Are you a religious person? Think about it before answering. Oh wait. Scratch that. You may warp your response if you do.
A new study by University of British Columbia scientists has determined that too much contemplation on the subject of one’s religious conviction could actually work to diminish it. Published last week in the esteemed journal Science, the study was undertaken Read full article »
That religion and spirituality are two distinct beasts is fairly well understood now. The former carries with it the whiff of rules and structure, expectation and punishment; the latter is considerably more freeform, and open to as much speculation as anyone can throw at it. But sometimes efforts to simplify such distinctions thus, only serve to further complicate the whole sodden scene.
It was with this perspective in mind that author Shirley Scott tackled the subject in her new book, Religion vs. Spirituality — One Psychic’s Point of View.
So the budget’s dropped, the feds have spoken and the rest of us are left to pluck the pieces off the dance floor. So goes the political paso-doble with which we should all be miserably familiar by now. But how much easier the moves would be if we were partnered with a quick-stepping grasp of spirituality.
Things are crappy right now and everybody knows it. The world’s economy is coming apart like a flaky pastry and there ain’t a Read full article »
“The Internet is the future of spirituality.”
So declared Rainn Wilson, the charismatic American actor best known for his fierce and oblivious portrayal of Dwight Schrute on The Office. The statement, and the heartfelt sentiment he applied to it, apparently caught his audience at a recent public-speaking event a little off guard. Presumably, they had convened at this Austin, Texas, celebrity-flavoured engagement to hear the quirky thespian riff in his characteristic acerbic manner. Instead, they were confronted with the deeply earnest expression of Wilson’s interest in a spiritual life.
If something happens to you in your life and you fail to document your experience Read full article »
It’s an idea whose time has come.
Timebanks, having languished in anticipation of the world’s resounding and grateful acknowledgement for too long, may just be the answer to our current spate of financial woes. Through them, we might redefine our understanding of currency to better reflect the value of those goods and services it purports to represent.
And if we introduce a new economic model for a population profoundly weary of capitalism along the way, well, so much the better.
You gotta give to get. It’s an age-old maxim that finds happy residence in the house of spirituality, where inhabitants have long recognized that the path to abundance is paved with good deeds. The getting, in the instance introduced by MS sufferer Cami Walker, is the reward of personal well-being. And the giving? Well, that’s up to you.
In 2006, just a month after getting married, Walker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In the period to follow, this LA author, only 35, succumbed to bouts of anxiety, depression and drug addiction that left her reeling. She felt, she recounts, useless, and doomed to live a life in which she had no contributions to offer the world. Read full article »
There are many paths to spirituality. While some might find the solace they seek by adopting a map that travels the most conventional of routes, others discover their truest selves in a pottery class. Or between the pages of an Oprah magazine. Or at the mall.
One of the coolest ways in is shamanism, an ancient pseudo-religious phenomenon that folks have been trying to explain for a couple of hundred years. Read full article »
New years are gifts from the gods, granted to harried mortals who’ve burned through the previous 12 months and are hungry for a do-over. The ceremonial turning of the calendar offers as close to that as any of us is likely to get.
It’s why the dawning of 2012, across a landscape that’s pocked with more battle scars and brewing despair than most of us can remember in our lifetime, could not be more welcome.
Best to exploit this next annual stretch by Read full article »
The end of the year looms large, as it does at every end of the year, and the pressure is on for the annual stock-taking to unearth at least some shred of good news. But things are crappy right now and everybody knows it. 2011 is simply not going to be recast as anything remotely pleasant, no matter the number of times we turn it around in our brains.The world’s economy is coming apart like a flaky pastry and there ain’t a baker in the place with a recipe for repair.
News report after news report clocks in with the latest devastation: every day there are Read full article »
