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Category Archives: Spirituality

Health Tips, Whole Health, How Mercy Opens Us to Healing, Spiritual Health, Christian Spirituality – Video

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Health Tips, Whole Health, How Mercy Opens Us to Healing, Spiritual Health, Christian Spirituality
Health Tips, Whole Health, How Mercy Opens Us to Healing, Spiritual Health, Christian Spirituality.

By: Stan Lang

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Health Tips, Whole Health, How Mercy Opens Us to Healing, Spiritual Health, Christian Spirituality - Video

Science And Spirituality: Could It Be?

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It was the Roman poet Lucretius, writing around 50 BC, who famously proclaimed reason as a tool to achieve individual freedom, as a means of breaking free from superstitions that enslave the human mind:

"This dread and darkness of the mind cannot be dispelled by the sunbeams, the shining shafts of the day, but only by an understanding of the outward form and inner workings of nature."

Even 400 years before Lucretius, his biggest influence, Democritus, celebrated a rational approach to understanding the world as the only path to happiness, to live in a state of "cheerfulness," to finding grace. For this reason, Democritus was known as the "Laughing Philosopher," as a Rembrandt self-portrait (in the likeness of Democritus) reminds us.

This is the smile we attribute to saints and the enlightened. Are we fundamentally wrong in placing science and spirituality in a warring field? Can reason lead us to transcendence?

To most people, this is an impossible, even absurd, proposition: Reason is the opposite of grace or spiritual transcendence, given that it operates under strict adherence to rigid rules and to an unshakeable skepticism. How can analytical thinking become so malleable as to allow for this emotional and, even more radically, spiritual, impact?

To make sense of this, we must, first and foremost, eliminate the connection between spirituality and spirit, in particular, of spirit as a supernatural manifestation. The starting point of my argument is that only matter exists. There is only the natural. In its awesome complexity, from electrons to proteins to butterflies to stars, natural forms express the wealth of interactions between the basic material constituents and the forces that bind and repel them. There is no question that we have learned a lot about these forces and these constituents and this is what Lucretius had in mind when he wrote that "only by an understanding of the outward form and inner workings of nature" would we dispel "this dread and darkness of the mind." This is the central goal of the physical sciences, the identification of the "outward form and inner workings of nature." We abide to it full-heartedly.

However, we must also concede that we know precious little, that we are surrounded by questions of such forbidding complexity that our knowledge will always be limited even if ever growing, as I explored in The Island of Knowledge. The very way in which we acquire new knowledge of the world opens the way to more questions.

But forbidding complexity does not need to mean divine, or supernatural. Unknowns are invitations, challenges to our creativity. Obstacles are triggers, not stoppers. We go after them using the tools of science and reason with a fervor that, as Einstein remarked, has all the dressings of spiritual devotion.

So, we must rid spirituality from its supernatural prison, make it secular. Spirituality is a connection with something bigger than we are, seducing our imagination, creating an urge to know, to embrace the mystery that surrounds us and the mystery that we are.

This natural spirituality is not a form of mysticism. Mysticism presupposes that knowledge that is inaccessible to the intellect can be apprehended by contemplation or by a union with the divine. Science, at least to me, starts with a spiritual even contemplative connection with nature. But then it uses the intellect as the bridge between this connection and the pursuit of knowledge. As it brings together this very human spiritual attraction to the unknown (merely calling it "curiosity" sounds very impoverishing to me) and our reasoning powers, science is a unique expression of our wonderment with reality, of our awe with nature's grandeur.

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Science And Spirituality: Could It Be?

St. Francis Friary and Center for Spirituality on Staten Island closing, friar, groups say

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After over 80 years of service to the Staten Island community, all programs have ceased operating at the St. Francis Friary on Todt Hill.

The friary, the Center for Spirituality and the remaining five friars who live there have all been reassigned, said the Rev. George Sabol, one of the friars who are in the process of relocating to their new assignments this week.

No final decision has been made about what's going to happen to the property, Rev. Sabol said.

The property has not been put on the market and has not been listed with a real estate agent, Rev. Sabol added.

However, for a Staten Island worship community still reeling from the sale of the Mount Manresa site to builders and the pending demolition, the uncertain status of the location is cause forconcern.

The Rev. Philip Blaine, a native Staten Islander and founder and director of the center, and the Rev. Brennan-Joseph Farleo, the guardian (superior) of the friary, could not immediately be reached for comment.

"We're devastated," Rev. Sabol said. "We've done so much for this community of Staten Island, especially the youth with our days of recollection. We've had retreats from so many schools, not only on Staten Island but from Brooklyn. It's been a spiritual haven from many people for generations."

The biggest challenge over the years has been the cost of maintaining the property.

"No matter what we did, we never brought in enough money to sustain this place," said Rev. Sabol, who has been living in the friary for about four years.

Other factors prompting the closure include the dwindling number of men in the religious order and the need for personnel in other locations, Rev. Sabol said.

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St. Francis Friary and Center for Spirituality on Staten Island closing, friar, groups say

You graduated, but your spirituality doesnt have to

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Birthright tourists at Masada. File photo

In college, all sorts of resources are accessible at your fingertips. You can create a club, join an organization, attend a rally or listen to a lecturer all so easily. Everything is right in front of you, catering to you and your peers until you leave.

After graduation, that Shabbat dinner or afternoon bagel nosh isnt calling your name every week.

Thats where young professional and young adult Jewish groups come into the picture. Numerous Jewish organizations in the city cater to 20-somethings, offering everything from hikes to networking events in the hopes of getting people involved in Judaism on their own terms now that the college environment isnt there to help.

A lot of the time people are looking to connect, said Rabbi Mordechai Teller, program director of the Jewish young professional program Aish Ignite. People are looking for that next phase of life [post-college].

But transitioning into that next phase can be difficult.

I felt like I wasnt as involved as I wanted to be. I was so wrapped up in [grad] school because it was so demanding of my time and energy, and it was hard to get involved, said Jacqueline Rafii, 27. I didnt like that I was out of the loop. I wasnt as passionate of an advocate [as before].

Rafii, who graduated from UCLA as an undergrad in 2009 and as a graduate student in 2013, missed the accessibility of Hillel and the students involved, so she found her way to Atid, a young adults organization for people ages 21 to 39 at Sinai Temple in Westwood.

Thats the way Ive stayed connected to Judaism, she said.

Aish is another organization that strives to create the opportunity for young adults to connect through activities such as weekly learning sessions with rabbis and Shabbat dinners.

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You graduated, but your spirituality doesnt have to

Love, family, spirituality help in ALS journey

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As she waited to learn her mothers diagnosis what had caused Carol Gardula to fall for no reason, and to have an increasingly weak left foot Sara OHare had one prayer.

I kept thinking, Oh, my God, I hope it isnt Parkinsons, OHare, a National Parkinson Foundation fundraiser recalled last week. Then, when we found out what she had, all I could think of was, Oh, my God, I wish it had been Parkinsons.

Instead, Carol Gardulas doctor had just told the Wilmette resident and her husband Bob that Carol had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS.

Bob Gardula sums up his reaction to the diagnosis bluntly: Its just pure devastation, thats what it is.

The scientific label is uninformative to lay people. So is the name Lou Gehrigs disease, which is more apt to conjure images of baseballs famous Iron Man than to illuminate the ailment that killed him.

Move past the names, and ALS is unmasked as a merciless disease that erodes the brain stem and spinal cord motor neurons that deliver electrical impulses from the brain to voluntary muscles throughout the body. As they deteriorate, so do the voluntary muscles.

ALS doesnt dull the mind. People with the disorder remain aware as they lose strength and the ability to walk, to move and, eventually, to breathe.

Right now, ALS is 100 percent fatal, swiftly so. Complete paralysis usually occurs within two to five years of diagnosis. According to figures from the Les Turner ALS Foundation and the ALS Foundation, more than 5,600 Americans are diagnosed with the disease every year, and about 35,000 people are living with it at any time. Only 50 percent live five years past their diagnosis; perhaps 10 percent will survive 10 years or more. Most will die between two to five years after learning they have the disease.

Slightly more men than women contract it, and people are most likely to be diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70.

Carol, who is 67, said last week she was grateful her diagnosis was relatively swift.

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Love, family, spirituality help in ALS journey

Tech professional Matthew Krajewski promotes spiritual empowerment in new book

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Aptos, CA (PRWEB) September 08, 2014

Author and spiritual healer Matthew Krajewski first invited readers into the realm of spiritual awareness with his book Modern Magic, where he discussed the idea of magic and its healing powers, citing scientific findings, ancient texts and his own experiences with the supernatural. His new book, The Golden Sherpa: Ascending Into Magical Spirituality (published by Balboa Press), aims to empower readers by enlightening them to the powers available through biological energy fields.

Krajewski, a technology professional and modern mystic, engages daily in spiritual practices. In The Golden Sherpa he discusses the sensitivity required to tune into these spiritual processes, and how to access them regularly.

Using his background and expertise as a shaman, Krajewski discusses spirituality in an inviting tone. He is hopeful that this will not only make his book more comprehensible, but better get across his message that a refined sense of spirituality can make any metaphysical pursuit more accessible. Krajewski also hopes to connect with his generation, the Millennials, as he says they continue to experiment with empathic spiritual pursuits.

Modern society is marked by an internalized belief that we are all disconnected, Krajewski says. Burgeoning movements from ecological activism to gift economies are all movements that rely upon compassionate connection. This is not a trend, but an original blueprint for society, and one which I articulate at the most basic level so all readers can understand the nature of interconnected energy, in themselves and in the world.

The Golden Sherpa By Matthew Krajewski Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 222 pages | ISBN 9781452589671 Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 222 pages | ISBN 9781452589664 E-Book | ISBN 9781452589657 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author Matthew Krajewski graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where he studied writing. He is a modern mystic, incorporating diverse yet modern sensibilities into his work as a shaman and healer. The Golden Sherpa is his second book on spirituality. He also practices biodynamic farming and beekeeping at Tree Bee Microfarm with his fianc, Chef Ryan Farquhar. Krajewski invites readers to visit him at http://www.magicalheritage.com.

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 indie book 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. For the latest, follow @balboapress on Twitter. ###

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Tech professional Matthew Krajewski promotes spiritual empowerment in new book

Awe, With And Without The Gods

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In a 2006 article for the Los Angeles Times, Sam Harris identified 10 myths about atheism, among them the idea that "atheists are closed to spiritual experience."

Harris explained: "There is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing love, ecstasy, rapture and awe; atheists can value these experiences and seek them regularly."

And in a post last week, my fellow 13.7 commentator Barbara J. King also wrote about atheism and awe. "Atheists feel awe, too. Everyone does. That wondrous sense needn't be described by invoking the sacred."

Yet the idea that atheism and awe are at odds is a common one. In a 2013 interview, for example, Oprah Winfrey refused to accept a woman's self-ascribed atheism after the woman shared powerful experiences of awe and a love of humanity. Winfrey controversially responded: "Well, I don't call you an atheist then. I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery, then that is what God is."

Of course, "the awe and the wonder and the mystery" could just as well describe what motivates many scientists, whether or not they believe in God.

So why the persistent idea that awe is inextricably linked to theism? And are "scientific awe" and "religious awe" fundamentally different, or deep down one and the same?

To be sure, awe is a multifaceted emotion, and one that's only recently become the target of systematic psychological research. In an influential 2003 paper, psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt argued that awe is characterized by two central features: vastness and accommodation. Vastness describes the experience of something larger than the self, whether that vastness is a matter of physical size or of metaphorical size, such as great power. Accommodation refers to the need to modify one's current mental structures to make sense of the experience whether or not such modification is actually enacted or succeeds.

These features of awe can help us understand how science and religion both elicit awe, and also how either theism or atheism could ensue.

When it comes to vastness, the natural world provides no shortage of material. In fact, studies have typically used nature documentaries, a full-sized replica of a T. rex skeleton, and even commercials depicting waterfalls, whales and astronauts in space as elicitors of awe. In one study, more than 70 percent of card-carrying atheists reported feelings of awe ("as if you were part of something greater than yourself"), with nature (54 percent) and science (29 percent) identified as the most frequent triggers.

On the other hand, religious spaces and rituals are often designed to encourage the sense that there's something larger than the self, and an omnipotent God is by definition vastly powerful. So in their own ways, both the natural world and human representations of the supernatural can create a sense of vastness.

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Awe, With And Without The Gods

Assisi Retreat Part 4 – The Spirituality of Saint Francis – Eckhart Tolle TV – Video

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Assisi Retreat Part 4 - The Spirituality of Saint Francis - Eckhart Tolle TV
Eckhart discusses the life and teachings of Francis of Assisi to reveal the legendary mystic #39;s insights into the egoless state that hold relevance to this day.

By: Eckhart Tolle

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Assisi Retreat Part 4 - The Spirituality of Saint Francis - Eckhart Tolle TV - Video

Amy Van Dyken-Rouen Visits Today Show, Discusses Spirituality and Return Home

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Photo Courtesy: NBC News' "Today"

NEW YORK, New York, September 5. AMY Van Dyken-Rouen is set to return to her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the first time since the June 6 accident that severed her spine and rendered her paralyzed from the waist down. She visited the New York City studios of the Today show this morning to talk about the preparations being made in her home to make it wheelchair accessible, and how the accident has changed her spiritual beliefs.

The six-time Olympic champion talked with Matt Lauer about seeing a whitish green hue around me while she laid unconscious in a ravine after being thrown from her all-terrain vehicle June 6. I felt very, very at peace and was just going through it, and then all of a sudden I woke up in the hospital. Was it the tunnel? I dont know.

As she has since the accident, Van Dyken-Rouen is focused on walking again on her own. She recently took steps with the help of a mechanized brace on her legs but said in the Today interview that she wants to run a marathon with her brother.

Watch her interview with Lauer, accompanied by her husband Tom Rouen, in the video player below (courtesy NBC News Today).

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Amy Van Dyken-Rouen Visits Today Show, Discusses Spirituality and Return Home

Health tips, Whole Health, Emotional health through mercy, stress management, Christian Spirituality – Video

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Health tips, Whole Health, Emotional health through mercy, stress management, Christian Spirituality
Health tips, Whole Health, Emotional health through mercy, stress management, Christian Spirituality.

By: Stan Lang

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Health tips, Whole Health, Emotional health through mercy, stress management, Christian Spirituality - Video


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