SPIRITUAL ESSENCE:

Focusing on the essence of spirituality from all times, places, cultures…and beyond. Serving and cultivating the innate, inherent spiritual nature contained within all: the religious, the non-religious, the spiritual but not religious, the atheist, the agnostic, the mystic; whatever one does or does not consider oneself. We are beings at many different levels with many different aspects: physical, energy/life force, mind, intellect, emotion; but at our deepest common core, we are all spiritual beings. We all yearn to love and be loved, to nurture and be nurtured, to express and serve and realize each of our unique destinies. We can all help each other along our individual journeys, united by our common needs and yearnings.


Quote of the Week #156 - Listening/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance

Quote of the Week #156 - Listening/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance


Every one who is thirsty, come and drink. He who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. Let your soul delight in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, that your soul will live…


--Isaiah 55:1-3, The Living Torah translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Quote of the Week #43 - Myth and Mistaken Assumptions


It is tragic that religious fundamentalists, on the one hand; and atheists (including, in particular, Neo-Darwinian fundamentalists) on the other tend to see no further than the literal acceptance of the Bible. Hence they base their hostility to each other regarding religious belief on the mistaken assumption that this is the true and only interpretation.
 

Turning first to the Intuitive aspect: It is unfortunate that neither the Creationist nor the Atheist understands the true meaning of the word ‘Myth’. It has, too often, been mis-represented as ‘Falsehood’. However, in its spiritual meaning ‘Myth’ is a symbolic story or legend used in Scripture to present a moral or wisdom teaching, but; told in the form of language usually used to describe historical events. The correct understanding of Myth is important, for it stems from the archetypal consciousness of Mankind.

--Bill Heilbronn, from The Courage of Uncertainty; A Jewish View of the Continuing Evolution of Faith in the Fields of Religion and Science

Sunday, October 5, 2014

This World and Our Place In It


This World and Our Place In It 


I took a morning walk this past Saturday. I take a morning walk every day, but there was something special in the air this particular morning. The day before, a storm had blown through in the early morning hours, dumping a good bit of rain before moving on around 11 AM. Clearing and sunshine rapidly replaced the grey skies of the storm, but a sharp decrease in temperature heralded in a reminder that Fall had arrived. On this morning, although the temperature remained the coolest since last winter, the skies were still blue and sunny, with widely scattered white clouds. A strong wind once again stirred, and the clouds were whisking across the sky at an unusually rapid pace. It was in this setting that I was taking my morning walk, and the following thoughts began to formulate in my mind, spurred on by a recent video I had seen depicting the activity of our solar system and galaxy as they course through the cosmos.

This world, this universe, this cosmos in which we find ourselves is an extremely complicated mechanism. Collectively, we have spent many lifetimes through the various disciplines of the arts, humanities and sciences exploring and examining this mechanism in attempts to better understand it, ourselves, our place in it, and to use it as a medium through which to express ourselves. These efforts, these expressions, are best served if we connect with the source, the foundation, the essence of it all, from which it all has arisen and continues to arise in constant process. There is a unifying source which is great, awesome, mysterious and simple. It can be accessed, and such access provides us with the broadest and best perspective from which to conduct our lives. To question or doubt our ability to access this source would be akin to questioning/doubting the ability of a fish to access the water in which it swims. We are all immersed in it, totally dependent upon it, and interdependently connected through it. Our explorations sometimes get us confused in the morass of the overwhelming detail and complexity of this mechanism through which we function. That is why it is important to establish, remember and retain contact with the perspective provided by connecting with the simplicity of the origin, of the essence. This perspective of simplicity is a great salve for our confusion. It is important, and even necessary, to conduct our explorations and engage in our expressions through the various avenues we have created. We possess an inherent impulse to do so; it is what supplies us with inspiration, meaning and purpose. Musicians, artists, poets, philosophers, scientists, mystics and people in all walks of life engage and express in a manner unique to their chosen path or field of endeavor. There is no end to such activity. However, it is equally important to establish and maintain connection with our essence, the origin of our activity. It provides us with stability, like an internal gyroscope, lest we wobble, spin out of control and become lost. This is the crux to finding ourselves and establishing the ability to lead productive, fulfilling, enjoyable and joyous lives.