tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76231490924148002212024-02-19T02:33:40.552-05:00Interfaith MessengerThe Interfaith Messenger is the official blog of The New Seminary for Interfaith Studies. We hope that those who visit here will find words and wisdom that will touch their hearts, minds and spirit.The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-55039265336534539212016-09-05T15:17:00.002-04:002016-09-05T15:17:58.315-04:00A Redefining of InterfaithA Redefining of Interfaith<br />
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By: Rev. Jay Speights, D.Min.<br />
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According to a 2014 Pew Research Center Survey, the number of Americans not identifying with any organized religion increased from 35,000, 000 to 56,000,000 or 22.8% of the U.S. population since its 2007 study, putting this group ahead of Catholics and just a few percentage points behind Evangelicals. It is important for us to understand where our burgeoning Interfaith Movement fits among these 56,000,000 Americans not identifying with any organized religion. This group has many labels, the unchurched, nones or unaffiliated.<br />
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The overwhelming majority of the nones might just be like-minded people, who do or could, fit comfortably under contemporary interfaith umbrella. If this were true, this would place us at the nucleus of the 56,000, 000 nones. By attaching ourselves to this larger demographic and being more expansive about our own identity, our Interfaith Approach takes on new meaning. We are larger than we think and perhaps we are entering a new age of enlightenment.<br />
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You could argue the labels like none or unchurched do not capture the essence of who belongs to this group of 56,000,000. Proper labeling for groups and individuals is important and can be diminishing. We see the effects of this everyday. If there is negative intent behind the label or if it does not quite capture the essence what is being labeled, prejudicial filters come into play. By referring to 56,000,00 people as unchurched, nones or unaffiliated is negative labeling and implies that there is something wrong with not identifying with an organized religion. There is an implication that conformity is valued as well as prescriptive living.<br />
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Many of my friends, my interfaith community and this author are part of this 56,000,00. According to the Pew Survey, these 56,000,000 people span all age groups and racial and financial demographics. Surely many of us have received far more than enough admonishments and challenges about our spiritual choice and some have most likely experienced shifts in relationships as well. Religious affiliation is a major part of self identification and community acceptance. It is still broadly assumed by many Americans that everyone should belong to an organized religion and that preferred religion is Christianity.<br />
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Another way to define this group of 56,000,000 is The "Spiritually Liberated". Who are they? The spiritually liberated could be those who have deeply pondered the mystery of creation, the theology of their particular faith tradition, relationship with God and decided that they no longer need to stretch to conform to the demands of a particular religion. They could also include those who have yet to experience God firsthand, and do not find the sacred text of mainstream religions or their theologies either compelling or relevant to their condition and life path. This is probably what comprises the overwhelming majority of this book.<br />
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Let's not forget that globalization has caused cultures and faith traditions to interact more frequently and on a deeper level. Through these encounters, many find reason to question and challenge their religious beliefs and tenets and decide on a new path. The mobility of our globalized society has also resulted in mixed marriages and extended families where a child or children may identify with a religion other than the ones of either parent. Thus creating a household of multiple belongers, where all traditions under the roof are honored and maybe practiced. It is far easier for members of these households to identify as none as far as religious affiliation is concerned.<br />
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There are other important factors to consider. First, some in this group could have found organized religion too confining, not expansive enough and are more purely ecumenical in their beliefs and find truth and wisdom in many religions. There are also the "true seekers" who are on an earnest journey to find a path. Of course there are also those with who are now more than ever, more comfortable with no longer identifying with a faith tradition for the sake of identifying and conforming to fit in with a community and are stepping into their authenticity.<br />
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All of these people are moving towards a form of "Liberating Spirituality”, where there are no interposing middleman such as a the institutional trappings associated with organized religion stretching them with burdensome demands, which creates such an overwhelming inner tension that compels them to separate or risk the total subjugation and diminishment of their Divine Unique Inner Light. In moving into this Liberating Spirituality, they are no longer constrained by the guilt of considering other truths as it relates to God and existence. This Liberating Spirituality is based on a Divine experience calling them to be wholly vested in their uniqueness and a new understanding of creation where many become aware of the unity of all things.<br />
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This Liberating Spirituality is usually based on a Divine experience resulting in a deepening where you become wholly vested in your uniqueness with a new understanding of creation and an awareness of the unity of all things. The spiritually liberated find comfort, guidance, healing, solace and wisdom in the tenets, rituals, sacred texts and practices from many faith traditions, that can be applied in life, spiritual practices and ministry. It is a complete redefinition of Interfaith because it is a departure from a compartmentalized based approach where faith traditions are honored but seen as largely different with some common truths. Liberating spirituality approaches the various faith traditions as uniquely revealed Divine Expressions of universal truths. It is a true celebration of the gifts of diversity.<br />
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The search for sameness is a search for conformity. It implies a need to affirm your truth and that, that truth is the standard for judging all others. This is the basis for most of the global inter-religious tension and conflict. There is no room for diversity in this worldview. It's us against them or Christian against Muslim, Muslim against Jew, etc. Differences become the basis for dialogue and the filter for determining the value of other beliefs. This need to be absolutely right in your truth makes that of any other group wrong and therefore your enemy.<br />
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A search for a different truth, one that may challenge your core beliefs, and to embrace it, is a movement towards what Howard Thurman referred to as "restoring the memory of a lost harmony". This lost harmony is a reference to the Garden of Eden where all things were equal, different and a glorious manifestation of The Grand Divine Design. Eden represents an inner awareness of the unity of all things.<br />
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<br />The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-87029896718705414652015-04-02T11:18:00.000-04:002015-04-02T11:30:03.570-04:00 The Indiana Religious Freedom Bill and LGBTQ discrimination<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The Indiana Religious Freedom Bill and LGBTQ
discrimination<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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By: Edwin Greenlee<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoHN0K1-q9mOPi4Qh8e_iwnj-WJCe14pOFCq1mY6QTG5LgLUVjySNjQ-Ewveziz_AsXQaBduj0NJB2biDz7dC_7nm_YlW2k5FfdH_NzFNq2C23EegBHBvnhhoQuY6Wa0cAeHrtUNM9Gqw/s1600/greenlee_ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoHN0K1-q9mOPi4Qh8e_iwnj-WJCe14pOFCq1mY6QTG5LgLUVjySNjQ-Ewveziz_AsXQaBduj0NJB2biDz7dC_7nm_YlW2k5FfdH_NzFNq2C23EegBHBvnhhoQuY6Wa0cAeHrtUNM9Gqw/s1600/greenlee_ed.jpg" /></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When
the Indiana State legislature passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in
late March of 2015, and Governor Pence signed it, they had no idea the
political firestorm that their actions would cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Social justice groups throughout the country
saw this legislation as a way to use religious belief, ambiguously defined, as
an excuse by some businesses to refuse to serve someone if doing so would “substantially
burden” their deeply held religious beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
the context of the legal struggle around marriage equality, it has been federal
courts, including the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals which is responsible for
Indiana, striking down as unconstitutional state ‘defense of marriage’ laws which
prohibited same sex couples from marrying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a nation we await arguments before the US Supreme Court this month
and the Court’s decision that will most likely be issued in late June. The
question that the Court has charged the attorneys with arguing is whether there
is a constitutional right to same sex marriage under the 14<sup>th</sup>
amendment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
the midst of court action striking down the “Defense of Marriage Acts” (or
DOMAs) throughout the nation, a number of states, beginning with Indiana, has
responded by passing “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” which purportedly
enhance freedom. But in any state that does not <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">explicitly</b> protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination, this new
law would allow individuals and businesses to discriminate and those
individuals and businesses that discriminate would be protected by the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Such
laws are full of ambiguities and difficulties. Different actors and actions
would burden a person’s “religious beliefs” if they were a Unitarian
Universalist, a progressive Reform Jew, a member of the United Church of Christ
or the Society of Friends (Quaker) than if they were a member of fundamentalist
nondenominational Christian Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Often laws like this assume that religious individuals are conservative,
Christian, biblical literalists who oppose same sex marriage and a woman’s
right to choose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
what about individuals who profess a progressive religious faith that is burdened
daily by racial and gender discrimination, governmental cuts in our social
safety net programs, and by an economic system that is dramatically
unequal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Religious individuals and the
values they hold encompass a wide range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the sphere of religion, government has no business in choosing those
whose values will be supported and those whose values will be ignored or
suppressed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">America
has a long history of the separation of church / religion and the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both church and state suffer from
entanglement. While freedom of religion allows you and me to affirm particular
religious values, it does not allow either of us to enshrine our beliefs into
law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Particularly if doing so would
discriminate against other individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many political pundits see the Indiana law, and similar bills in
Arkansas, Georgia, and a number of other states, as concessions to the political
far right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
we have seen since Governor Pence signed SB-568 into law, no one is happy with
these laws. Most prominently, not only are LBGBTQ advovacy groups showing their
displeasure but so are large businesses like Apple, sporting groups like
NASCAR, church groups like the Disciples of Christ, and even Angie’s List.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discrimination of any sort is bad for
business. It is bad for communities and states and nations. It is bad for America.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And discrimination is particularly bad
for churches and other religious organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
some commentators point out, discrimination of all sorts have employed the
rhetoric of religious freedom. </span></span></span>Wake Forest Law Professor Michael Kent Curtis found that “many segregationists justified racial bigotry on the very same grounds that religious conservatives now hope to justify anti-gay animus. In the words of one professor at a prominent Mississippi Baptist institution, “our Southern segregation way is the Christian way . . . . [God] was the original segregationist.” [1] When twenty-first century religion builds on a history of discrimination in America and allies itself with politicians from the right, more and more Americans will come to the conclusion that organized religion is more about discrimination and hate than love and justice. That is NOT a comfortable place for Americans in 2015. Religious leaders and individuals of all faith traditions need to offer dignity to everyone; to embrace those who society casts to its margins; and to strive for a world of equality where the ugliness of discrimination is something to read about in a history book, not to create in our communities and our nation today. </div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1] Michael Kent Curtis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Unique Religious Exemption From Antidiscrimination Laws in the Case
of Gays? Putting the Call for Exemptions for Those Who Discriminate Against
Married or Marrying Gays in Contex</i>t, Wake Forest Law Review, 2012, http://wakeforestlawreview.com/2012/04/a-unique-religious-exemption-from-antidiscrimination-laws-in-the-case-of-gays-putting-the-call-for-exemptions-for-those-who-discriminate-against-married-or-marrying-gays-in-context/<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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program at The New Seminary and co-editor with Rev. Nathan C. Walker of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whose God Rules? </i></span></span></span>Is the United States a Secular Nation or a Theolegal Democracy published by Plagrave/McMillan. He is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. With a law degree, and an academic background in social science, Ed is particularly interested in questions of religion and the state in the contemporary US.<br /><br /> <br /></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-41201678037655592832014-01-06T22:02:00.001-05:002014-01-06T22:03:04.153-05:00Returning to the Circle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="goog_1327128069"></span><span id="goog_1327128070"></span><span id="goog_272309283"></span><span id="goog_272309284"></span><br />
<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over a year ago, I asked myself how I, an interfaith minister, might help young women to gain access to the wisdom that once was shared around the kitchen table, at the quilting bee or by the campfire. I pondered the question, praying and meditating on it for several weeks. Then, in the wee hours of the morning while still dreaming, it came to me. Gather women together and <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/380405" target="_blank">write a book</a>!</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The answer was so simple! Of course write a book, this is what I do - (besides teaching and ministering) - I write. So, I began with gathering quotes for 30 days of affirmations. The quotes were from women around the world from as many cultures as I could find. Then, I called upon some of my "Sisters of the Soul" to write a essay for each of the sections in the book.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The essays are amazing tidbits of true wisdom, written from the heart. After editing, arranging and re-editing, I finally decided the manuscript was ready. One problem, who would publish such a tome?</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once again, I did what we ministers do, I prayed and meditated, waiting for an answer from the Divine. Sure enough, a few days later, it came to me to self-publish an e-book. </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Researching how to do that was a bit of a task, but with help from some knowledgeable friends, it happened.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, what does this have to do with interfaith ministry? </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My answer is - a lot! As interfaith ministers, we are called to minister to the world around us. Individuals come from all faith-paths or none at all. Meeting them where they are is key to our ministry. What better way to meet girls and young women today than through the World Wide Web and e-technology?</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Returning to the Circle is not about getting back to the kitchen or the quilting or the fire. This book is a call to join the circle of women in the virtual space of e-books, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have so much we can share! Healing begins with reaching out and sometimes reaching out happens across the World Wide Web, because that is where we find those in pain.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I say in the introduction of Returning to the Circle, “I pray that those who read and use this book will be blessed by the words - the wisdom - of the women who appear on these pages. May they help to guide, inspire and affirm who you are and why you are in this life.” </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://contemplativeed.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Rev. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas</a> is a graduate of The New Seminary (2013). She is a writer/poet and educator. Returning to the Circle can be found on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Returning-Circle-Inspirational-Wisdom-Women-ebook/dp/B00H0FV6R4" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.</span> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span id="goog_1327128069"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></b></span></span>The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-20266394548212512022013-10-01T21:19:00.000-04:002013-10-01T21:20:08.368-04:00Taking Your Spirit to the Workplace<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Many people, who have a strong spiritual foundation, have struggled with how to bring that spirit to work and survive the dramas of the workplace. Often times, the pace of the day dictated by the completion of targeted goals sets the stage for chaos to occur the minute we arrive on the job. Long commutes coupled with workplace dramas can leave us shortsighted and short-tempered, which only adds to the chaos of the day. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">While taking a more peaceful spirit to the workplace should seem natural and easy to those who nurture their spiritual nature on a regular basis, we know that it is far easier said than done. When it comes to the workplace, it seems a there are a variety of catalysts that can easily rock us off of our spiritual foundation in a matter of seconds. Subsequently, we react rather than respond, using words and behaviors that escalate the situation rather than bring a spirit of peacefulness instead. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Perhaps understanding the impact our words and actions can have on others would help us make a more concerted effort to choose more favorable routes to a harmonious workplace. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">During a UCLA study on the impact love can have on pain, it was discovered that the brain was flooded with dopamine when a person saw someone they loved or experienced the feeling of being loved. Most importantly, it was discovered that it takes 5 positive comments to every negative comment to keep the brain in a positive state; demonstrating the impact we can have on others just through our choice of words. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Think about someone at work that you perceive as having a negative attitude. Now, think about how often that individual receives positive versus negative comments from others each day. More importantly, how many of those favorable comments can be attributed to your efforts? </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The ripple effect of throwing the stone in the water is the same as tossing the first ‘unkind’ or ‘kind’ comment into the workplace. Whether those words are spoken directly to the individual or are shared with others about an individual is irrelevant. Negative and positive comments have an impact that can be far outreaching. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There’s a wonderful line in one of the songs from <i>Les Miserables</i> that says, <span style="color: #741b47;"><i>"to see another person is to see the face of God."</i></span> If we were to see the people we work with in this same light each day, we would have a powerful and favorable impact on the workplace. Doing so would make our days easier while impacting the life of another human being. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The idea is not to imply that lunch hours will be spent singing <i>Kumbaya,</i> but rather, to be realistic in understanding the role you play in the chaos that ensues each day. If you know that positive comments fuel favorable brain functioning in another human being, then choose your words wisely. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On some level, we all know how our words and actions affect people and how a spiritual approach to life improves the quality of our experiences. But this is about more than that. This is about understanding how our words and actions alter a person’s mind and can in turn affect us favorably. It’s as though you are sending the boomerang of positive efforts out and can count on it being returned. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Spirituality is defined as <span style="color: #741b47;"><i>"an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being;"</i></span> or the <i><span style="color: #741b47;">“deepest values and meanings by which people live."</span></i> An increase in spiritual practices has been proven to have a favorable impact on reducing anxiety, stress, depression and work-related absenteeism. Our decision to show up in a spiritual way each day can and will make a difference. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There are no guarantees that our positive words and actions will change the way another human being responds to us or to others. However, we do know that it will change how their brain responds and have an improved physical affect. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What matters most is that we make a conscious choice to bring our inherent good to the world every day and that includes the workplace. Each of us must do our part in order to optimize the impact! </span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9R4lctKnEQW6TkMQPgtE6jxUgCgZ6atYK_4pPChmTgKfgRHe4AD85jOF3IfGtlvwd1-7QTh5xBgTOhpXgDKFAJOEXaXSZJxwQJT0wotRndwielNwyyoND-71m0UD1gaaJ8FK9SniUIZ0/s1600/Contact_Nancy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9R4lctKnEQW6TkMQPgtE6jxUgCgZ6atYK_4pPChmTgKfgRHe4AD85jOF3IfGtlvwd1-7QTh5xBgTOhpXgDKFAJOEXaXSZJxwQJT0wotRndwielNwyyoND-71m0UD1gaaJ8FK9SniUIZ0/s200/Contact_Nancy.jpg" width="160" /></a><span style="color: #a64d79;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Reverend Nancy
Mercurio is a TNS Alumni, internationally televised speaker, author and
executive coach, who has worked globally since 1995<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> to
assist leaders in driving individual and organization effectiveness through
improved behaviors. She is President and Founder of <a href="http://www.leadershiptrainingsys.com/nancy%20mercurio.htm" target="_blank">Leadership Training SystemsInc.</a> and is the Co-Founder of Together In Peace Inc. a global mission for
peaceful practices that launches in November, 2013.</span></b></span></i></span></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-53476390494088451702013-05-27T14:31:00.002-04:002013-05-27T14:32:44.820-04:00Dr. Theodore Richards Honored<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">New Seminary's faculty member, Dr. Theodore Richards was honored recently with not one, but two awards for his writing. Homebound Publishing announced within weeks of each other that <i>Cosmosophia </i>was awarded the Nautilus Gold Medal and that <i>The Crucifixion </i>won the IPPY Bronze Medal.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq05zAgnx4OhaaSj_lHnZhyphenhyphennP_GrPS2M5cGzM2bF_jbLhAakLCg1vMeeZyUg21G-nUB-SruV5X3eNQS7nH5GS2_OdumfwU7Nghwz4o6ZtcV3OTwtLkmetfB6cGLMacFJPDSQdMDj38Ftw/s1600/Publication1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq05zAgnx4OhaaSj_lHnZhyphenhyphennP_GrPS2M5cGzM2bF_jbLhAakLCg1vMeeZyUg21G-nUB-SruV5X3eNQS7nH5GS2_OdumfwU7Nghwz4o6ZtcV3OTwtLkmetfB6cGLMacFJPDSQdMDj38Ftw/s320/Publication1.jpg" width="207" /></a></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Theologian and author Matthew Fox said that </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><span class="dquo">“</span>Theodore Richards is a unique and gifted
social activist, one with a well nourished brain as well as
a conscience. His commitment to inner city youth wounded as so many
are by a culture that prefers consumption to compassion and
preaches couchpotatoitism over creativity, he has spent years
bringing alive the potential of young people in finding their
in-depth selves and their place in our amazing universe. In
a previous generation someone of Theodore’s depth and integrity
might have worked out his vocation in a monastery. In our time, he
finds his way in the urban world of struggle and promise, despair and
hope. He is a philosopher-activist who listens deeply and walks his
talk. What he is learning is worth our all listening to.” </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i> </i><i><u><a href="http://hiraethpress.com/store/books/cosmosophia/"><i>Cosmosophia:
Cosmology, Mysticism and the Birth of a New Myth</i></a></u> </i>is a guide for all those who are learning to connect to their inner wisdom<i>. </i>There is no wonder that this book won the Nautilus Gold Medal, an award shared by such notable authors as Deepak Chopra, Barbara Kingsolver, Mathew
Fox, Eckhart Tolle and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEALbXyTxirbC-jwsY8wNvqdheZtRXt-kEThv9oVPHxxslofXUJRD5ZnU0zExKcmUxwjdW0x-v2-uH9mSjX5iWDV782IsWllncQuwMU7WMPmXNKB_x9tbFTg1yYOeDCTG6LWa9qUdSDCc/s1600/Crucifixion_medal_sm1-191x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEALbXyTxirbC-jwsY8wNvqdheZtRXt-kEThv9oVPHxxslofXUJRD5ZnU0zExKcmUxwjdW0x-v2-uH9mSjX5iWDV782IsWllncQuwMU7WMPmXNKB_x9tbFTg1yYOeDCTG6LWa9qUdSDCc/s1600/Crucifixion_medal_sm1-191x300.jpg" /></a><i> <a href="http://homeboundpublications.com/our-authors/theodore-richards-2/" target="_blank">The Crucifixion</a> </i>is "a modern American myth," which takes readers on a journey through the Deep South and into urban America. This epic journey reflects both Old and New Testament stories, but creates a new, modern perspective from which the reader may relate.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"I was moved emotionally by The Crucifixion. …In today’s rapidly changing world, the ability of individuals, families, and communities to live with hope and purpose is essential, but according to my observations, too rare," said author, Wayne Gustafson, (Community of Promise: The Untold Story of Moses). "The characters demonstrate how ordinary people can live extraordinary lives that exude the power to transform those around them.”
</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The IPPY Bronze Medal is an Independent Publishers award, which is given yearly.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Congratulations, Dr. Ted! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Written by Ord. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas</span> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><br />
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-14478722923900458242013-04-02T18:42:00.001-04:002013-04-02T18:59:16.651-04:00Just Released: 7 Days With Adam<br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNRqSvFaP-QiAAsBBLv7ZZ_rxH4auDxmb8ijmEkqPr2oBi06mfeawIR_IF-rcg78XhSgXIESZ0ebz4bcVMhR1v-mWA6NTEAkM5Oh6_uyxKHo0VA4wOS3dQgxdvjToZvdOp96t_SkcbuQ/s1600/00193b14815c7d6c0accd9793ef27c2aa214f581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNRqSvFaP-QiAAsBBLv7ZZ_rxH4auDxmb8ijmEkqPr2oBi06mfeawIR_IF-rcg78XhSgXIESZ0ebz4bcVMhR1v-mWA6NTEAkM5Oh6_uyxKHo0VA4wOS3dQgxdvjToZvdOp96t_SkcbuQ/s320/00193b14815c7d6c0accd9793ef27c2aa214f581.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Rev. James Speights' new book, <i><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/299244" target="_blank">7 Days With Adam</a> </i>has just been published. Many will recognize author, Rev. Speights, as the Director of The New Seminary; however, he is also a chaplain and spiritual coach. No stranger to the printed word, Rev. Speights has been a </span></b></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">contributor to The Washington Times Online Edition and
religionandspirituality.com, "<i>where he provided social, spiritual, and
political commentary focused on getting people to interact and relate on
a higher level.</i>" </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What I enjoyed about this spiritual odyssey was the give and take between author and Adam. The conversation flows naturally and provides the reader with insight into the difficult questions people have in connection to the traditions of yesterday and our visions for tomorrow. I found myself pulled into the story and could easily apply Adam's suggestions to my own life. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i> </i> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I agree that <i>7 Days With Adam</i> is a "<i>brilliantly crafted work about Adam, the first man, who visits the author and shatters many of his core beliefs about God, creation, the basic nature of humans and this world. He has astonishing revelations about his and Eve's real legacy. After the 7 day visit, he leaves the author enlightened with actual exercises, prayers and meditative techniques that we can all use to access our Divine Inner Power and achieve mastery in our lives. This book is a testament to the value of storytelling in spirituality, and to disciplined spiritual practice, as well as being attuned to the Higher Self and Divine Inner Light that is in all of us.</i>"</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">by Ord. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Rev. Speights' book is available at </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Days-With-Adam-Jay-Speights/dp/1626202605/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1_3MTK">http://www.amazon.com/Days-With-Adam-Jay-Speights/dp/1626202605/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1_3MTK</a> </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Barnes and Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/7-days-with-adam-jay-speights/1114967700?ean=9781626202603">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/7-days-with-adam-jay-speights/1114967700?ean=9781626202603</a> </span></b></span><br />
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<br />The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-52825922404645233922013-02-11T10:14:00.000-05:002013-02-11T10:52:21.481-05:00Holy Days of February<div style="text-align: right;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVacWnQ-3rv_M1HP14pGEzff1ECS83gT-eYDYCKKqSapu190qO1cTWe2rXsEwXzVnm7c9kUrzrwncG0_-kSR5ZGyb6ZkSY7Fzh4FPWYRd6uXEeQ_0qsDb58jLiFk0LngGCRBA8ogzzC18/s1600/483px-Religions_4x5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVacWnQ-3rv_M1HP14pGEzff1ECS83gT-eYDYCKKqSapu190qO1cTWe2rXsEwXzVnm7c9kUrzrwncG0_-kSR5ZGyb6ZkSY7Fzh4FPWYRd6uXEeQ_0qsDb58jLiFk0LngGCRBA8ogzzC18/s320/483px-Religions_4x5.png" width="257" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">February is full of religious feasts and observances. This
is a powerful week. It would be interesting to know what days some of
you will observe this week or what day or days you are drawn to. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For me,
I always observe Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. I have strong Roman
Catholic roots. The Chinese New Year is also important because we
celebrate it in my Kung Fu Community. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #741b47;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">February 10</span> -</span></b></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><i> Transfiguration Sunday</i> - <b>Christian - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">Christian
commemoration of the experience on Mt Tabor when Jesus' physical
appearance became brilliant as his connection with traditional Jewish
holy figures became evident to the disciples.</span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 10</b> - <i>Chinese New Year</i> - <b>Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">Begins
a fifteen Day Festival for Chinese people of all religions. Family
reunions with thanksgiving and remembrance of departed relatives take
place. Traditionally a religious ceremony honors Heaven and Earth.</span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 12</b> - </span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><i>Shrove Tuesday</i> - <b>Christian - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">carnival
day on the eve of Ash Wednesday which begins Lent, a time of fasting
and devotions. Pancakes are often served. It is also known as Fat
Tuesday in some places. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 13</b> - </span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><i>Ash Wednesday</i> - Lent begins through March 23<b> - Christian - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">Christian observance to begin the 40 day season of Lent. Ashes are marked on worshipers as a sign of penitence.</span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 14</b> - </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><i>Nirvana Day</i> ** - <b>Buddhist </b></span>- a regional observance of the death of the Buddha.</span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 14</b> - <i>St. Valentine's Day</i> - <b>Christian</b></span></span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 15</b> - </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><i>Vasant Panchami </i>** - </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>Hindu</b> - </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0); font-weight: normal;">celebration dedicated to Saraswati, goddess of learning.</span> </span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 15</b> -<i> Nirvana</i> ** - <b>Jain - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">means final release from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Jainism#Causes_of_karmic_bondage" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Karma in Jainism">karmic bondage</a>. <b> </b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 24</b> - <i>Purim</i> * - <b>Jewish - </b></span>Jewish
celebration of the deliverance of the Jewish minority in Persia from
genocide. Charity to the poor, sharing food with friends, and vigorous
merrymaking mark the observance.</span></span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><b>February 24</b> - <i>Triodion begins</i> - <b>Orthodox Christian - </b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">Orthodox Christian time period leading up to Lent. The liturgy involves hymns, odes and scriptures.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An asterisk (*) indicates that the observance begins at sundown the prior evening</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Written by Rev. Jay Speights, TNS </span></span><br />
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-27216515799004528872013-01-07T12:29:00.000-05:002013-01-07T12:32:13.929-05:00Respect : Gone to the dogs?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dog_fishes_at_Tinsley_canal_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1780553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: Dog fishes at Tinsley canal Small dog..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="219" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Dog_fishes_at_Tinsley_canal_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1780553.jpg/300px-Dog_fishes_at_Tinsley_canal_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1780553.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dog_fishes_at_Tinsley_canal_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1780553.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Recently, I heard a news report that Buddha was a
popular name for puppies in America. This seemed odd to me at first. I was
curious about why someone would name a dog, Buddha. So, I did a little research
on the subject, and it was true. Not only is Buddha a popular name for puppies,
but it is also recommended on several sites on the Internet as a great name.<br />
<br />
After some reflection, I determined that this was disrespectful and offensive.
There are 450 million Buddhists, which would make theirs the fourth largest
religion in the world. I am assuming that for them, the name Buddha, which
means "Enlightened One," is spiritually significant; therefore,
should be revered. <br />
<br />
Now, I have had some smart pooches in my life. One, named Champ, could hold a
can of beer in his front paws and roll over on his back and guzzle it down.
Another memorable and much loved dog of mine, named Kai, demonstrated an
exceptional capacity to comprehend at least 100 words. According to my
research, many experts think this is pretty impressive.<br />
<br />
My current dog, Snoop, is perhaps the most loving being that I have ever met. I
know you could care less about the furry friends in my life; however, point I
am trying to make is that no matter how cute, lovable and smart my dogs are or
were, I could in no way refer to any of them as "Enlightened One."<br />
<br />
I wonder how many Buddhists have named their dog Jesus or Christ. It's a sure
bet that if one did this in some parts of America, he or she would know
immediately how one's Christian neighbors felt about it. Can you imagine a
peaceful, mild-mannered Buddhist in a dog park in some Bible Belt town
shouting, "Here, Jesus, come on boy, get over here."<br />
<br />
At the very least, he or she more than likely would be subjected to some verbal
abuse and in some instances might be physically assaulted.<br />
<br />
Why is it so easy for many of us in this country to devalue the sacred values
and traditions of others, while assuming that ours are superior? Is it because
we are geographically isolated and an overwhelmingly Christian country? Even
though the United States is becoming ethnically and religiously more diverse,
there seems to be an abiding ignorance by many of us about who and what is
occupying the rest of this planet.<br />
<br />
This is why the events of Sept. 11, 2001, made it clear to many Americans, for
the first time, that some groups and countries have a deep-seated hatred for
us, and that our Christian and democratic values are not desired or coveted by
all.<br />
<br />
We have to realize that the majority of this world is non-Christian and
non-white, as well. Additionally, not everybody is jealous of democracy. This
vacuum of arrogance and ignorance that we live in has not served us well,
rather, has created many of the domestic and global problems with which we struggle
today.<br />
<br />
We have to learn how to view and operate in this world without our biased
filters, and stop assuming that our values and traditions are desired or
coveted by all. More importantly, it is thoughtless acts like naming a dog
Buddha, or a football team the Redskins, that create unnecessary friction and
hostility, which disrupt communities and foster hatred and violence.<br />
<br />
— — — <br />
<br />
<i>Rev. Jay Speights</i><i>, is an
interfaith minister, Director and main United Nations representative for The New Seminary
in New York. You can learn more about his work at <u><a href="http://www.newseminary.org/">The New Seminary
website</a></u>. His email address is jayspeights@newseminary.org </i></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>©
copyright 2007 by Jay Speights</i></span></b></span> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=6f022cb1-17c3-464e-afb7-67d7a2c531a0" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-63882137616395349712013-01-02T17:04:00.001-05:002013-01-02T17:11:22.013-05:00We Are the Change<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewYearsResolution1915FirstPostcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: New Year's Resolutions postcard" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="458" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/NewYearsResolution1915FirstPostcard.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="286" /></a></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 286px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">English: New Year's Resolutions postcard (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewYearsResolution1915FirstPostcard.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Every January 1st, millions of people
around the world make resolutions to give up, do without, change, recreate,
and/or begin something. They look back on the past year, see the areas in their
lives that could have been better, could have been more, could have been
happier and resolve to make it so in the year ahead.<br />
<br />
One problem, usually, is that most of these resolutions suddenly fizzle out
around mid-February. Why?<br />
<br />
I believe it is because they are made without the recognition that in order to
bring about true change, one must remove the root of whatever it is that is
causing the problem. For instance, we can try to lose weight, but, if we don't
recognize and change our behavior - i.e., realize that we eat when stressed -
then we will only resort back to that behavior.<br />
<br />
After fifty some odd years of resolutions, I have decided to approach
resolutions from a different angle this year. Instead of changing something
about me - weight, attitude, etc. - I would begin by taking away a root of my
issues. In other words, I am weeding my spiritual garden.<br />
<br />
The best way to do this, I feel, is to begin adding to my time spent in
reflection, meditation, communion and prayer. This year, I am creating, mindfully
and deliberately, Sacred Space for the observance of Sabbath. As I have already
stated in a past post, Sabbath does not have to be observed on Saturday or
Sunday. Sabbath is any time you intentionally shut out the world of consumerism
and materialism and connect with Spirit.<br />
<br />
You see, I hypothesize that by observing an intentional Sabbath, the root of my
problems, issues, and/or lack will disappear, or at least become something that
I can cope with without becoming filled with fear and despair. The reason for
this is that when we connect to Spirit, we are given Grace...this Grace brings
Wisdom, Strength, Courage and the ability to do the things we are called to do.<br />
<br />
President Obama said, "Change will not come if we wait for some other
person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the
change that we seek.” If we spend time with Spirit, with the Divine, with our
Creator, then, we will see and have the strength to do those things we must to
make this world a better place.<br />
<br />
May the year ahead be filled with Light, Love and Laughter. May there be enough
rain to create rainbows and bring flowers to life. May storms pass over without
lasting damage. And, may each of us see that we are enough, that we are loved
and that we have all we need, now.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">By <a href="http://contemplativeed.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Linda M. Rhinehart Neas</a> - TNS 2013</span></span> </span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=a7cfe4cd-a4ec-415f-8161-7c0ded1ed136" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-5576988461474035502012-12-14T11:46:00.002-05:002012-12-14T11:47:08.147-05:00Tradition - A Personal Reflection<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38442877@N00/7592214174" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="World's Religious Traditions" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="400" src="http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7133/7592214174_ba54d5637b_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="351" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 211px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">World's Religious Traditions (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38442877@N00/7592214174" target="_blank">Micah68</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Webster's defines "tradition" as: 1. the handing down of
statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to
generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice; 2. something that is handed
down; 3. a long established or inherited way of thinking or acting; 4. a
continuing pattern of cultural beliefs or practices; ...The definition goes on
for several more explanations, but I think you get the idea.<br />
<br />
Growing up, we had a few traditions. Some were so entrenched in our lives that
we didn't realize they were traditions until we stopped practicing them. Things
like, Wednesday was spaghetti night; Saturday, we had beans and franks; and on
Sundays, we usually had a sit-down meal at around 2 o'clock. We called it
dinner, which cracks my daughters up every time I ask, "So what's for
dinner?" They call it supper.<br />
<br />
Other traditions were explained in sincere, one-on-one talks, like when my Mom
told me why we went to church on Sunday or why we didn't put the Baby Jesus in
the crèche until Christmas morning.<br />
<br />
As my children grew, I practiced some of these traditions without much thought;
they were simply conditioned responses to the stimuli of a particular time of
year. Perhaps it is getting older and having grandchildren that bring me to
this place of reflection. </span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <br />
My parents had a tradition that each year, when decorating the tree, they
always put up a red and gold-trimmed ribbon before anything else went on the
tree. The ribbon was from the first Christmas after they were married. This
little bedraggled ribbon was their only decoration that year. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggP_G4GT3CUDqt6bIisI0udJ1kQk1ca7JWBKTXafcI-oPBwFJcepnohvy5AM-cUeXWFS9rbT2H1KfhREO0zrpW_ov1KU-mnpYtYCLnRf4xLSLemUmaXQv0EHl3avV9MTJ8ivhgW91S0LQ/s1600/snow+people+collection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggP_G4GT3CUDqt6bIisI0udJ1kQk1ca7JWBKTXafcI-oPBwFJcepnohvy5AM-cUeXWFS9rbT2H1KfhREO0zrpW_ov1KU-mnpYtYCLnRf4xLSLemUmaXQv0EHl3avV9MTJ8ivhgW91S0LQ/s320/snow+people+collection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> <br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Upon further reflection, I realized
that as the holy/holidays arrive, I planned to do what my parents and teachers
taught to do without realizing it was a learned response. This has made me stop
to look more closely at the reasons for each tradition, weeding out the ones
that no longer serve a useful purpose or have lost their meaning and focusing
in on the ones that are truly significant to my family and me. As Karen Armstrong
writes in her book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Case for God</i>, “…if
a ritual no longer evokes a profound conviction of life’s ultimate value, (we)
simply abandon it.”<br />
<br />
Therefore, with careful consideration, we put candles in our windows, not
because folks seem to be returning to the days of lighting up their homes, but
as a simple reminder that the Light still shines bright in a world of darkness.
I love the symbolism of the candle and have used it often in my teaching and
ministry. The simplicity of its message of Light and Illumination is powerful.<br />
<br />
We will put up a tree. I didn't have a tree several Christmases ago, and I
won't ever do that again. I found it to be very depressing. Our tree is
artificial - our contribution to the environment on many levels: more living
trees left to clean the air, less pollution from dead trees being burned or
thrown into dumps. The tree is symbolic of Life and Hope. "Ever"
green, it reminds us that Life goes on from season to season.<br />
<br />
Along with decorating the tree, I will decorate the inside and outside of the
house. Outside, there will be fresh greens, red berries hung with ribbons on
the door and light posts. Inside, there will be vignettes of angels (I love my
angels...they remind me that I am never alone.) and snow people, which reminds
me to stay child-like...full of expectation, hope and wonder.<br />
</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2I8AG5N-z-toNd__rAVQ-O8_WE0ooNHFUrYcmgue-kvItoPJHTIh-HSdZm2qaW8DkXBoX7qpucqJB6JJavlrKfLm37CpfsY3n5hjCWVUL187jMQtuemCj3BtpJrLVg-cUoisIuoQm0SOl/s1600-h/snow+people+collection.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> <br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We will send greetings, but only to the
friends and family, who we won't see over the next few months. However, if this
isn’t done before the end of December, I am not going to stress out. Letters/cards
will be sent within the first few weeks of the New Year. (Once I got wrapped
around taking care of babies, working, etc. and didn't send them until April!)<br />
<br />
Another tradition we have scaled down greatly is gift giving. Both Roger and I
felt the need to go back to the times when gifts were small and meaning-filled,
usually homemade, and always, personal. Again, as a way to help give to the
world, many of our gifts are fair trade.<br />
<br />
Finally, we have several crèches (manger scenes). After all, this is why I
celebrate the holy days, for which I make no apologies. I find it sad that so
many feel the need to apologize to the world for practicing what they believe
in. My feeling is that no matter what your faith tradition, you should be able
to celebrate and share it with others.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzJD06yWu6RvJRcENaSsQFyG0sTFo-5WkEGjMOI8jblaPxge-YXmrt28RtX-4yHRWlkZXAU04oH13_e8LIQRWkqEyOoubHheHfNTsIyuEruQvaV4ZYM0TDE8YhR7ySkeiN4ocxJdS2kg/s1600/DSCN8830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzJD06yWu6RvJRcENaSsQFyG0sTFo-5WkEGjMOI8jblaPxge-YXmrt28RtX-4yHRWlkZXAU04oH13_e8LIQRWkqEyOoubHheHfNTsIyuEruQvaV4ZYM0TDE8YhR7ySkeiN4ocxJdS2kg/s320/DSCN8830.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I follow the tradition begun when my girls were small. The Baby will be
hidden until Christmas morning and, God willing that my mind doesn't go on
vacation, I will find Him and place Him in the manger before we do anything
else.<br />
<br />
These will be the traditions that Roger and I follow. However, my daughters are
now all of an age where they are developing their own traditions. I have
watched with interest as they sort out the traditions they wish to keep. I try
to remain neutral to their decisions. After all, it is their lives. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Last year, I was thrilled to hear one of my granddaughters recite the
Chanukah prayer and light the Menorah that Roger made for my daughter and her
family. They are a blended family, observing both Christian and Jewish
traditions.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWHARXqWJIOenfHAv5Gk9ITk99hqeRtP9jxzpYWZIuqp3Vkxj8IySqodKMJEEhmSIYyN7N1eNsYWyLPLO6Sp2BMp0DbkVGa06ufZl95q0sh9CbVUPD7jd1abg2AazDJNO3ZWcan-Cio58/s1600/DSCN8982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWHARXqWJIOenfHAv5Gk9ITk99hqeRtP9jxzpYWZIuqp3Vkxj8IySqodKMJEEhmSIYyN7N1eNsYWyLPLO6Sp2BMp0DbkVGa06ufZl95q0sh9CbVUPD7jd1abg2AazDJNO3ZWcan-Cio58/s320/DSCN8982.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
In closing, I pray that as we keep time-honored traditions or create new ones, on
whatever spiritual path we follow during this season of Light and Love, that
our lives and those close to us be enriched. May we be reminded of the many
blessings we all have, the many sacrifices of those who came before us, and the
many dreams for a world of Peace that we all hope for today and each day into the
New Year.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By Linda M. Rhinehart Neas - Second Year Ordinand at TNS </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"></span></div>
<br />
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-36430605690293414202012-12-02T06:41:00.000-05:002012-12-02T06:41:46.368-05:00The Word Made Flesh<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/3094745339" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="The Many Faces of Christmas - Shaped Wooden Pu..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="256" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/3094745339_49b55d6510_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 240px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Many Faces of Christmas - Shaped Wooden Puzzle from Sri Lanka (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/3094745339" target="_blank">mharrsch</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> "The Word became flesh, and lived among us.” –John 1:14 </span></b></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“Are magazines getting trashier and trashier, or am I just becoming a grumpy old fart?” I asked the cashier in a St. Paul, Minnesota convenience store, gesturing toward the racks of periodicals. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“Well, sir,” she deadpanned, “both of those things could be true.” </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Those of us with Incarnational, or “God with skin on” religions–Christians, Vaishnavas, anyone who organizes life around the idea that God could appear in a form at once divine and human– shouldn’t, theoretically, be in the business of setting up false dichotomies. At the very least, we ought to be comfortable with paradox. We should be both/and people in and either/or world. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Nevertheless, because the urge to parse distinctions–to say “this, but not that”–is as strong in us as in everyone else, we are sucked into the either-or-ness of it all. In so doing, we lose the subversive power of putting things together that the world wants to keep separate. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Saints and sinners, for example -“Good people” expect other “good people” to give “bad people” a wide berth. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” the Pharisees and Torah scribes asked Jesus’ disciples.[i] Whom one sat down to eat with was very serious business in ancient Israel. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jesus answered:
<i>Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.[ii]</i> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Nevertheless, I suspect Jesus knew there was no right answer with these people. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him–a glutton and a drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’[iii] </span></b></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So not only did Jesus hang out with undesirables, He also liked to eat and drink, apparently. Moreover, while this fact offended the scribes and Pharisees, it positively scandalized later generations of theologians. Origen (c. 185–254 CE) for instance–who in many ways is one of my heroes–only grudgingly admitted that Jesus ate and drank at all, while insisting that He did it in a way unique to Himself, in which the food “did not pass from His body.” </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The idea that the incarnate God didn’t poop brings us to another false dichotomy: the “spirit” vs. “the flesh.” </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The idea that the two are at war simply does not appear in the Hebrew Bible, and the few New Testament passages on which the idea is based are generally misunderstood. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For instance, Paul’s famous instruction to the Roman church to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” [iv] must be understood in the context of a movement that believed the end of the world was imminent. Paul therefore encouraged Christians to remain single and celibate, in the belief that there was no future in founding a family (or anything else.) </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is with later theologians like Origen and Augustine, mostly North African and under the influence of Plato, who began the long process of driving a wedge between “the spirit” and “the flesh”–a process that continues to this day. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Yoga begins and ends with an understanding of the body that is, to say the very least, at odds with the Christian understanding. Christians are not called to…see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine [...] The physical is the spiritual in yoga, and the exercises and disciplines of yoga are meant to connect with the divine.</i> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Christianity certainly does distinguish between “spirit” and “flesh.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” [v] said Jesus, explaining why spiritual rebirth is not contingent on physical rebirth. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yoga makes this body/spirit distinction also; the purusha, or “in-dweller,” who looks out through our eyes and is identical with the Atman, is eternal, while the body is temporal¬. However, where I believe the Yogic tradition trumps the Christian tradition is in its recognition of the sacramentality of the body–the ability of the body to raise our God-consciousness. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The supreme irony is that the whole of the Gospel faith is predicated on God <i>becoming flesh</i>. Jesus not only affirmed the holiness of the body, He seemed to revel in fleshly existence. “Eat for me and drink for me,” He told St. Teresa of Avila, because she could do things for Him in the body that He could no longer do for Himself. (The similarity here to the practice, recommended in the Bhagavad Gita, of “sacrificing sense objects in the fires of renunciation” [vi] is striking.) </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jesus affirmed and cherished the flesh at every turn, feeding people, healing their physical illnesses, eating and drinking with them. He even restored human bodies to life after physical death had occurred, sealing His sovereignty over death by rising from the dead Himself. Whatever the meaning, interpretation or historicity of these events, they plainly emphasize the high value God places on our physical being. </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So is the baby in the manger “the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity,” or the rabbi who, at his first meeting with his disciples after His resurrection, made them breakfast? </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Does He “dwell in the high and holy place,” or “with the one who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite” [vii]? </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Is this Jewish <i>avatara</i> a physical being destined to death, or an immortal spirit Who is beyond the limitations of time, space and the body? </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Does the unseemly and all-too-human birth narrative of Jesus (whatever its historical truth) proclaim the humbling of God, or the divine reality of human life behind the <i>maya</i> of earthly existence? </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All of these questions, says the Christmas story, pose false dilemmas, and to each one the God-baby offers the same answer:
<i>Well, both of those things could be true.
</i>________________________________________ </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">[i] Mark 2:16
[ii] Mark 2:17
[iii] Luke 7:33-34
[iv] Romans 13:14
[v] John 3:6
[vi] Bhagavad Gita 4:26
[vii] See Isaiah 57:15 </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By Scott Robinson, PhD., TSSF</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ordinand Scott is a second year student at The New Seminary. Learn more about his music and ministry at: <a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/">www.opentothedivine.com</a>
<a href="http://www.mandalaband.net/">www.mandalaband.net</a>
<a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/scott-robinson" target="_blank">http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/scott-robinson</a></span></b></span><br />
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-28720954602259128142012-11-06T11:55:00.001-05:002012-11-06T14:14:38.495-05:00Sabbath<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">English: The Sabbath Rest (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sanuel_Hirszenberg_The_Sabbath_Rest.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></div>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sanuel_Hirszenberg_The_Sabbath_Rest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="English: The Sabbath Rest" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="220" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Sanuel_Hirszenberg_The_Sabbath_Rest.jpg/300px-Sanuel_Hirszenberg_The_Sabbath_Rest.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There
are words, which cause you to want to know more about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They sound musical when you speak them or
look as if they are a complete story unto themselves - words like calliope,
rutabaga, serendipity or peregrine.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The
word “Sabbath” has intrigued me since I first heard it. You seldom hear this
word, except in the context of religion. Where did it come from? What is the
meaning? Why are we still using it today?<br /> <br />Sabbath comes
from the Old English <i>sabat</i> - the seventh day of the week observed by the
Jews of the day (about 950) as a day of rest; borrowed from Latin <i>sabbatum</i>,
from Greek <i>sabbaton</i>, from Hebrew <i>shabbath</i>, from <i>shabath</i> he
rested. Sabbath was applied to the first day of the week (Sunday) about 1410.
The spelling with double <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">b</i> is first
recorded about 1280, and with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">th,</i>
though recorded before 1382, did not become widespread before the 1500's<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. (Resource: The Barnhart Concise Dictionary
of Etymology, Robert Barnhart, Ed., 1995, HW Wilson Company-Harper Collins/New
York)</i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i><br />Sabbath means,
literally, "he rested." Rest...time off...time spent not working is
so important to our health - mentally, physically, spiritually. When we have
rest, we are able to discern our needs and the needs of others; we are able to
open to the creative energies around us; we are able to imagine possibilities
for change; we are able to heal.</span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /> <br />As an interfaith
ordinand, I have been looking at how to more fully observe the Sabbath as well
as how to share this time with others. I found, as a member of ONE, that ONE.org has
created an initiative to be observed on November 18, called <a href="http://www.one.org/blog/category/faith/one-sabbath/" target="_blank">ONE Sabbath</a>.</span></b></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EwT5cE00GJY" width="420"></iframe>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>ONE
Sabbath</i> is a way to link all paths to the task of ending poverty, disease and
hunger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>ONE Sabbath</i> can be part of a
ministry of action, as well as a ministry of presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bringing this information to our places of
worship - to our faith communities - we can then be both a catalyst for change as
well as a light shining in the darkness.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Together,
we <i>can</i> make a difference in the world. Together we can end poverty, disease and
illiteracy. Together, we can find rest...we can unite in ONE Sabbath.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sabbath</i> was written by Ord. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas. She is an educator, writer and poet from Western Massachusetts. </span> </span> </span></b></span></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-43508486009207120552012-09-28T19:17:00.001-04:002012-09-28T19:17:33.908-04:00Welcoming All New Students!<div style="text-align: right;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwLLEYq2Zkw9JF_ewEpykBTx0TkFjum3fDA-OwXcYdQCz98f3AB53NeEwuEw0gGDbdEThZqERsVNyjuj5m5qMvgEa3wxI7G0K-W8AIL6g6UzGbOG9hOrvInPvzE8_Y-kG1HMRbGzz9C8/s1600/33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="59" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwLLEYq2Zkw9JF_ewEpykBTx0TkFjum3fDA-OwXcYdQCz98f3AB53NeEwuEw0gGDbdEThZqERsVNyjuj5m5qMvgEa3wxI7G0K-W8AIL6g6UzGbOG9hOrvInPvzE8_Y-kG1HMRbGzz9C8/s320/33.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">September 2012</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dear First and Accelerated Students,</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Welcome! We celebrate your joining the ranks of students
studying for ordination as interfaith ministers. Please know
that we are here to answer questions or if you need a resource for your
ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Your first year of seminary is a time of awe, confusion,
joy, introspection and a myriad amount of other feelings, all of which will
lead you to where you need to be to do the work you are called to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Be gentle with yourself as you journey forward this year.
Remember that there is no growth without chaos and conflict. Even the tiniest
of seeds must push itself through a ton of dirt before the Sun shines on it.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We pray that you will enjoy, grow and be blessed by this wonderful journey we are taking
together.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Blessings of Love and Peace,</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Second Year Students (Class of 2013)</span></b></span></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-70574367978080066102012-09-15T20:50:00.001-04:002012-09-15T21:02:09.580-04:00Like the Lotus<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj41Nbb705kV3ztovOCBSsUccdCCSAIP-nXL2NOmu2D2swFlg8YpZ80GHw9HAm-qi2i3KOaaErXV5oXx5VJIPwQtm6MisZZTJdw25WcpQ5BFhRj9WOkwAo5pR9m8imvMcxgSnUmeI9QNU/s1600/DSCN1770.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj41Nbb705kV3ztovOCBSsUccdCCSAIP-nXL2NOmu2D2swFlg8YpZ80GHw9HAm-qi2i3KOaaErXV5oXx5VJIPwQtm6MisZZTJdw25WcpQ5BFhRj9WOkwAo5pR9m8imvMcxgSnUmeI9QNU/s320/DSCN1770.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo Credit: Linda M. Rhinehart Neas<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";"> ©</span></span>2012</span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span> </span></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shari
Landeg, TNS class of 2014, asks an interesting question in one of her </span><a href="http://onelightmanylamps.blogspot.com/2012/06/practise-of-pure-alturism.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">blog posts</span></a><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She writes, “…how can we define and perceive altruism from a spiritual
perspective, and what is at the heart of its application in the world, in terms
of the evolution of humanity?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shari
answers the question by sharing thoughts on the Buddhist “development and practice
of Bodhicitta - ‘awakened mind.’”</span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Through
this practice, one realizes that in being one with all, in seeing our shared
humanity with all its bumps and bulges, we are able to grasp the idea of the
endless possibilities we, as humans, have for change.</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
a
lotus that grows out of the mud, up into the sunshine above the water,
we can grow into awakened beings. We may remain with our feet in the mud
of chaos,
in the murky depths of pain, suffering and heartache, but we can hold
our heads
high in the light of loving-kindness, universal compassion and limitless
potential.</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Biography:</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shari
Landeg’s spiritual journey began in her early teens, alongside her mother’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would tag along to various groups,
meetings and spiritual organizations, which opened her mind to a wide range of
beliefs, philosophies and ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
grew up strongly connected to her indigenous heritage, and held a deep
reverence to the environment, specific localities and natural landmarks
considered sacred to Maori culture, which fed her passion for all cultures,
peoples and sacred practices generally. She encountered the Tibetan Buddhist
path in her twenties and had a primary role in the establishment and running of
a Buddhist center in Tasmania, Australia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">She
has an academic background in Asian Cultures and Societies, and has taught in
various educational settings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is currently
writing a memoir about her time living a Himalayan Refugee community while she
researched the roles of Tibetan women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her passion for interfaith has grown over the last few years, leading to
her recently accepting a position as Administrator for </span><a href="http://interfaithnet.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Interfaithnet</span></a><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> - a social media
forum started by a group of Interfaith Ministers living and working in the Asia
Pacific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She promotes interfaith ideals
by researching, writing and corresponding with a diverse range of faith based organizations
in the region, and through her personal blog; </span><a href="http://onelightmanylamps.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">onelightmanylamps.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Her
ordination in 2014 will be the culmination of a long held dream.</span></span></b>The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-65886691275679276052012-08-29T15:09:00.000-04:002012-08-30T08:13:31.856-04:00Interfaith . . . Bridging Mutual Understandings . . . <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laxmi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: Mysore painting depicting Hindu Godde..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Laxmi.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">English: Mysore painting depicting Hindu Goddess Lakshmi (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laxmi.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedi</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Christians, Muslims, or Jews first
encounter Hinduism they are likely to be struck by (and misunderstand) the
profusion of gods and goddesses, vividly represented in paintings, sculpture,
and other forms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, words used in
English sometimes are not precisely chosen or accurate representations of
reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, there is not
"worship" of nature in various forms, cows, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life and living things are venerated or
honored or revered as representations and expressions of the Divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not "worshiped" in any sense
different from how pictures of saints, the cross, the Star of David, pictures of
Yashua, the Christ, and so forth are "worshiped."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a great misinterpretation and
misunderstanding, perhaps due to limitations of language and different usages
of words and phrases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Maest%C3%A0_%28Madonna_with_Angels_and_Saints%29_-_WGA06742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Maestà (Madonna with Angels and Saints)" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="149" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Maest%C3%A0_%28Madonna_with_Angels_and_Saints%29_-_WGA06742.jpg/300px-Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Maest%C3%A0_%28Madonna_with_Angels_and_Saints%29_-_WGA06742.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Maestà (Madonna with Angels and Saints) (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Maest%C3%A0_%28Madonna_with_Angels_and_Saints%29_-_WGA06742.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First impressions can sometimes be mistaken,
for Hindus regard gods and goddesses as manifestations of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One Supreme God</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hinduism is in fact monotheistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Vedantic schools of Hinduism, God is
the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality that is the Divine
Ground of all Being and basis of Creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This Supreme Cosmic Spirit is eternal, genderless, omnipotent, and
omniscient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be described as
infinite Truth, infinite Consciousness, infinite Love, and infinite Bliss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a remarkable similarity between this
set of attributes and those ascribed by Christians, Muslims, and Jews to the
one God of classical monotheism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Historian
Arnold Toynbee once wrote,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span>We do know
that there are more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">approaches</i> to
truth than one, and more means of "salvation" than one." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>This is a hard saying for adherents of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but it is a truism for Hindus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The spirit of mutual good-will, esteem, and
veritable love ... is the traditional spirit of the faith of the Indian family.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one of India’s gifts to the
world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Joseph Campbell put it this way, "<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The first principle of Indian thought,
therefore, is that the ultimate reality is beyond description. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is something that can be experienced only
by bringing the mind to a stop; and once known, it cannot be described to
anyone in terms of the forms of this world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth, the ultimate truth, that is to say,
is transcendent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes past,
transcends, all speech, all images, anything that can possibly be said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as we have just seen, it is not only
transcendent, it is also immanent, within all things. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything in the world, therefore, is to be
regarded as its manifestation." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Just as there are "representatives"
of almost every faith, which may tend toward the "my way only" or
judgmental or dogmatic lines of thinking, there are these various sorts of
thinking, writing, speaking, and behaving among those claiming to represent
Hinduism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, no true Hindu will
ever "judge" or "disown" someone of another faith, whether
from his own family or village or otherwise!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amarillo_Tx_-_Dynamite_Museum_-_Love_World_Round.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Amarillo Tx - Dynamite Museum - Love World Round" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="307" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Amarillo_Tx_-_Dynamite_Museum_-_Love_World_Round.jpg/300px-Amarillo_Tx_-_Dynamite_Museum_-_Love_World_Round.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Amarillo Tx - Dynamite Museum - Love World Round (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amarillo_Tx_-_Dynamite_Museum_-_Love_World_Round.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">At the core, all are same:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>based in Selfless Loving Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within Christ followers, there is a renewed
appreciation for the immanence of God and a recovery of the mystical sense of
God's presence within the world of time and space. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, the contemplative practices identified
with Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. are essentially the same as those in "Christ-ianity,"
Judaism, and other faiths, bringing the spiritualities of various faiths closer
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All, ALL, are our
Brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we Revere and Love One
Another . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the core, at the Heart,
we are All the Same . . .</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLDHnOTedx1WgXUmLpEz168g88_6dFCDVYAH65UsBvo7Fmy6wzaBRQAnWWNhKAxT-IeXw7PmivEMCXYOCJiWQdCIwRqhtFcXnUlV4vlDhMEI78UPxQ8wptmtvJOfwdIIp8MZnzM6UPE8/s1600/Channahsorah+along+lake-side+-+photo+by+Nancy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLDHnOTedx1WgXUmLpEz168g88_6dFCDVYAH65UsBvo7Fmy6wzaBRQAnWWNhKAxT-IeXw7PmivEMCXYOCJiWQdCIwRqhtFcXnUlV4vlDhMEI78UPxQ8wptmtvJOfwdIIp8MZnzM6UPE8/s200/Channahsorah+along+lake-side+-+photo+by+Nancy.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">by</span><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Vinita
Channahsorah, a first year student at TNS, has had a life-long calling in
interfaith ministries in various forms, roles, and settings.<span> </span>Her parents brought her up reading excerpts
from scriptures of many different faiths, and there were often persons from all
faiths, groups, cultures, and backgrounds in the house. <span> </span>She has always lived in a universe where all
faiths are the same at the core, with Agape' Love as the basis of all along
with Selfless Loving Service—God Almighty can manifest and work in and through
Mankind in an infinite number of ways and forms.<span> </span>Dr. Channahsorah recently graduated the
Shalem Institute's two-year program, "Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups
and Retreats: Transforming Community." <span> </span>In addition, she guides (or facilitates)
prayer in many faiths in various forms, such as readings, silent contemplation,
walking-prayers, and guitar & hymn compositions.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-79603362738954485262012-08-04T18:54:00.001-04:002012-09-12T15:05:07.723-04:00On Prayer and Praying with People<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt=""Praying Hands" (study for an Apostl..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="439" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg/300px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Praying Hands" (study for an Apostle figure of the "Heller" altar) (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<b>On Prayer and Praying with People </b></div>
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<b> by Galina Krasskova, The New Seminary for Interfaith Studies</b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is a little article that I wrote for a group of seminary students who were learning to pray with people, in ritual, in chaplaincy work, one-on-one in crisis settings. The subject of prayer and its purpose has been coming up a lot in conversations with my private students too so I thought that some of you might find this useful. Keep in mind it was written for interfaith seminarians who will quite often be working as interfaith ministers with people outside of their own faith traditions</span>. </i> </b></div>
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<b>I’m going to let you in on a little secret: you cannot pray with others effectively if you do not have a prayer practice yourself. Prayer is a way of preparing yourself for the actual realities of ministry. It is the main, and hopefully ongoing, locus through which you nourish your own relationship with the Divine. Moreover, prayer is the spiritual umbilicus that nourishes us and brings us through our own times of doubt and struggle. It is that which helps us to be authentic, vibrant, and deeply engaged as ministers in our work and enables us to be clean conduits for the Holy. Prayer is the means by which we connect and remain connected and that is not only fundamental but crucial. </b></div>
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<b>Over the years, I have seen far too many ministers without any type of personal devotional practice. They have no direct connection to the Holy and they are usually not very effective. I have even seen harm done, all stemming from lack of spiritual connection. If we use the metaphor of a phone call, to speak of one’s call to the vocation of ministry, I have seen far too many people who have no idea Who was on the other end of the line, Who actually made the call. This is very troubling. It’s troubling because ministry is just that: a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare: to call or be called. It implies a receptivity to the Divine, an ongoing conversation, a willingness to experience and engage with the Holy beyond the norm. It is not and should not be the starting point for one’s spiritual life. That starting point, if one is very, very lucky, should begin with prayer, and prayer is the thing that carries each and every one of us through. </b></div>
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<b>Prayer isn’t something static either. It isn’t something boringly repetitive and flat. Nor is it just asking for things. Prayer is a richly nuanced, ongoing conversation with the Divine. A conversation. One of the worst wounds that modernity has inflicted upon us as a people is the belief that the Gods no longer talk directly to us, that we can no longer have direct personal encounters. Yes, we can. Moreover, I believe that this is something we should prepare ourselves for and seek out with all our hearts all the more so because we are ministers. </b></div>
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<b>Why? When you pray with other people, quite often you will be praying with people who are in crisis, in pain, recovering from trauma, grief, or a thousand other human hurts. You will be praying with people who are confused and hurting, maybe even angry. Even for people with ongoing prayer practice there are fallow times. St. John the Divine knew this and wrote about it in his seminal “The Dark Night of the Soul.” If you haven’t read it, I suggest you do. That is the ground you will walk, sometimes yourself and sometimes as a guide for your clients. People will come to you because they are not able to connect themselves. They will come to you because to them, you represent the Gods. Think about that. </b></div>
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<b>That is something that should terrify each and every one of us. Because of the weight of the word ‘minister,’ you will at times encounter people who (whether they realize it or not) invest you with a terrible authority. That puts the power to do tremendous harm in your hands. Whatever you say may unconsciously be interpreted as a judgment coming from God(s). So it behooves us each to keep our “signal clarity,” our clear sense of our own connection to the Holy open and clean. </b></div>
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<b>When praying with people, I would give the following advice: </b></div>
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<b>First, <i>spend some time before you engage with the person praying by yourself</i>. Ask your God or Gods to pour His, Her, Their wisdom through you. Stay open to that as you meet and pray with your client. </b></div>
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<b><i>Keep yourself out of the equation.</i> Keep your ego out of it. This is not about you. Any issues that arise in you during the course of your ritual work, prayer work with others, or active work as ministers should be tabled without fuss until you are able to either seek out your own quiet time in prayer, or seek out your own elders, teachers, mentors, or supervisors. A minister who lacks that emotional continence should not be working with others. Your clients are not there after all to minister to you, and your emotional baggage should not become the focus of the rite. It may seem odd that I mention this, but believe it or not, I have seen a lot of this in my time! I mention it here as a caution. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t allow yourself to laugh or cry…sometimes it can be very helpful for the client to see you paying witness to their joy or pain. But it should never, ever be about you. </b></div>
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<b>Now we come to the hardest thing of all. Every single one of us has a framework, a lens through which we interpret the world. All of our lenses are different. For the majority of people, their lens will be deeply impacted by the religion and society in which they were raised. <i>It is crucial, absolutely crucial that you become aware of your filter.</i> There cannot be a ‘default’ setting when you engage with others in ritual or in prayer. Your framework is not an object truth. That is terribly difficult for just about everyone and it is the thing that is almost never addressed in interfaith work. You must confront how invested you are in the normative ‘rightness’ of your framework as objective. Interfaith work, at the very least, means learning to understand and engage with other peoples’ frameworks respectfully. It does not mean expecting others to fit themselves into your framework so that you are more comfortable. It does not mean expecting that they alter their framework to suit yours, or that they become part of your framework. </b></div>
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<b>The real challenge of interfaith work lies in this: Do you want to minister to people or to your own framework? Do you want to lift others up or do you want to silence them so they don’t challenge your paradigm and possibly make you uncomfortable? Can you step out of your own paradigm enough to meet them half way? What kind of minister do you want to be? It’s a question you may find yourselves returning to again and again and again. </b></div>
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<b>Finally, <i>please keep in mind that no matter what your intentions are, praying for people without their permission can be construed as coercive and psychic and/or spiritual assault.</i> This is something that you will need to wrestle with as you develop your own code of Ethics. I really don’t think there’s any hard and fast rule here. Again, like so much of what we do, it’s something to keep in mind and for which we will each have to do our own discernment. I, personally, think it’s always better to get permission from the client him or herself. </b></div>
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<b>In the end, it all comes back to prayer being a crucial part of spiritual wholeness. When you pray with people, you are helping them move one step closer to that desired healing and wholeness. Be humble, be thankful, and when you can, take joy in the beauty of your calling because it really is a magnificent thing. </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> About Dean Galina: </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">G</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">alina
Krasskova is a free range tribalist Heathen who has been a priest of
Odin and Loki for close to twenty years. Originally ordained in the
Fellowship of Isis in 1995, Ms. Krasskova also attended the oldest
interfaith seminary in the U.S. - the New Seminary where she was
ordained in 2000. Currently, she is a faculty member and mentor at the
New Seminary, and is part of a team of ministers for the Interfaith
Fellowship in NYC. She is the founder of Urdabrunnr Kindred (NY), a
member of Ironwood Kindred (MA), Asatru in Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main,
Germany), the First Kingdom Church of Asphodel (MA), the American
Academy of Religion, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice. She has been a state contracted expert on the Asatru faith, and
is currently involved in prison ministry. Additionally, she took vows as
a Heathen gythia in 1996 and again in 2004.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /><br />Ms.
Krasskova holds diplomas from The New Seminary (2000), a B.A. in
Religious Studies from Empire State College (2007), and an M.A. in
Religious Studies from New York University (2009).</span></b></div>
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The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-63247779070825661252012-07-21T10:26:00.002-04:002012-07-21T10:34:51.542-04:00Sacred & Ancient Sites of New England<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>Visiting sacred sites does necessarily mean the need to take a trip to the far-reaches of the world. Often, close to home, there are sacred and ancient sites that go unnoticed. Here are some that exist in New England, many of them accessible to the public. </b></div>
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<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mystery Hill</b></span></u></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10778170@N07/2471617711" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="America's Stonehenge" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="180" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/2471617711_5897f4632a_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 240px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">America's Stonehenge (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10778170@N07/2471617711" target="_blank">dolescum</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<b>Folks in and around Salem, New Hampshire don't often speak of Mystery Hill,
unless asked directly about it. Like most people who live close by a historical
site or attraction, Mystery Hill has become commonplace. However, the site
offers visitors a step into the ancient past - a past where monoliths heralded
the change of seasons and witnessed ancient religious ceremonies.</b></div>
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<b> </b><br />
<b></b></div>
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<b>Scientists and researchers believed that the 30-acres at Mystery Hill were
used by Bronze Aged Celts back as far as 3000 BP. Due to the lack of household
and gravesite artifacts, researchers believe the area was used chiefly for
ceremonies. People still use the monoliths as an accurate yearly calendar.</b></div>
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<b> </b><br />
<b></b></div>
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<b>Many of the characteristics of Mystery Hill are unique. For instance, there
is an Oracle's chamber with a shaft that opens up underneath what is believed
to be an altar. When someone talks into the shaft, the voice is heard amplified
and distorted around the altar<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></b><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Vermont's Chambers</b></span></u><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
</div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>In Putney and South Woodstock, Vermont<span style="font-size: small;">, there</span> are several structures known as
"Calendar Chambers." These chambers are thought by some to have been
built by the ancient Celts due to inscriptions found on the stones. As
evidenced by their name, it appears that the purpose of the chambers is to use
them as calendars. <i>Calendar II</i> located in South Woodstock is aligned
to the solstice.</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Upton Beehive</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></u></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>The controversy over who built the Upton chamber, a huge stone structure
resembling a beehive, is still hotly debated. Located in Upton, Massachusetts,
the structure has long been a focal point for archeologists and dreamers,
alike. Some researchers believe it is merely another root cellar created by a
colonial farmer. However, others believe that the structure could date back to
700 - 750 CE because it mimics accurately, structures found in Ireland built
around the same time. In addition, the entrance, which is long and narrow, is
aligned to the summer solstice, an architectural element found often in Ireland
and the Great Britain.</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GungywampCircle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Gungywamp stone circle" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/GungywampCircle.jpg/300px-GungywampCircle.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="279" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Gungywamp stone circle (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GungywampCircle.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></span></td></tr>
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<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Gungywamp</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></u></div>
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<b></b></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>Another archeological site that inspires myth and mystery is the
Gungywamp of Groton, Connecticut. The 100-acre site has artifacts and
structures that date as far back as 2000 BC. In addition to stone rings dating
back to between 280 and 630 C.E., Gungywamp has several "root"
cellars or calendar chambers, which accurately signal the equinoxes. Native
American artifacts have been found throughout the site, along with those of
early settlers.</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Narragansett Tribal Village</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<b>Unfortunately, not all ancient sites are recognized as such. The discovery
of an entire First Peoples (Narragansett) village in Rhode Island several years
ago has cause great upheaval in the Rhode Island village. The site has been
described by archeologist as a "nationally significant" discovery is
on land slated for development. The significance of the find is that the entire
village, homes, granary, burial sites, etc. lie just under the surface.
Archeologists, who were asked to do a preliminary excavation of the site, found
numerous artifacts along with the remains of the village. They have estimated
that the village dates back to around the 1300's.</b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>In May 2011, judges of the US Court of Appeals in Boston ruled against the
contractor; thereby opening the way for the First Peoples village to be
preserved.</b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Foxboro State Park</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></u></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">F. Gilbert Hill hiking trail (Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fgilbert_trail.JPG#filelinks">Wikipedia</a>)</span></span></td></tr>
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<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>A trip to Foxboro State Park leaves a visitor pondering the who, what, when,
where, why and how of the over 25 different rock formations found throughout
the park. The park is located on the highest area between Boston and
Providence. This coupled with the numerous rock formations, leads archeologist
and researchers to believe that the area within the park is "sacred
land."</b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>There are six different types of rock formations found at the park - aligned
boulders, dolmens, standing stones, perched boulders, prayer seats, and stone
piles. Each of these formations alone sets an archeologist's heart thumping;
finding six different types in one location is overwhelming.</b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>Theories as to who placed the stones in their present locations, why they
are there and what they were used for are open for discussion.</b><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></u><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Long History</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></u></div>
<div style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b>The New England states are among the oldest in the history of our country,
however, the ancient historic sites found in New England indicate that the
history of the area is much older than most of its European ancestors ever
realized.</b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
<div style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<b><u><i>Note:</i></u> <i>Many ancient historic landmarks are on private land.
If you wish to view them, please take the proper steps to gain permission.
Also, please do not move or remove stones from any of the sites. Remember, for
those who once used these sites, they are sacred. Please treat them with the
greatest respect.</i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Linda M. Rhinehart Neas, M.Ed. is a member of the TNS class of 2013. She is a writer, poet and educator. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her life-partner, Roger.</span></span></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=26ce6652-847d-4189-a709-3e2b02de4c93" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-31913865523548087792012-07-07T13:12:00.000-04:002012-07-21T10:02:33.456-04:00The Fires of the Senses<div style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<b>The following post, originally found at <a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/">www.opentothedivine.com</a>, was submitted by the very gifted, <a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/about-scott-robinson.html">Scott Robinson </a>(Class 2013). Scott led those attending the 2012 Retreat in an inspiring Kirtan. </b></div>
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<b>God is the offering, the One Who offers, and the fire that consumes. ~Bhagavad Gita 4:24a
</b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></i></b>
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<b>I was walking through Center City Philadelphia on my way to a panel discussion on
Creating Sacred Music. As I was feeling neither particularly sacred nor
particularly musical, I cast about for a way to get into the right frame of
mind. </b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span> </b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcN_eR8bTosC6FPD_GkXkigh0Ybb-x8LCG5gFIkcW-07c0uKKdxgZGDRugp-POeVUKAZvgeP1hAn1N11sJ0NkglvDQ0ABHmKRAsHYDxyr5RFlte5Vq2CNtfSLaIdLJRNg7zh0zQBjj2Uc/s1600/117741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcN_eR8bTosC6FPD_GkXkigh0Ybb-x8LCG5gFIkcW-07c0uKKdxgZGDRugp-POeVUKAZvgeP1hAn1N11sJ0NkglvDQ0ABHmKRAsHYDxyr5RFlte5Vq2CNtfSLaIdLJRNg7zh0zQBjj2Uc/s200/117741.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
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<b>Looking
at all the colorful sights of the city, I remembered how, when my children were
babies, everything I saw, heard, smelled or tasted would remind me of them.
“Clare would like those flowers,” I’d think; street buskers would make me wish
Sophie were with me; foods brought one or the other kid to mind, depending on
their taste.</b></div>
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<b> </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqerx5zteN9Z6zpoZ3ny0GHhx7K3h0KQo-_AHd6TZWmePmlpMKAEiUQqHXxO4tv_Tm79ULA_Be95QnLoFC_HluXf-a9wV-3UardTQxQN3N1zBZnu6xhbiZit4lIdHM1WXAHJg264Q9CVU/s1600/5561437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqerx5zteN9Z6zpoZ3ny0GHhx7K3h0KQo-_AHd6TZWmePmlpMKAEiUQqHXxO4tv_Tm79ULA_Be95QnLoFC_HluXf-a9wV-3UardTQxQN3N1zBZnu6xhbiZit4lIdHM1WXAHJg264Q9CVU/s1600/5561437.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>What
if I could broadcast my experience directly into their minds, I thought, so
they could experience my walk vicariously? Then I realized that we are called
upon, in the Bhagavad Gita, to do more or less exactly that—with God as the
audience of our sensory input:<i></i></b></div>
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<b><i>Some yogis perfectly worship the demigods by offering different sacrifices to them, and some of them offer sacrifices in the fire of the Supreme Brahman.</i></b><br />
<b><i> </i><br />
<i>Some [the unadulterated brahmacaris] sacrifice the hearing process and the
senses in the fire of mental control, and others [the regulated householders] sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses. </i></b><br />
<b><i> </i></b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8ApcTtTbsoTUuV2m93W0QXm5reg3VsudAvIBJz-nl4ye6AECUFOJrlP5ZnlG-G7ML9PDAgVGvtzHqrAgKMn1fKv2qVXtb4l5NypTmV6GREs2UKPq2w_5d3RUwgK58u63iWba0VBfJkM/s1600/9337433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8ApcTtTbsoTUuV2m93W0QXm5reg3VsudAvIBJz-nl4ye6AECUFOJrlP5ZnlG-G7ML9PDAgVGvtzHqrAgKMn1fKv2qVXtb4l5NypTmV6GREs2UKPq2w_5d3RUwgK58u63iWba0VBfJkM/s1600/9337433.jpg" /></a><b><i> </i><i>Others, who are interested in achieving self-realization through control
of the mind and senses, offer the functions of all the senses, and of the life
breath, as oblations into the fire of the controlled mind.</i><i> </i>(Bhagavad
Gita 4:24-27; emphasis added<a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_edn1" title="">[i]</a>)</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<b> </b></div>
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<b>As I walked along, I mentally transmitted all the sights and sounds to Jesus, as
though He were looking out through my eyes and hearing through my ears. As I
walked along, exercising this “control of the mind and senses” by offering “the
objects of the senses” into the fires of perception, I not only felt extremely
close to the Lord, but I found my usual way of seeing people–a highly
judgmental and evaluative way in which <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/07/whats-in-you-for-me/" title="">I am subject and everyone else is object</a>–giving
way to a compassionate mode of seeing as Christ sees. </b><br />
<b> </b></div>
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<b> </b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCkL4xayG0eBQH_mSHUFZgIhjhFedpZZm3hqbfbstfSvrvVvNln_EmfRdJLXgDChc63HgRZGoSIfoGhe4s5dKtu3mKYYmsrrCnD5kKHR8KwSMz-V_upBJ4DtoLv_lzqLroDZrqawPr6I/s1600/5055160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCkL4xayG0eBQH_mSHUFZgIhjhFedpZZm3hqbfbstfSvrvVvNln_EmfRdJLXgDChc63HgRZGoSIfoGhe4s5dKtu3mKYYmsrrCnD5kKHR8KwSMz-V_upBJ4DtoLv_lzqLroDZrqawPr6I/s200/5055160.jpg" width="155" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.trinitystores.com/store/clearance-items-70-87/st-teresa-avila-4-color-print-package-br-robert-lentz-ofm-save-60-87" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Icon of St. Teresa of Avila by
Robert Lentz, OFM</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></div>
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<b><i>“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,</i>” wrote St.
Teresa of Avila: <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he
looks </i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">compassion
on this world.</i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yours
are the feet with which he walks about doing good.</i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</i><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yours
are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. </i></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXBcYm_PY0Hoa0BGviEwm9jMjJmAKGYdi2FDy7w9G75bijRBYAZ6lVi3o9FP95qsi4aTd2zoAS42_N3sG0wCL1p4Rm9GFb57KArzDLcG9f-EUfwo-pz9CE07u_2TDLqSkMFBxlOdU6mU/s1600/3582226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXBcYm_PY0Hoa0BGviEwm9jMjJmAKGYdi2FDy7w9G75bijRBYAZ6lVi3o9FP95qsi4aTd2zoAS42_N3sG0wCL1p4Rm9GFb57KArzDLcG9f-EUfwo-pz9CE07u_2TDLqSkMFBxlOdU6mU/s200/3582226.jpg" width="142" /></a></span></b></td></tr>
<tr style="color: #351c75;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Shiva and Shakti</b></span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">Tantra
takes the relation of the senses to their objects even a step further, making
the act of perceiving reflect the divine union of Shiva (the divine masculine
and pure consciousness) and Shakti (the divine feminine and pure energy.)<br /> <br />
<i>A faculty and its object are like the primordial couple. The relationship of
the eye to what is seen is the relationship of Shiva to his </i>shakti. <i>The
ear and music, the eye and art, the tongue and flavour, all senses and their
sensations are a participation in the eternal embrace.<a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_edn1" title="">[ii]</a> </i><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span></span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #351c75;">I have written <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/12/yoga-the-manger-and-the-grumpy-old-fart/" title="">before</a> about how the body–and in
particular the senses–can be made the locus of divine service simply by an act
of will by which we use them on God’s behalf. This act sanctifies both the
senses and their objects, bringing us a greater awareness of the divine
presence within and without, and preparing us to “be an instrument of [God’s]
peace.” Going a step further, St. Teresa found such a dedicating of the senses
to be a way toward divine union, in which Christ–the “bridegroom” of her
Carmelite soul–entered into her and lived His risen life through her:</span></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #351c75;">
</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #351c75;">
<i>I was reflecting upon how arduous a life this is…I said to myself, “Lord,
give me some means by which I may put up with this life.” He replied, “Think,
daughter, of how after it is finished you will not be able to serve me in ways
you can now. Eat for Me and sleep for Me, and let everything you do be for Me,
as though you no longer lived but I; for this is what St. Paul was speaking
of.”<a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_edn1" title="">[iii]</a> </i>(1 Cor. 10:31)</span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<b style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_ednref1" title="">[i]</a> <i>Bhagavad Gita As It
Is,</i> translated by Srila Pradhupada</span></b><br /><b style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_ednref1" title="">[ii]</a> Dupuche, John, <i>Towards
a Christian Tantra</i></span></b><br /><b style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<i><a href="http://www.opentothedivine.com/1/post/2012/06/the-fires-of-the-senses.html#_ednref1" title="">[iii]</a> St. Teresa of
Avila, Spiritual Testimonies. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of
Avila, Vol. 1. Translated and edited by Kavanaugh and Rodriguez</i></span></b></span></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-75587298479886206502012-06-30T17:46:00.002-04:002012-07-07T12:29:47.495-04:00I AM<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>At TNS we are blessed to have many talented and gifted faculty members, students, and alumni. Rev. Theodore Richards, one of the first year deans, is one such person. The following is a poem he wrote, which was originally published in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Handprints-Womb-Theodore-Richards/dp/1592994423/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306871545&sr=8-1">Handprints on the Womb</a>. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/61181150@N00/7466906816" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Pictographs in a cave (overhang)" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="221" src="http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8018/7466906816_bc4e940b72_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pictographs in a cave (overhang) (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/61181150@N00/7466906816" target="_blank">aeh223</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I Am </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> by Rev. Theodore Richards</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am the dark matter of my dark mother, burning deep in space;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am the salty ocean of my tears,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
tears shed for a world of possibility and despair;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am the story of my ancestors, and the imagination of my daughter;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am memories of the long journeys, of stories told in darkness by the fire,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
and in the moonlight;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am the cave paintings, and the handprints on the womb;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am being born each moment,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
new and fresh.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am the parched Earth, the crying skies;</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
I am Imagination,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
tapestry of humanity’s yearnings for the future,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
depth of my own uniqueness.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
And I am the dying Earth,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
crying for the memory of the gifts she gave us,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
of the struggles of my mothers.</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Read more of Rev. Ted's writing at:</span> <a href="http://theodorecosmosophia.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/interfaith-mysticism-tns-forum-canceled/" target="_blank">http://theodorecosmosophia.wor<wbr></wbr>dpress.com/2011/12/05/interfai<wbr></wbr>th-mysticism-tns-forum-<wbr></wbr>canceled/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=f43267ee-6464-450d-9475-123662067c80" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>The New Seminaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15566706412843046135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623149092414800221.post-81312088929437234582012-06-25T13:58:00.001-04:002012-07-07T12:30:23.398-04:00Welcome All!<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Welcome to the Interfaith Messenger. As the "official" blog of the <a href="http://www.newseminary.org/">New Seminary</a>, we hope to bring students, faculty and visitors to these pages various posts that will inspire, affirm, nurture, teach and engage. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>First, let us congratulate the class of 2012, who were recently ordained in All Souls Unitarian Church, New York, NY on June 16, 2012. Blessings as you begin your journey as interfaith ministers. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>The ordination took place after a four-day retreat at a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.ofm.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Franciscan">Franciscan</a> convent in Peekskill, NY. During the retreat, members of both the class of 2012 and the class of 2013 were able to share time together. Many met face-to-face for the first time after communicating online for nearly a year. Thank you to all who made the retreat such a nurturing, healing and peace-filled time together.</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Religious_syms.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Religious syms" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Religious_syms.png/300px-Religious_syms.png" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Religious syms (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Religious_syms.png" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is a call to faculty and students of TNS to share photos and/or ideas for subject to cover on the blog. Please send your photos and/or ideas to <a href="mailto:tnsblog2012@gmail.com">tnsblog2012@gmail.com</a>.</span></b></span></div>
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