BlogHer - contemplation - Comments

Seane Corn interview

Britt Bravo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:36:46 -0500

I completely agree with you bexband. I just listened to a great interview with yoga teacher and activist Seane Corn on the Speaking of Faith podcast that illustrates your point.

ultimately, spirituality is about connection

bexband — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:48:49 -0500

even though often people envision 'spiritual' people as going off and meditating somewhere and tuning out the world, it actually puts you more in touch with other people and with life itself. so it's only natural that once people become spiritual, they become more compassionate towards others as an extension of themselves.

Religion

Mata H — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:15:29 -0500

Well, Britt, I think what you are seeing is not a change entirely in religious communities, because they have always been more than the sum of their conservative Christian evangelical elements, but a reassertion by the traditionalists, centrists and liberals that more than one group has the right to the term "Christian".

Groups like The World Council of Churches have been engaged in what you describe since the late 1940's. The WCC is a fellowship of churches, now 349 in more than 110 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions.

Other groups of note, some old, some new -- are:
The Institute for Progressive Christianity

Rabbi Lerner of Tikkun Magazine has founded the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives

Sojourners Magazine the well known publication of Christian Biblically based social activism.

The Shalom Center begun by Rabbi Arthur Waskow.

I could go on and on...

At a conference two summers ago for faith based politically progressive bloggers, those of us assembled who were Christian all shared a passionate concern that the image of who was a Christian had been hijacked by the radical right. We all expressed our concern over needing to be a more visible presence, and our concern that many of our fellow-progressives seemed almost religio-phobic.I thank you for presenting a glimpse of what is being done by spiritual communities -- and there is so much more.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

There was a story recently...

nelle2nelle — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:45:21 -0500

in the Boston Globe on how there has been a decided shift in the Boston area in the leadership of area synagogues. Those I've talked to suggest this trancends many faiths (leaving out my original, Catholicism, where the Pope is unhappy with the Church of England sanctioning ordaining women.)

I do think it plays a role in ways large and small. Over the last decade, we've seen religion most often portrayed as something polarising, of the right... but what about everyone else? Yanno, those who aren't on tv preaching?

My spirituality was private for 4 decades, going underground as I left Catholicism but remained Christian... but over the last five years, I've left Christianity and become far more public and willing to share. I'm also changed a good deal over that time in many other ways...

I'm not as militant about news now, in fact while I love NPR and it would remain my first source for news, most often I avoide news like the plague, preferring to keep my head in a good place, a kinder place, where maybe I can build bridges and impact in little ways, forming personal alliances that might have been viewed as unthinkable not to awfully long ago.

Women overall do have a bit of a different perspective on society, and on our governance. Not one of polar opposites, but one of degree, and polls clearly reflect this. In our own way, reflecting the differences, our greater participation will lead to some changes in society. It is inevitable - if current trends hold.

nelle

wow Virginia

Mata H — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:30:47 -0500

That is a fascinating connection -- that your sense of completeness is related to your love of silence -- it is almost circular, imo -- where one nourishes the other which nourishes back...

I agree with your crowd/noise threshhold -- After years of urban life my ability to tolerate crowds has diminished. Maybe over time it is just a muscle that wears out, or a wall that erodes...but crowds and I no longer do well together. I am looking for a house to buy in a small New England town these days...time to ramp down, move a dog into my life again, garden, smell pine trees...

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs (usually silently unless she is grouchy with her computer) at Time's Fool

The value of quiet

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:13:24 -0500

I have always been nourished by quiet and peace and aloneness. I really get out of sorts when there is a lot of noise around and many people needing to be talked with or simply nearby. I can handle a few days (such as BlogHer07, which was fun and fulfilling) but after a while I just want to be somewhere quiet again. I'm pretty much at peace with a lot of issues in my life, too. I have a few unresolved hangups, but most of my life feels settled. I never thought before if this sense of no-regrets and completeness grew out of my love for silence. Maybe it does...

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/