I was born into a deeply religious family. My father was an itinerant preacher and we traveled across the country offering our service to rural communities. My father would preach, my mother would sing, and my brothers and I would perform puppet shows to entertain the young ones. My early life lessons were to respect my elders and to offer myself to the greater good.
Eco-spirituality is based on a fundamental belief in the sacredness of nature, Earth, and the universe. It is also based on the fact that we as humans are not separate from nature, we are a part of it. The belief that humanity is somehow separate and above nature has created many of today's problems in one way or another.
Traditional eco-spirituality is as old as humanity and has been practiced by indigenous peoples since the begriming. Today's nondenominational eco-spirituality as practiced on this website includes yet transcends traditional eco-spirituality.
From the eco-spiritual perspective, Ultimate Reality (God, Spirit, Buddha, and/or the Divine,) is not just the source of creation it is very much also a part of creation; a part with which we can interact on a daily basis through our senses and from such experiences gain greater insight into the wonder of reality.
On a personal level, this inherent sacredness of nature and our complete immersion within it generally leads to a spiritually motivated engagement in the current environmental and global warming crises of our planet (see the Job One for Humanity plan,) and a dedication to the justice and long view of a sustainable prosperity for all.
This is the first in the series of articles from the book Radical Spirit that we will be posting on a regular basis and is focused exclusively on Generation X spirituality. Albert Wong the author of this article is a past Marshall scholar and has assorted degrees in physics, philosophy, politics, and economics from Princeton, Oxford, and the University of Michigan. He won numerous national awards as a budding young scientist before working for the Esalen Institute for five years. He now works with Jeremy Tarcher in Los Angeles as chief research director at a think tank start-up that studies independent thinking and pioneering individuals.
This article invites the reader to journey with a new face of the western Divine Feminine as a re-visioned Mary who within Herself encompasses and extends beyond a traditional Christian notion of “Mary.” As Virgin Mary, she is a power that has for millennia stimulated the imagination and hearts of peoples the world over, a goddess in her own right who is being claimed and reclaimed as such by many seeking the Divine Feminine in the west. This article introduces the many facets of Mary, reclaims her from a subordinate role within the Catholic Church, honors her as a goddess of antiquity who has taken a Christian name, and helps to broaden understanding of her within a philosophical framework that includes a vision of an unpathologized God/Masculine Divine.
Universe Spirit offers warm and heart-felt best wishes to all of our members and visitors, for an insightful and happy World Spirituality Day, filled with kindness, reflection, connection and joy. May this reflective season also encourage you to recognize and nurture your special and unique gifts of spirit within, giving them the opportunity for expression and release in the new year.
The observance of the 12th annual celebration of World Spirituality Day is December 31st and the perfect time to remember some of your most spiritual experiences in life and how they can and do contribute to your spirituality today.
One of the first priorities of the Universe Spirit mission statement is to be a supportive place for individuals to have or expand transformative, direct spiritual experiences with Ultimate Reality. The direct spiritual experience of Ultimate Reality is one of the most powerful, quickest and most directly transformative spiritual growth process that has ever existed. With a process this powerful there are historic spiritual safeguards developed throughout the ages to help the individual know that they are having an authentic spiritual experience or a safe spiritual practice and --- these safeguards shown be known by all! By Lawrence Wollersheim
Universe Spirit is unique in that we are the first Open Source, evolutionary organization created from evolutionary science and the wisdom gathered through all life-affirming written and oral spiritual traditions along with current science, philosophy, and art. Its focus is to help you: expand your direct spiritual experience(s) of Ultimate Reality, achieve a more successful personal life and be more effective in doing your part to help co-create a better world to thrive in!
In a telephone survey of 1,200 American college students, 7 out of 10 said religion was somewhat or very important in their lives, and 1 in 4 said they'd become more spiritual since entering college.
Fifty-four percent said they were concerned about the moral direction of the country.
Students who were surveyed said abortion policy, stem cell research and gay marriage provoked questions of morality. In a finding that surprised the institute, 50 percent said the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina raised questions of morality.
All three were found to be beneficial, with religious attendance adding two to three years to your life.
The results of the research were published in the March-April issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Community factor?
Using age-dependent death-rate statistics, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that weekly attendance at religious services accounted for an additional two to three years.
Only one of the 1,000 adults polled in the telephone survey could name all five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. Yet more than one in five (22 percent) could identify all five major characters in Matt Groening's cartoon family.
Similarly, only 8 people in 100 could name at least three First Amendment freedoms. Four in 10 surveyed (40 percent) could name two of the three judges on the star-making show American Idol, and one in four (25 percent) could name all three.
‘Tell me a story.’ How often as children did we ask this of those who cared for us? How exciting it has been in recent years to discover that the First Book is not a collection of disconnected scientific facts about a Universe that serves merely as a backdrop for our lives. Rather, it is a Story of a Universe that from within itself has unfolded stars and galaxies, mountains and oceans, plants and animals, you and me. The whole Cosmos is on a collective journey, and our individual journeys are part of that. It is a Story of the Universe that carries the meaning of what it means to be human, telling us where we are, where we come from, who we are, and what is expected of us. At our peril we ignore it. As a guide into our future, we relish it.nike free run 5.0 trends