. In truth, anyone searching for their soul in Hollywood should probably be directed to the nearest mental health facility, but Im on the trail of Harry the Healer, shaman to the stars.

As I pull up to the address Harry texted me, it appears to not exist, or is somehow hidden on the street of mostly run-down cottages. This is where celebs come for healing? Id expected a ritzy mansion given Harrys supposed clientele (his devotees range from screen vet Anthony Hopkins to Aussie Hollywood brat packers Todd Lasance, Liam McIntyre and Luke Mitchell). My stomach tightens. What the hell am I doing, going to a strange mans house on my own? I text my husband the address, just in case.

When I finally find the front door, Im greeted by a slim but muscular older man whose golden skin literally glows back at me as he leans in for a warm hug. Harry the Healer (real name Harry Paul) looks exceedingly healthy and happy.

He leads me to a dark treatment room where a massage bed glimmers under slowly flashing disco lights. Spa music plays and the air conditioning hums (thank God). I must be in the right place after all. Plus, Harry told me on the phone that he once got drunk with Chris Hemsworth; call me shallow but that counts for something.

While I wouldnt have assumed getting wasted would lead to spiritual enlightenment, this is Hollywood. Celebrities have long espoused their devotion to some form of spirituality, be it Madonna, Britney Spears and Demi Moore following Kabbalah or Tom Cruises obsession with Scientology. But while those are huge organisations with textbook religious studies, the current spiritual trend is getting more personal, and making superstars out of individual healers who are tapping into the worlds current obsession with all things woo woo and wellness.

Jennifer Anistons recent revelation that shes been partaking in goddess circles for the past three decades where she and her girlfriends sit in a circle and pass around a talking stick to help navigate major life events sparked a slew of internet headlines. And when Gwyneth Paltrow isnt spruiking vaginal steaming or Psychic Vampire Repellent, shes extolling the powers of her personal spirit guide and bro, shaman Durek who calls her his soul sis.

But why exactly am I here? Like most mums of young children, Im consumed by the needs of my two daughters to the point that Ive found myself asking, Who am I, again? Or rather, Who was I? Im longing to rediscover myself and, over the next two weeks, I plan to make like Gwyn and Jen and do some serious soul-searching.

In preparation for today, I watched a video of a shaman performing healing on a woman. She sits closed-eyed as he converses with spirits through her body, speaking rapidly in an African language, which then propels her into what looks like a nightmare of an orgasm. It looks horrific but Im oddly intrigued.

The main reason Im here, though, is to strengthen my connection to my mother, who passed away 26 years ago,and who introduced me to spirituality. I have many happy memories of perusing the aisles of Londons annual Mind, Body and Spirit Festival with her in my early teens, watching reiki masters and crystal healers at work.

And when Mum got cancer, after radiotherapy didnt help, she had electromagnetism therapy, which uses crystals to help balance energy frequencies in the body. Even her sceptical GP attributed it to her living for four years after her diagnosis and called it a miracle.

What would you say life is asking of you at the moment? Harry interrupts my thoughts. Youre not going to make me cry, are you? I blurt out. In the serene setting I suddenly feel emotionally vulnerable, which in real life I thankfully dont have time to. Probably, he smiles gently. I tell him of my yearning to connect with Mum.

Writer, Madeline Collins with her mum.

Were either connected or were distracted, Harry croons smoothly. The mind is connected to the breath so you need to be aware of your breathing. I rarely am. Shallow breathing, shallow life. If you start getting distracted, breathe and connect internally.

Were human beings, not human doings, he goes on. I love that. So when you authentically let go, youll get more than you dreamed of. He tells me of superstar clients who have the adulation of the world but still want to kill themselves. Remember, your opinion is the only one that matters. Try telling my kids that.

Harry reads that Im addicted to heavy-dense energy due to my habit of expecting things to go wrong so that I cant be disappointed, and that Im here because my soul and spirit is calling for me to elevate, let go and be free. Hes a wise man whos suddenly brandishing a huge vibrating machine. It looks like its straight out of the 80s, just like the disco lights.

Lets find where you hold tension in your body, Harry says, as he slowly moves the machine up and down my legs, over my stomach, across my heart and back again. Then, after asking permission to touch me, he begins to knead my jaw, which really hurts.

Hang in there, he says. Can you see your mum? Shes here. But hes mistaken. Behind closed eyes, I suddenly see the beautiful face and hear the voice of my friend and former flatmate, who died in 2018 of a swift and aggressive form of cancer.

I was so devastated when I learnt of her passing via her husbands Facebook page that I couldnt leave my house for a week.

Tears roll down my cheeks as she answers a question Ive wrestled with since her death. I hadnt expected this and feel huge relief that Ive found some way to connect with my friend, who I never got to say goodbye to.

I leave Harrys hidden house with a sense of inner calm (and a strict recommendation to switch to pH-balanced alkaline water).

Im staring at Andrea Bendewalds chiselled jawline, trying to work out where I know it from ... its Suddenly Susan, the critically panned but oh-so juicy 90s sitcom. Recently, she had a bit part in Apple TVs Morning Wars, but today, shes guiding me in a full-moon circle.

Andrea is something of a circling savant she regularly leads circles for Jennifer Aniston, including at her 50th birthday getaway in Mexico. The actresses have been friends for more than 30 years; they both attended Manhattans High School of Performing Arts before moving to LA.

Jennifer Aniston with Andrea Bendewald.

Needless to say, my expectations are high as I rock up to DEN Meditation in Studio City, just over the hill from Hollywood. I enter the large, dimly lit room and see 12 other women setting up their place. Thankfully I fit in well in my no-label activewear. There are women of all shapes and sizes, none displaying the sports-bra-bursting boob jobs you often see in Hollywood wellness classes.

Andrea begins slowly beating a drum to connect us to our own heartbeat. Imagine theres a lotus flower at the top of your crown chakra, it opens up and a beautiful white light extends into the sky and the full moon were sitting under, she guides.

I try my best but my mind keeps wandering to where Id rather be: the beach. Luckily, attention soon turns to the talking stick, the centrepiece of circling, which Andrea describes as an interactive mindfulness practice and talking meditation. She encourages us to channel the fullmoons energy in positive ways, which can otherwiselead to anger and sadness.

Guidelines include no commenting on what someone else says, and whatevers shared in the circle stays there. If we hear something that resonates with us, were encouraged to murmur a-ho, a spiritually polite version of ken oath.

Each person holds the stick in turn and speaks their truth: overwhelmed mums; women feeling stuck from moving forward or going through dark times; those who find meditating lonely and came seeking a community from the circle. Its all relatable stuff and were a-hoing galore.

Im the only one who has an ugly cry, after speaking about Mum.

I feel a kinship with all the strangers in the room, yet dont feel the need to swap numbers when the circle ends. I leave vowing to return, despite the four-hour round trip. Goddess or full-moon circles may sometimes be dismissed as zany or frivolous (a common pattern when it comes to groups of females throughout history), but theres something undeniably powerful about women banding together and sharing their struggles to lift one another up.

Im still on a spiritual high three days later when I speak to shaman Durek on the phone. We couldnt meet in person due to scheduling conflicts, but Im determined to absorb his wisdom (he also counts Nina Dobrev, Selma Blair and Gerard Butler as fans).

I tell Durek about my mum and he speaks at breakneck speed, imparting all kinds of fascinating and life-affirming information I cant possibly keep up with. No wonder he has Hollywood enthralled.

Suddenly he tells me to tap my left hand three times. I eagerly oblige. Was he going to give me the connection to Mum I was craving? Gwyneth had lost her beloved father and she trusted him After a few more instructions, I feel a floating feeling throughout my body and my feet start tingling. But then Durek tells me a hawk has just landed outside his window and is staring at him, and that hawks signify a breakthrough to the other side.

Oooh, you just lost me, says my inner sceptic.

Not that I dont believe him. In grief, religion or any kind of healing, my motto is whatever works. And having taken time to focus, I feel more connected to myself than I have in years, and to Mum, too. Above all, Ive realised that pausing to breathe and be in the moment is perhaps the most powerful tonic for this often-crazy world. So while summoning ancient spirits isnt my thing, Im already counting down the days until the next full moon.

This article originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of marie claire.

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We put Jen Aniston and Gwyneth's spirituality gurus to the test - Marie Claire

By AUSTIN BUKENYAMore by this Author

Wit, whither wilt? That is vintage Shakespeare, meaning, Where to now, clever one? This is the question hovering in my mind, with respect to our faiths, spirituality and morals. In the face of the bizarre stories coming out of our places of worship, I cannot help wondering where we are heading in matters of our beliefs and behaviour befitting people of God.

I tried to steel myself against the femicidal/suicidal horror of a pastor butchering his wife and then himself in front of their congregation, in Mombasa, treating it as a rare moment of madness. But then, the outrageous stories of believers wayward pranks, from both conventional institutions and the new spirit churches, kept pouring in. Here is a sample of episodes from the Land of Matoke, where I have been spending my early weeks of the year.

A prominent leader at a mosque in the Eastern Central Region, near the Nile, is facing charges in court for beating (publicly celebrating) a wedding with a fellow man. Same-sex marriages are illegal out there. But the unfortunate suspect claims that he was deceived into believing that his bride was a woman. Who is the victim, who is the offender?

Meanwhile, another court has dissolved the relationship between my favourite gospel singer and her second husband, a member of parliament, who has denied paternity of her four-month old baby. The singer is also an MP, but her biggest following is among lovers of gospel music, including me, who appreciate her songs as sources of genuine Christian inspiration.

She was thus a role model of spirituality for many of us. We were sad but sympathetic when, some years back, she quietly separated from her first husband, a pastor in one of the spirit churches, especially as we believed that our sister faced genuine domestic problems.

We were, however, considerably dismayed when, in mid-2018, our Honourable Songbird staged a weird introduction and wedding ceremony with her fellow parliamentarian, the man who has just repudiated and divorced her. It was public knowledge that this Honourable gentleman was in a steady relationship with another woman, with whom he had fathered twins, and to whom he has now returned, after messing up our singer.

Judge not, lest ye be judged, says the scripture. But, surely, such encounters risk trying and testing our faith to the extremes of endurance.

Speaking of denial of paternity, an utterly stupefying drama ensued between two clergymen of one of the most respected conventional churches who accused each other of having fathered a child with a musician at one of their presbyteries. The younger preacher, whom the mother named as the father of the child, flatly rejected responsibility, claiming that one of his superiors was the father, and he had only foisted the musician on him after realising that she was pregnant.

The situation was only saved, in a way, by the minister responsible for womens and childrens affairs at the Ministry of Gender, a no nonsense lady, who summoned all the parties in the dispute, stating that she was going to demand DNA tests, and she would take appropriate and stern action based on the outcome. It was then that the young preacher agreed, without a need for the DNA, to be paying maintenance for the musicians child.

The following weekend, the young preacher was formally introduced by his fiance, a different woman, to her parents, also prominent members of the clergy. They will soon be joined in Holy Matrimony, and if anyone has anything to say, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.

Now, a senior pastor and televangelist in the spirit churches community, has emphatically pronounced himself on the subject of marriage. It appears that, according to him, marriage is not biblical and the so-called marriage vows may be satanic. Another minister, the one for Ethics and Integrity and a churchman himself, has summoned the pastor to clarify his utterances, but the pastor has so far ignored the summons.

To put this development in context, this same pastor was once reported to have ordered the burning of Bibles that contained English words that he did not like. He is also said to have urged his followers to throw away their wedding rings. Last year, advocates of womens rights demonstrated against the pastor on the streets of the capital after he exposed a number of bedroom secrets, including an issue of blood, between him and his wife of over thirty years.

It is difficult to tell whether the pastors new teaching on marriage is related to a much-publicised liaison between him and one of the female workers at his media empire, and his decision to part ways with his wife. Nor do I dare decide for you whether a cover-to-cover reading of the Bible yields no defence or justification of marriage.

There are, however, a few important questions that we need to ask in the face of all this. What exactly do we believe? What is our faith? What is the truth about our relationship with God and where can we find it? What is the relationship between what we believe (or say we believe) and the way we behave? To whom should we listen and whom should we follow?

I do not rush into commenting on matters of religion, spirit or faith for one simple reason. I believe that only properly and fully trained, anointed and appointed people should handle these matters. The increasing trend of all sorts of people claiming to be spirit-inspired and declaring themselves to be pastors, prophets, apostles, bishops, or even divinities, is problematic and disturbing.

The liberalisation or opening up of the faith space has turned it into a phenomenal growth industry. It is, literally, a multibillion-dollar international business. This, inevitably, attracts all sorts of characters, including fraudsters, opportunists and predators, wolves in sheepskins, ready and willing to prey on us unsuspecting flocks. How do we survive? Consult your pastors, after closely observing their credentials.

Incidentally, I still enjoy the songs of my gospel artist.

Prof Bukenya is a leading East African scholar of English and literature; [emailprotected]

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On matters biblical, spiritual belief, and marital in the land of matoke - Daily Nation

This season, theologians and historians continue to rethink the lives and legacies of Biblical figures, including Moses and the women of the Bible. And many authors recommend an inward turn, closer listening, and a more open spirituality in response to worries about partisanship.

Chasing Vines: Finding Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life

Beth Moore. Tyndale Momentum, Feb. 4

Bible teacher Moore uses the cultivation of grapevines as a metaphor for living a fruitful and meaningful life.

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You

Jen Hatmaker. Thomas Nelson, Apr. 21

Bestselling author and speaker Hatmaker helps Christians go beyond people pleasing with five self-reflective categorieswho I am, what I need, what I want, what I believe, and how I connectto help readers think about their identities, convictions, and communities.

For All Who Hunger: Searching for Communion in a Shattered World

Emily M.D. Scott. Convergent, May 12

Scott, founder of St. Lydias Dinner Church in Brooklyn, explores the success of her congregation, which is based on providing meals to congregants and a focus on social activism.

Grace from the Rubble: Two Fathers Road to Reconciliation After the Oklahoma City Bombing

Jeanne Bishop. Zondervan, Apr. 14

Bishop, a public defender, tells the powerful tale of how the father of a young woman killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the father of her killer found an unlikely friendship and forgiveness.

Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife

Bart D. Ehrman. Simon & Schuster, Mar. 31

Bestselling historian Ehrman considers the core theological questions of where the ideas of heaven and hell came from and why they endure. He analyzes the early history of conceptions of the afterlife, including The Epic of Gilgamesh and the teachings of Jesus and his early followers.

How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life

Craig and Devon Hase. Shambhala, Apr. 21

Married Buddhists Craid and Devon Hase, cofounders of SATI Mindfulness, provide candid, Buddhism-inspired advice for staying grounded in a chaotic world.

Moses: A Human Life

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. Yale Univ., Mar. 17

Biblical scholar Zornberg teases out Mosess inner life and character by drawing on a broad, eclectic array of sources, including works by George Eliot, Werner Herzog, and W.G. Sebald.

Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest

David Bentley Hart. Univ. of Notre Dame, Apr. 5

Theologian Hart reflects on the state of theology at the borders of other fields of discourseincluding metaphysics, philosophy of mind, science, the arts, ethics, and biblical hermeneuticsin this manifesto on the manner in which theology should engage other fields of scholarship.

The Way of Gratitude: A New Spirituality for Today

Galen Guengerich. Random House, May 26

Unitarian minister Guengerich argues that transcendence is not limited to an experience of God but can be reached through the ability of gratitude to take someone to a greater awareness.

You Are Enough: Revealing the Soul to Discover Your Power, Potential, and Possibility

Panache Desai. HarperOne, Feb. 25

Desai, featured guest on Oprahs SuperSoul Sunday podcast, helps readers overcome anxiety and become one with the life source through grappling with ones personal narrative.

See the season's complete listing here.

A version of this article appeared in the 01/27/2020 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: 2020 Spring Religion and Spirituality Books Top 10

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Top 10 Religion and Spirituality Books for Spring 2020 - Publishers Weekly

ST. GEORGE, Utah, Jan. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --In return to a favor she asked from God which he granted Ruhe Bayors writes about her experiences with the ever loving God in "Soul Gardening" (published by Balboa Press).

In this book, Bayors shares her spiritual journey as she walks through life with great faith in God. She reflects back on her childhood and recalls how she learned about faith and how she looks at it now. She also highlights why searching for meaning and purpose can be fulfilling.

Bayors likens a person's spirituality to gardening. Her book encourages readers to tend to their souls as they would a garden: with love and tenderness. "The seeds of our truth are already there in our souls. We must choose to tend to these treasure-filled kernels with loving kindness toward others and ourselves in order for those seeds to germinate," she says.

A line in the book reads, "Are you wondering why you would plant a Soul Garden? Because we reap what we sow."

As it tackles personal spirituality, "Soul Garden" aims to motivate readers to find their way back to their authentic selves; inspire them to appreciate everything that life holds; and embrace their loving God.

For more information on the book, feel free to visit https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/804331-soul-gardening.

"Soul Gardening" By Ruhe Bayors Hardcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 378 pages | ISBN 9781982238926 Softcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 378 pages | ISBN 9781982238902 E-Book | 378 pages | ISBN 9781982238919 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc. a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with the worldwide self-publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 877-407-4847 today.

SOURCE BalboaPress

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Spiritual book proposes that we should nurture our souls as we would a garden -- with love and tenderness - Benzinga

LAWLESSNESS. It is a plague that has swept the entire planet and our sweet little paradise under the sun is no exception. The news is littered with stories of ever increasing crime and violence and many fear there is little that can be done to curb the injurious trend.

Author of the book Opening the Door, Claude Peters proposes that there is indeed a cure and it lies within every human on the face of this earth if only we as a people would embrace a spiritual connection with a higher power. We have taken God out of the picture, he says, and as such, our thoughts and actions have become unruly. With the help of digital book publisher, Hailcloud Publishing, he shares a message of spiritual awakening and enlightenment. Here is a brief look into the mind of the local author.

Claude: I believe that we as a country and as a people need to judge one another less and instead use that same energy to help and uplift one another. Focus needs to be placed on the youth and future generations. Breaking the cycle of hate and crime starts with giving them the love and attention that has been increasingly lacking as the years go by. We can only fight negativity by infusing this land with positivity.

Claude: We live in a time where what is seen is not real. Standards of beauty, success and more are illusions created by a few and imposed onto the unknowing masses. Therefore, most people wake up every day and put on a mask to deceive rather than pursue the most meaningful things in life, which are happiness and love. I was blessed with a gift to see past the illusions and thus, was compelled to write this book to help others ditch the mask so that they can live life freely and without this encumbering outlook.

Claude: Embracing spirituality is the key to unlocking a higher consciousness. The lawlessness that plagues St Lucia and the world is a sign of the lack of respect that so many have for life. Life is often taken like it means nothing. Being spiritual allows a person to recognize the value of his or her life and soul and that of every other man. Once a person has gained the recognition that life surpasses any monetary value, being lawless goes against that moral.

Claude: Yes, I do. Spiritual enlightenment is not something that happens because of affiliation with any particular religion. What qualifies anyone for enlightenment is the quality of their soul and their actions toward themselves and other people.

Claude: The finger pointing and blame games need to stop. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone and so we need to make the most of today. Instead of judging, lets be humble and seek the truth for the betterment of ourselves as individuals and our communities. Make each day count by gracing it with love, joy and peaceful communication.Opening the Door is available in eBook format on Amazon.com. Visit http://www.hailcloudpublishing.online or the companys Facebook page @HailcloudPublishing for more information.

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Spiritual Intervention for Crime Prevention? - The Voice St. Lucia

Nonfiction

Feb. 4

Dangerous Prayers by Craig Groeschel (Zondervan, $22.99, ISBN 978-0-3103-4312-7) identifies three specific prayers aimed at inspiring greater faith and tackling fears.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Believe in Miracles: 101 Stories of Hope, Answered Prayers and Divine Intervention by Amy Newmark (Chicken Soup for the Soul, $14.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-61159-997-8) features accounts from ordinary people who claim to have had extraordinary experiences.

Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color by Khristi Lauren Adams (Fortress, $18.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-5064-5568-6) collects stories of and encounters with young women of color on struggle and resilience.

Feb. 11

The Book of Householder Koans: Waking Up in the Land of Attachments by Eve Myonen Marko and Wendy Egyoku Nakao (Monkfish, $18.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-948626-08-8) features a collection of koans created by 21st century Zen Buddhists related to relationships, raising children, money, loss, and more.

Suffer Strong by Jay and Katherine Wolf (Zondervan, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-3103-4457-5). A follow-up to 2016s Hope Heals which depicted Katherines near-fatal brainstem stroke at age 26, this new memoir explores Katherine and Jays evolving strategies for coping with struggle and suffering.

Feb. 17

Citizen: Faithful Discipleship in a Partisan World by C. Andrew Doyle (Church, $16.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-6406-5201-9). Episcopal bishop Doyle examines what it means to live in a community and explores the larger narrative of faith.

Feb. 18

The Mindful Christian: Cultivating a Life of Intentionality, Openness, and Faith by Irene Kraegel (Fortress, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5064-5861-8) looks at mindfulness through the lens of faith and introduces practices aimed at helping readers live more joyfully and wholeheartedly.

Loving Well in a Broken World: Discover the Hidden Power of Empathy by Lauren Casper (Thomas Nelson, $17.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-7180-8555-1. Blogger Casper examines what she calls the lost art of empathy in a guide for Christians on how to love neighbors as themselves.

Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader by Derek Penslar (Yale Univ, $26, ISBN 978-0-300-18040-4). Penslar, a historian of Zionism, draws on personal, literary, and political writings to trace Herzls path as the leader of the Zionist movement.

Feb. 25

On the Bright Side by Melanie Shankle (Zondervan, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-3103-4944-0). Blogger (Big Mama) shares lessons learned about comparison, unexpected change, and finding encouragement in a new memoir.

Fiction

Feb. 18

More Than We Remember by Christina Suzann Nelson (Bethany, $15.99 paper, 978-0-7642-3538-2) follows three women drawn together by a life-altering car accident.

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Religion and Spirituality Books Preview: February 2020 - Publishers Weekly

As Shearer writes, yoga is now an $US18 billion ($26 billion) industry, its rise no better illustrated than in an exhibition, Yoga: The Art of Transformation, held in 2013 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where tables for the opening gala were $50,000 a pop.

It is often said that yoga practices date from 5000 years ago, but as Shearer points out, nobody knows for sure.

Credit:

There is no mention of what he calls posture yoga in the Vedic teachings, which date from roughly 2500BC to 500BC. But there are 900 mentions in the later Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit epic of ancient India, which includes the Bhagavad Gita, the most important text in what came to be known as Hinduism a handbook for life, as Shearer puts it, which makes clear that the most skilful action of all is that which leads to yoga, or union with the Divine.

The seers of early yoga scriptures were interested in physical postures only insofar as they aided meditation and breathing. The oldest known text devoted solely to yoga now regarded as its de facto bible - is the Yoga Sutra of Maharishi Patanjali, composed sometime before AD350.

Patanjali devotes only three short verses out of 196 to physical postures, making clear that the mastery in asanas or positions lies not in athleticism or flexibility, the ability to bend, twist and work up a sweat, but in the fact that it facilitates an effortless state of mental absorption. In short, the purpose of body work is to refine the mind; yoga is the settled mind.

The highest status in Indian society was afforded to the maharaj, or great king, who, stationed serenely under his tree, was the unattached lord of all he surveyed and more. The Buddha, realising enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree, is the most potent symbol of this.

Yoga was a physical practice only insofar as it served a spiritual objective. None of the great authorities, Shearer writes, saw the practice of yoga as a means to perfect the human frame, but as a way to transcend its irksome limitations altogether. The fierce asceticism and punishing physical contortions of the sadhus and fakirs were steps in the cultivation of siddhis, or powers not as an end in themselves, but as a means of self-transcendence.

Mud-covered men do yoga at Down to Earth Confest in Wangaratta in 1984.Credit:Simon Corden

Shearer, who has written extensively on Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, provides a fascinating chronology of the changing attitudes towards yoga in the West. To the Victorians, Indian holy men were held to be objects either of reproval the emaciated yogi lying on a bed of nails provided the perfect illustration of the perceived laziness and moral turpitude of the native Indian, in stark contrast to the doctrine of Muscular Christianity served up by the social reformer and evangelist Charles Kingsley, whose recipe for moral improvement was a cold morning bath or of a kind of appalled amusement.

Shearer neglects to mention the religious posturist Bava Lachman Dass, who exhibited himself at the Westminster Aquarium in 1897, demonstrating 48 yoga positions, drawn from what The Strand magazine described as the repulsive Indian religion. Queen Victoria, meanwhile, once held a tea party for a group of sadhus recruited from Jaipur jail, so she could sketch them.

A deeper understanding came with Swami Vivekananda, whose appearance at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 galvanised popular interest in Hindu teachings. The Fabian turned theosophist Annie Besant, who saw Vivekananda speak in Chicago Purposeful, virile, strong, he stood out, a man among men, able to hold his own would go on to publish a book on Maharishi Patanjalis yoga in 1907.

The psychologist William James (Henry's brother), who was similarly impressed, remarked that yoga makes of its disciples, good, healthy and happy men. In 1932, Carl Jung presented a seminar on kundalini yoga to the Psychological Society in Zurich which, Shearer writes, was regarded as a milestone in the Western understanding of Eastern thought.

Finlay Wilson revealed a Scottish mystery in Kilted Yoga.Credit:

Further enlightenment came with Aurobindo Ghose, the Indian nationalist turned mystic, whose teachings inspired the founders of the Esalen Institute in California the crucible of the so-called Human Potential movement in the 1960s whose program today boasts any number of bodywork techniques that would have been unknown in ancient India, including shadow yoga and grief yoga, which blends postures, movement, breath and vocalisation in ways that help students process the grief that follows any loss.

Shearer adds to this list with the galaxy of new variations including flow yoga, rocket yoga and kilt yoga, as demonstrated by Scottish teacher Finlay Wilson, whose headstands, Shearer notes, finally answer the question of what a Scotsman wears under his kilt.

It is significant that some of the most popular forms of yoga today are the least contemplative. Shearer describes the no pain, no gain variation of Ashtanga yoga, popularised by K Pattabhi Jois and much espoused by celebrities such as Madonna, Sting and Gwyneth Paltrow, as a sweat-based path for a nation of self-actualising achievers.

Then there is hot yoga invented by the pony-tailed, waxed-chested Bikram Choudhury a technique combining heat and vigorous activity. Its not unheard of for people attempting hot yoga to vomit, break down and pass out, or lose bladder control in a room full of their fellow students.

This, too, attracted the predictable celebrity following, including Shirley MacLaine, Lady Gaga and Paltrow (again), and made Choudhury a multimillionaire, before he fell to earth after a Vanity Fair article accusing him of rape, sexual harassment and false imprisonment, as well as discriminatory behaviour against gay people, women and racial minorities. (He has since denied any wrongdoing.)

The physical postures should be steady and comfortable, Patanjali wrote in the fourth century. They are mastered when all effort is relaxed and the mind is absorbed in the infinite. But nobody said it would be easy.

In 2017, a survey in The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies reported that yoga was the cause of more injuries than all other sports combined, with one in 10 practitioners developing musculoskeletal pain from their practice, and a third of those experiencing pain so severe they were out of action for three months. As Shearer puts it: Body-yoga has enjoyed 50 years of astonishing popularity in the West; now the casualties are limping in.

Something for practitioners to meditate on, perhaps. Those adopting the determined sedentary position may find these statistics strangely vindicating.

The Telegraph, London

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Getting spiritual: the real essence of yoga - The Age

TOP (L to R): Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu; Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs; Bishop Peter Christensen of Boise. BOTTOM: Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette; Bishop Donald Hying of Madison; Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland.

Bishops from Hawaii, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin and California share their tips for a richer devotional life.

I asked six diocesan bishops in different parts of the United States about saints theyre devoted to and recommendations for the average layman on developing ones spiritual life. Here are the thoughts they shared:

BishopMichael Barberof Oakland, California

I believe our overall goal should be to make the Church a place where people can experience Jesus Christ. The better we do this through prayer, worship, the sacraments, our homilies and works of mercy, the better people can experience Jesus Christ.

Once we have people coming to church, we can start talking to them about morality. A man can learn to be chaste by leaving the bar scene and marrying the woman he loves. He gives up his old life because he loves a person, his wife. In the same way, a person can leave an immoral lifestyle when he comes to love a person, Jesus Christ. I believe it is the same principle giving up what is harmful to us by falling in love with a person.

BishopPeter Christensenof Boise, encompassing the entire state of Idaho

[Explaining that he spends much of his time on the road visiting parishes, using the time in the car to pray and prepare his homilies.] While some bishops may travel with someone to help with the driving, I go by myself. I prefer it that way. I like the solitude. I dont listen to music. I pray and say the Rosary, or think about things. It gives me a lot of time to myself. Not everyone would like it. One recent trip had me on the road 16 days straight.

BishopJohn Doerflerof Marquette, the upper peninsula of Michigan

My favorite [saints] include St. John of the Cross, who is my patron, St. Francis de Sales, St. Thrse and St. Thomas More.

As a young man, my heroes included Pope St. John Paul II When I was a seminarian, I studied theology at North American College in Rome. I had the privilege of serving Mass for Pope John Paul II. It was the beatification mass of St. Katharine Drexel, and they wanted American seminarians to serve at the Mass. I was one of the lucky ones whose name was pulled out of the hat.

I met Pope John Paul briefly after Mass. I remember my exchange with him. I assured the Holy Father I was praying for him. He said, Well, well pray for each other.

[In regards to spirituality, I recommend] the basics, like weekly Mass and regular confession, go without saying. Id also especially mention three other things: the Rosary,Lectio Divinaor praying with Sacred Scripture, and Eucharistic adoration.

BishopDonald Hyingof Madison, Wisconsin

Ive always been impressed by [St. Thrse of Lisieuxs] unique life, short though it was. She didnt accomplish anything in the eyes of the world, but she did love God in an extraordinary way in the ordinary things of life. She is the saint of simple people; Id classify myself as one of those simple people.

Id tell [the average layman] to start with attending Mass regularly on Sundays and holy days. Go to confession once a month. Pray daily; when you start, it may be for just 10 minutes.

Develop a devotional life. This might mean praying the Rosary, or a devotion to a particular saint, some activity that will feed your heart and spirit. Do some form of service to the poor or sick. Go on an annual retreat.

BishopMichael Sheridanof Colorado Springs

[Pope St. John Paul II is] a real hero to me. Im impressed with St. Thrse, the Little Flower, and Ive been reading herStory of a Soulwhich teaches us how to live a simple but saintly life. I also like St. John Neumann, the former Archbishop of Philadelphia, because of his simplicity, dedication and wisdom.

I was trained early on in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. If one is well led, these can be a beautiful source of spiritual enrichment. As far as contemporary programs, Id recommend the work of Dan Burke of the Avila Foundation, the wonderful Augustine Institute and the Denver Biblical School.

BishopLarry Silvaof Honolulu, encompassing all the islands of Hawaii

I often take pilgrimage groups to a tiny peninsula on the island of Molokai known as Kalaupapa. This is where St. Damien and St. Marianne Cope ministered to people with leprosy (Hansens disease). It can only be accessed by a small (9-passenger) airplane, by footviaa switch-back trail on a 2,000 foot cliff, or by mule on the same trail. A couple of times I intended to go there on a day trip, but the weather turned bad during the day so the small planes were not allowed to fly in. Without being prepared to spend the night, I had to do so, along with members of our group. The people there are always accommodating and help us make do.

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6 Bishops on Their Favorite Saints, Spirituality - National Catholic Register

A writer can be anything; a revolutionary, a spiritual guide, a thought leader and even founder of a new religion. However, if such a leader identifies himself as a writer, he will be considered an artist, first and foremost by his nonconformist, nonreligious readers, who will be more interested in his artistic paraphernalia. As its the skills set, the hard-earned art of writing that provides the basis for the successful transmission of a revolutionary idea or a divine thought.

Baba Nanak (1469-1583) is one such personality. His overwhelming sense of appreciation for everything related to the process and art of writing, as depicted in the lines below, gives his readers the liberty to start their literary travels free of any religious dogmas.

For example, he writes, Dhan so kaagad, kalam dhan, dhan bhaanda, dhan mass/Dhan likhaari Nanaka, jin naam likhaya sach

(Blessed is the paper, blessed is the pen, blessed the inkpot and blessed is the ink/Blessed is the writer, O Nanak, who writes the truth).

Moving on to the importance of artistic perfection, he reiterates: Jay ik hoay taa(n) uggvay, ruttee(n) hoo rut hoay/Nanak paahay baahraa, koray rang nah soay

(If the seed is whole, and it is the proper season, then the seed will sprout/O Nanak, without the treatment, the raw fabric cannot be dyed).

The writer Nanak leads us to the art of listening and process of internalising those conversations: Jabb lag dunya rahyyay Nanak, kichh sunneay kichh kahyyay

(As long as we are in this world, O Nanak, we should listen and speak).

However, this process of listening, learning and then speaking (writing) does create occupational hazards and the artist Nanak is fully aware and alert to this danger, so he warns his fellow writers and preachers: Dhirrag tinhaa(n) ka jeevya, jo likh likh vaichay naao

(Cursed are the lives of those who read and write the divines name to sell it).

Baba Nanak doesnt just caution us about the business of writing but he warns writers about the lurking lust of recognition and rewards too. He declares: Kulhaa(n) dainday baavlay, lainday vadday nilaj/ chooha khudd nah maavee tikkal bannhay chhaj

(Those who give out ceremonial hats of recognition are fools and those who receive them have no shame/The mouse cannot enter its hole with a basket tied to its waist).

For Baba Nanak truth is the ultimate manifestation of writing. The courage to speak the truth to power is as divine as his connection with oppressed people that is as permanent and unshakable like this verse: Sach puraNa hovay naahi, seeta kadday nah paatay

(Truth does not grow old and when it is stitched, it remains stitched- never to be torn again).

As a Punjabi poet, my introduction to Baba Nanak, the poet, and the artist was through following two lines twenty-two years ago and until today, whenever I read it, I get goosebumps. This rendering starts with a typical Punjabi folkloric opening which is not so common in Baba Nanaks poetry: Moreen runn jhunn laaya bhainee saawan aaya

(The peacocks are singing so sweetly, O sister, the rainy season of Saawan has come). And then comes this: Aaay nah sakkaa(n) tujh kan piyaaray, bhaij nah sakkaa(n) koay / aa-o subhaagi neendaReay matt saoh daikhaa(n) soay

(I cant come to you my love and I cant send anyone to you/ Come to me, O blessed sleep, so I can see my beloved in my dreams).

370 years later, another Punjabi poet Mian Muhammad Baksh carried the same thought forward in these grievous words keeping the Nanaki poetic tradition alive and well: Sufnay day wich milya maahi tay main gal wich paa layya(n) bahnwaa(n)/Dar di maari akh nah kholaa(n) kittay fir vichaR nah jaavaa(n)

(I met my beloved in a dream and I hugged him tightly/ I am afraid of opening my eyes, fearing that I may lose him yet again).

You may have felt that instead of using the more popular epithet Guru Nanak, I have intentionally opted to use Baba Nanak. As to me Baba signifies a more humane, intimate, closer, humanly equal, and familial ecosystem. Baba provides a permanent state of sheltering warmth thats rooted in the Punjabi rural tradition connecting many generations as one. Baba Nanak himself uses words like banda, Adami, manas for himself rather than any other big titles. He is proud of associating himself with lowest of the low: Neechaa(n) anddar neech jaat neechi ho(n) att neech

(Nanak seeks the company of the lowest of the low, the very lowest of the low).

According to Prof Gurinder Singh Mann, Baba Nanak created over nine hundred compositions amounting to 93,302 words and his successors labelled his language as the auspicious language (Subhakha, GG 611:19). Mann further adds referencing the JS Grewal and Irfan Habib edited volume Sikh History from Persian Sources that the author of the Dabistan-i-Mazahib labels it as the language of Jatts.

Coming from the Jaangli, Jatki background, I naturally have some reservations accepting that the language of Baba Nanak is those of Jatts. Even when we compare Baba Nanaks poetic language with Baba Farid and Waris Shah (who belonged to the Baar/Jaangli/Jatki areas like Baba Nanak) we feel a substantial difference in phraseology and vocabulary. More research is required to find out why Baba Nanak didnt always use the language and expression of the Baar/Jaangli areas. It may well be due to the influence of Vedic texts, Bhagti writings or due to his long travels that his language doesnt always read like the Punjabi language of the 15th century, as we know it.

Ironically, there are no other known writings of Punjabi available between Baba Farid and Baba Nanak. We have a silent period between these two greats of nearly 300 years as far as documentation of Punjabi poets is concerned, making it more challenging to fully understand Baba Nanaks lingual trajectory.

Ironically, there are no other known writings of Punjabi available between Baba Farid and Baba Nanak. We have a silent period between these two greats of nearly 300 years as far as documentation of Punjabi poets is concerned.

There appears very little influence of rural folk tradition and folk love themes on Baba Nanaks poetry. However, wherever that appears, simplicity and directness of expression makes it feel so contemporary: Here are a few such examples: Bohta Jeevan manggeay moyaa nah loRay koe

(Everyone begs for a long life, no one wishes to die);

Kammar kataara bankRa, bankkay ka aswaar/garrab nah keejay Nanaka matt serr aaway bhaar

(A beautiful dagger hangs by your waist, and you ride such a beautiful horse/But dont be too proud, ONanak, you may fall headfirst to the ground);

Mandda kissay nah aakheay, paRh akhhar eho bujhheay/moorakh naal nah lujhheay

(Dont call anyone bad, read these words and understand/ Dont argue with fools).

Use of word lujhheay here is as natively Jaangli/Jatki as it can ever be. Roopeen Bhukh nah utray, jaa(n) daikhaa(n) taa(n) bhukh/Jeetay rass sareer kay, taytay laggey dukh

(Beauty doesnt satisfy hunger, when someone sees beauty, hunger increases/As many are the pleasures of the body, so many are the pains which afflict it).

Baba Nanaks forceful rejection of unjust authority and his love for the downtrodden is as powerful as his divine humility. Here are few such renderings: Haqq paraya Nanaka uss sooar uss gaa

(To take what rightfully belongs to others is like a Muslim eating pork or a Hindu eating beef);

Jo ratt peevay mansaa(n) tin kion normal cheet

(Those who suck the blood of fellow beings, how can their consciousness be pure); Raajay sheenh, muqaddam kuttay, jaa jagain baithay suttay/Chaakar naohdaa paain ghao/ratt pitt kuttyo chatti jao

(The Kings are tigers and their officials are dogs; they go out and awaken the sleeping people to harass them/The public servants inflict wounds with their nails; the dogs lick up the blood thats spilt);

KooR Raja kooR parjaa, kooR sabh sansaar

(False is the king, false are the subjects, false is the whole world).

Baba Nanak is a trailblazer in so many ways, as a poet, he introduced and popularised several Punjabi poetic genres that need a separate space. However, his most powerful work is Babar Baani, the 27 stanzas composed in response to Babars invasion and abuses which turned Punjab into maaspuri (city of the dead) starting from attacks on Punjab in 1510 to 1526 when he conquered Delhi. This is when Baba Nanak lamented about Lahore as well when Babars forces nearly destroyed it: Lahore sehr, jehr qahr, savva pehr

(The city of Lahore suffered terrible destruction for hours).

Below are few of the verses that summarise how Baba Nanak reacted to the barbaric invasion of Babar on our land:

Paap ki janjj lay Kabuloo(n) dhaaya, joree(n) manggay daan vay Laalo/ sarram dharram doay chhipp khaloay kooR phirray pardhaan vay Laalo/ khoon kay sohlay gaavay Nanak ratt ka kanggoo paay vay Laalo

(O Laalo, bringing the marriage party of sin, Babar has invaded from Kabul, demanding our land as his wedding gift/O Laalo, modesty and righteousness both have vanished and falsehood struts around like a leader/The wedding songs of murder are sung, O Nanak, and blood is sprinkled instead of saffron, O Laalo); Babar Vaani phirr gai koer nah roti khaaay

(Since Babars rule has been proclaimed, even the princes have no food to eat).

Art of poetry and humanitarian message of Baba Nanak is not just restricted to the land of his birth, but it spread across frontiers. Its believed that Sain Sachal Sarmast (1739-1827) named one of his disciples Yusuf as Nanak Yousuf because his poetry reminded him of Baba Nanak.

Punjabis and the people of the sub-continent need more of Baba Nanak, Baba Farid and Sachal Sarmast to reclaim their long-lost sense of peace and cohesion. Compassion, accommodation and acceptance of the undiluted truth can set this caged region free and there is no better source than Baba Nanak and Sufi Bhagti poets of our land. In Baba Nanaks own words: Nah maila nah dhundhlaa nah bhagwa nah kach /Nanak laal-o-laal hay sachay ratta sach

(Neither dirty, nor dull, nor saffron, nor any colour that fades/O Nanak, crimson, deep crimson is the colour of those who are imbued in truth).

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The spiritual poet - The News on Sunday

Actor Terry Crews is fit, from any angle and in every photo.

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine star made a joke to that effect Thursday when he shared a meme about how his profile pics would vary on different social media sites. Whether on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Tinder, Crews had incredible muscles.

Crews has attributed his fitness, in part, to intermittent fasting. Hes followed the diet for the past eight years before it became trendy in the mainstream.

I eat from 2 to 10 and it changes. If Im in a different time zone, I wait until its two oclock wherever I am, Crews revealed this week at BUILD Series in New York City. But, I have to say this, the intermittent fasting thing although it has beautiful effects for my body, my health, my energy; its wonderful its more spiritual.

Crews explained that intermittent fasting requires him to practice discipline.

When you look at what fasting is, its literally, everything that is within your grasp is never meant to be in your hand, you know what I mean? he said. You have to teach yourself to say no. We have to teach ourselves to say no on the internet. OK, thats enough for today. Thats enough TV. Thats enough food. Thats enough [of] this. Because right now, in this time, you know, we have more than ever, and were more miserable than ever. Because you have to learn to restrict yourself, and this takes discipline. And the discipline that helps me with intermittent fasting helps me with all the other areas of my life.

Another area where fasting has helped is his marriage of more than 30 years, to Rebecca King. While they were in therapy, the two agreed to forgo sex for 90 days.

What was wild was that there was a time where I thought I couldnt do it, said Crews, whos been open about having overcome an addiction to pornography.

But let me tell you [the sex fast] was the most beneficial thing I ever did in my life, because what happened was my wife and I became kids again. Because when youre a kid, when I was 12, I didnt know anything about sex. I just liked the girl. When we went out, it was because I really wanted to know what she was talking about, Crews said. Before, it was like, OK, when we getting to the sex? But then, when you know its not coming, now its like, Tell me what your deepest fears are.

Of course, The Expendables actor spends plenty of time in the gym, too. He advised others to think of it like a spa, therapy time for the body.

When I do my two hours, in the morning, I value that more than anything, Crews said. Its my meditation. Its my peace. I learn. I listen to audio books. I listen to my music. I actually save songs for my workout, so I can really enjoy them Treat it like it's a joy.

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Terry Crews says intermittent fasting is his fitness secret but he's actually doing it for spiritual reasons - Yahoo Entertainment

Question:

How would you respond to the statement, The spiritual realm is more real than the natural realm?

Ive thought about this type of statement a lot, having heard the statement in a variety of forms through the years. Similarly, the Catholic priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, once said, We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Both these statements affirm something important but invariably over-steer into a sort of neo-Gnostic dualism, which Ill explain below.

First, nearly every conceivable theological mistake seems to begin with an important truth understood wrongly. So lets begin with the truth. What is true about these statements? Both the one you cite and also Chardins?

The worldview of Christ, his prophetic predecessors and his apostolic successors was not materialistic. They acknowledged the reality of a spiritual realm above, behind or within the material world. They believed in God, though he was invisible; in spiritual beings, whether angelic or demonic; and in the spirits of departed people, whether in the heavens or beneath the earth. While Christianity has developed beyond literalist readings of that worldview, the ancients were right to see that there is more to reality than meets the eye. So even post-modern Christians are not strict materialists.

This is especially true of people. We are more than biological factories. We are more than the sum of our primate parts. We believe that to be human includes more than a body. Whatever we call the immaterial aspects of our humanity the soul and/or spirit, the mind and/or heart, conscience and/or consciousness to be human involves natural AND spiritual dimensions that both faith and science have trouble grasping.

The statements also indicate that despite appearances, our assumption that the material world is denser than the spiritual world is somehow not quite right. Im not speaking literally.

Rather, Im thinking especially about biblical texts such as the book of Hebrews where we hear that the temporal earthly temple was merely a shadow of the eternal heavenly temple. The author almost sounds like Plato, and indeed, may have been a Christian convert from the Platonic Judaism of Philo of Alexandria.

Later, in chapter 11, Hebrews speaks about the substance of faith in Gods promises that had not yet materialized. I dont purport to understand the substance of immaterial faith, but clearly, the promises of God were a reality to those who hoped in them even apart from their fulfillment.

And while its important to avoid the hard anti-material dualism of the Gnostics, we also want to acknowledge the dualities in biblical statements such as:

There are so many Scriptures like these that affirm the reality of a spiritual or heavenly realm that is more than temporal and more than material and, therefore, also in some way ultimate relative to the natural plane. So to be charitable, you can see how our charismatic friends and even Chardin try to hold that truth in play in the context of our incredibly materialistic society. This is especially important for Christians to remember when being consumed by consumerism and an obsession with the stuff of the worldly kingdom.

And yet it feels to me that these statements overcompensate and may swerve wildly into the other ditch.

Earlier, I referred to the ancient (or not so ancient) heresy of Gnosticism. While there were an array of complex pseudo-Christian Gnostic streams that became especially influential in the second century, many of them seem to have divorced the spiritual realm from the material realm, or at least wanted to. Ill have to generalize here. They would have seen the heavenly kingdom as entirely separate from and out of sync with the material world.

This is quite different than the New Testament vision where Christ says, The kingdom of heaven has come near or The kingdom of God is in your midst or at hand or within you. Indeed, the kingdom parables of Christ are all about the kingdom of God permeating this world and our real earthly lives like seeds being sown or a wheat field sprouting or yeast leavening a loaf or a tree spreading its branches. In Christ, the kingdom is here, evident in real things we see and hear and touch and do. Its a way of being in this world and its the grace of God happening in a thousand little ways throughout our days here. Said another way, the kingdom of God is about heaven and earth united, beyond separation.

The Gnostics also believed the material realm was intrinsically evil, nothing that a Holy God would directly touch. Before I critique that notion, lets say that its not entirely without justification, even biblically but that theyve drastically misunderstood important words and ideas.

For example, as we look around, we see a certain corruption at work in the world and in people. To them, 1 John 2:15-17 seem to make perfect sense:

As you can see, the plain and literal reading of the text seems obvious: the world and the flesh are evil. No?

No. We need to understand that by world, John is not referring to the world that God created (and it was good) or the world of people that God so loved that he gave his only Son (John 3). The world were to avoid is the world systemhostile to Christ. It is comprised of corrupt societies that traffic in greed, injustice, oppression and moral darkness. According to Paul, we are to be in the world but not of the world. That is, we live in our communities without participating in the practices and systems that destroy communities.

So too with the flesh. Surely the flesh that cannot enter the kingdom of God does not refer to the material flesh of our humanity since God the Word became flesh (John 1:14). In fact, Christ not only became human he became flesh in the sense of entering fully the human condition to restore and redeem it. He dignified the flesh by uniting himself to human nature fully.

So the flesh that Paul derides is not the flesh of our humanity, but rather, our egoism and its demands. To be spiritual is, contra Chardin, NOT over against being human, but against the cravings and darkened desires of the fallen human mind. Indeed, to become spiritual is to have the Spirit give LIFE to our mortal bodies, not to degrade them as evil. We should have kept reading Romans 8:

10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you (Romans 8:10-11).

Finally, you can see how the dualism that divorces spirit and matter and degrades Gods good world and our fleshly bodies as innately evil would lead the Gnostics to a theology of escape. But its not just those heretics of old who dabble in anti-material escapism. A few examples come to mind Ill mention three:

1. Left Behind rapture theology: As a young dispensationalist, we didnt have much hope for this world. We were intent on escape via the rapture, hopefully next week, definitely in our lifetime. And we foresaw nothing for the material world but the degradation of the society and humanity into a global empire led by the Antichrist, culminating in Armageddon and followed later by the consumption of the universe in fire.

The one and only solution: dont get left behind!Or left below!if you prefer the Simsons version:

2. Charismatic supernaturalism:I have no doubt that the apostolic church was charismatic and supernatural in the truest sense. I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is alive and well, active in our lives and continuing to move, speak and heal. Im an eye-witness and occasional participant.

But there is a brand of supernaturalISMthat feels very escapist to me. Rather than embracing our fleshly existence as the venue where the kingdom comes on earth as in heaven or the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, it becomes obsessed with all things flitty, ethereal and abstracted from real life. It sings, Let your glory fall on this room and then instead of seeing that glory in the face of their brothers and sisters, or in the poor and the broken, squints its eyes hoping to glimpse angel feathers, glowing orbs and whisps of shekinah smoke.

Worse, it continually tries to evade the messy human condition, inventing a theology of denial that cant accept lament.

3. Our heavenly home: Heaven is my home. Im just passin through.

In his book, Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright reminds us that the biblical vision does not end in a heavenly realm divorced from this world as disembodied spirits. Rather, he says, the gospel foresees the restoration of this world and the resurrection of our bodies. Granted, we will apparently be immortal and spiritual, but nonetheless somehow embodied humans enjoying a tangible reality engaged with the five senses.

I would point out to Wrights disciples that he does not deny the reality of heaven or paradise as such. That is, Hebrews 11-12 is not wrong to speak of the cloud of witnesses of departed saints 12 or the spirits of righteous men worshiping now at Mount Zion. For Paul, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and John the Revelator sees myriads of souls worshiping at the Lambs throne. As Jesus said, we worship the God of the living such that he believed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are somehow alive and Moses and Elijah could appear with him on Tabor.

So, while we still await the final resurrection and our telosas immortal and embodied humanity in the reconstructed universe (this universe, according to Revelation 21), we know death involves a beatific vision in the presence of God. But also, lets not imagine that the goal is to escape from our bodies into a permanent cloudy by-and-by.

So, is the spiritual realm more real than the natural? What does more real even mean if 1. both are real and if 2. God encompasses and indwells both and 3. unites them in himself? While the kingdom of heaven (i.e. God) creates, sustains and reigns over the earthly realm, its not helpful to think of the material realm as unreal or separate or evil. Its been dignified by its very creation, by the incarnation and by Gods intention of its ultimate restoration.

And, are we spiritual beings having a human experience?Our human experience isnota mere episode in the life of a supra-human spirit. Humans ARE both spiritual and embodied by nature and by grace. There is nothing unspiritual about being human and in fact, the most spiritual thing about us IS our humanity. To be spiritual by grace is to become more truly human.

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Is the Spiritual Realm more Real than the Natural? Brad Jersak | Brad Jersak - Patheos