Culture

How "spiritual" can a blog possibly be?

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Someone told me they found Tikkun Daily confusing last week. People usually tell me it’s a beautiful site, so I wanted to know more from her. I took her on a quick tour of the page — the posts, how to follow one contributor by clicking on their byline so all their posts come up, the photos of contributors on the home page, the art gallery, and the links at top right to the magazine articles. I didn’t even get to the themes you can click on in the “tag cloud” in the right hand column (larger words mean more mentions of the word in the tags that we bloggers add to our posts) or other goodies. She said she thought it looked fine and it had probably been her ADD that had made it hard to focus long enough to get it.

Culture

Beast's Burden: Paintings by Christopher Reiger

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“I feel that it’s irresponsible to beat the drums of revolution if you’re only half-informed.” — Christopher Reiger
A small sample of the images of the natural world, or rather the destruction of the natural world, gracing the walls of art spaces today feel like warnings being shouted in hopes that disaster might yet be averted. But so many others appear to reflect cynicism and celebration of cruelty’s surprising beauty, merely revealing how aesthetically interesting it can be to explore the narrative of impending ecological destruction and the doomed existence of animal and plant life. It is a bother to me that I cannot usually decide which is which, or how to feel about either. The recent work of Christopher Reiger is an exception.

Christianity

Karen Armstrong Wants YOU to Teach Compassion

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We may look different, sound different, follow differing doctrines and dogmas, or none at all, but compassion is at the core of the major faiths and ethic systems of our world. The Golden Rule, or some form of it, is found in every major religion and in almost all if not every country on our planet. Karen Armstrong is counting on this unifying ideology to bring together individuals and communities this Friday for the launch of the Charter for Compassion. Here’s a short video about her campaign:
[youtube: video=”DCG4qryy1Dg”]
Last year Armstrong was awarded the TED Prize, which is awarded to three individuals annually — each of whom is chosen for being “a leader in his/her chosen field of work, with an unconventional viewpoint and a vision to transform the world.” Karen Armstrong is considered an authority on comparative religion, focusing on the monotheistic religions, and considers herself a freelance monotheist.

Christianity

Right-wing Christians Celebrate Anti-Abortion Add-on to Health Bill

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The Religious Right is cheering last night’s passage of the Stupak amendment, which threatens women’s reproductive rights by severely limiting insurance companies’ ability to cover the cost of abortions. “This is a huge pro-life victory for women, their unborn children, and families,” announced the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian public policy group that lobbied hard for the amendment. “We applaud this House vote.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also played a major role in persuading lawmakers to adopt the amendment, which 64 House Democrats and 176 Republicans voted to attach in their last-minute wrangles over the Affordable Health Care for America Act. John Nichols raised serious concerns about the Catholic bishops’ involvement, writing this in his post for the Nation:
The tortured final negotiations put serious cracks in Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation” between church and state, as abortion foes such as Pennsylvania Democrat Jason Altmire openly acknowledged that they would not vote for health-care reform legislation unless they were told it was appropriate to do so by Catholic bishops in their home districts.

Culture

Alison Wilder's Earnest Proposal for Material Androgyny

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“To me, art is a commitment to asking questions and proposing alternatives to the status quo. Art should be integrated into life. It is empowering to work with your hands, to understand how elements of your surroundings fit together, and to try to use resources more wisely. That opportunity should be more public than elite.” — Alison Wilder
The immediate response I feel to Alison Wilder’s work is one of play.

Rethinking Religion

Spiritual Wisdom of the Week

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This week’s spiritual wisdom is a poem by Jonathan Granoff, the author, attorney, and peace activist whose writing we have featured several times this year:

Birth
we are part of the whole, but who are we
the road we see from the car of our body/mind/sense/intellect/witness continuum
is inside the one who sees
the road is in the car upon which the car travels
but to what destination
and why make it a journey when the road and its destination are
already present
is the road re
created
is this work or
recreation
is each step a reconfiguration of the whole — past, present, future
is the one who chooses part of the
configuration
ultimately
free
formless
infinite
continually generating infinite possibility
can we still live with joy in the question
does the question diminish certitude
does the question increase wonder and open vision
mystery is not shrouded in darkness but
love and light
mystery beckons not in ignorance but
with wonder and knowing
mystery is not full of fear
but love without diminution
that love does not close the inquiry but it places the questioning within
wonder, peace, tranquility and gratitude
no final answer
only continual
learning
is God a student
with each birth
the student and a fresh
universe
the whole in one
awakens
an awakening mystery
not shrouded in darkness but
love and light
how does one sign these glances

Culture

"Quest" Mentoring, Not Spiritual Direction

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We’ve started a new program named “Quest” at First Unitarian Society (FUS). FUS created Quest in order to help members who want it to develop a deeper commitment to their spiritual journey. Some of the introductory writings about the program describe it as “a journey toward wholeness, holiness, and peace.” It’s a very exciting two-year “pilgrimage,” and I’m blessed to be a part of it as a mentor to two women who are participants. Today one of my partners contacted me.

Judaism

Spiritual Wisdom of the Week

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This wisdom comes from Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, in his book Being God’s Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link Between Spirituality and Your Work. What Is Spirituality Anyway? “The ineffable Name of God: We have forgotten how to pronounce it. We have almost forgotten how to spell it. We may totally forget how to recognize it.”

Rethinking Religion

Spiritual Wisdom of the Week

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For this week’s spiritual wisdom, I’d like to share with you a piece on Jewish mysticism that I wrote for the October 2009 issue of Radical Grace, a publication of the Center for Action and Contemplation. JEWISH MYSTICISM
The Jewish Mystical tradition has as one of its central motifs the notion that God is in need of human beings, and that we are beings who need to be needed in the way that God needs us. What God needs us for is both to be partner and proxy in healing the world. To be God’s partner is an amazing task for humanity. The Kabbalistic text, the Zohar, describes God as the creator of the world in order to share His/Her love with another.