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Urban pioneers taking it to the next level with everything from Urban Agriculture to Robotics and Aquaponic fish farming. A 20K Square ft Laboratory that will change the game for the inner city youth of Lykins Neighborhood.

Shane Claiborne’s Friday Interfaith Lecture was a medley of inspirational stories, demonstrating that the teachings of Jesus Christ still have the potential to upset systems that oppress the poor and marginalized.

You probably fall into a dark mood once in a while, convinced that life sucks. Moods make you irrational, so that you might even burn some bridges. The question is, after the mood fades away, do you love your life again? Are you enthusiastic about dealing with whatever messes you made? The last blog invited you to consider disowning all your irrational feelings as not you. You are free to declare what is or is not the real you, and you can transform your experience of life by discounting all your foolishness as trances that you cannot always control.

“A New Story of the People” examines the role that stories play in how we think about ourselves and each other and offers a glimpse at a new emerging story that can help bring about a more sustainable world.

In the Gospels, Jesus is continually calling on us to discern between what is eternal and what is not. Jesus calls us to let go and be not afraid. He tells us that there is reason to hope in this, even if–or maybe especially if–we hang onto hope by the skin of our calloused fingertips with our last bit of strength. He tell us that what is lasting is not of this world–it is of the Kingdom. All worldly pursuits, all riches, even the emotional “riches” of pride–maybe especially so–come from dust and return to dust. At best they are meaningless, at worst they are distractions that keep us from finding true meaning.

A recent national poll on millennial thinking (defining millennials as ages 18 to 34), found that millennials have very little confidence in establishment institutions. Indeed, more trust the military (55%) far more than organized religion—25%. This is a generation after all that has grown up with news of pedophile priest scandals and their cover-up by institutional religious leaders, as well as the collapse of the economic titans and their economy.

It strikes me that Bishop John Spong’s prophetic questioning of Christianity’s dogmas and structures would sit quite well with these young people, one might even say that he is posing the questions that they are asking about when it comes to organized religion. In this way he is and has been a prophetic voice (when, as Rabbi Heschel point out, the primary work of the prophet is to interfere) interfering with taken-for-granted religious doctrines for decades. He has dared to criticize religion and envision a different future for Christianity even while remaining part of the church structure. This takes quite a lot of doing and dancing! No wonder he has stayed so young! Now he is calling for a “New Reformation” and has laid out 12 principles that are equally challenges to the religious status quo.

Another way that religion can do a body good is through the mindfulness practices that are embedded in it. It’s no news that it’s part of Buddhism. But for most Christians, it may come as a surprise to find that it has always been integral to contemplative prayer. You can’t confess the truth of your heart unless you know what’s in it.

The poetry in this intense video speaks to being stronger for women and choosing our words and actions wisely. (via YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee)

Shedding some positivity and light to current world issues.

Anilah – Medicine Chant

ʻĀINA (pronounced “eye-nah”) means “That Which Feeds Us” in the Hawaiian language. The film highlights a way to address some of the most pressing environmental and health crises facing the island of Kauai – and of island Earth. That may sound like an outstanding claim, but as ʻĀINA vividly illustrates, such is the power of agriculture and food for people and the planet.

Water — just a liquid or much more? Many researchers are convinced that water is capable of “memory” by storing information and retrieving it. The possible applications are innumerable: limitless retention and storage capacity and the key to discovering the origins of life on our planet. Research into water is just beginning.

Find out how you can participate in creating a new economic system that helps humanity to live in harmony with each other and the planet: Sustainable Human.com

In an earlier reflection we looked at the question “who am I?” from an evolutionary perspective. Who am I relative to Neanderthals, and what will I (the species) become a millennium or two down the road? For the next few essays, I want to again raise the issue about who we are, but now from more of a psychological point of view. There are laboratories that examine peoples’ behavior, but the conclusions are not as “hard” as looking at stars through a telescope or measuring distance. Examining the operation of our own consciousness is not definitive, and that makes it difficult to separate fact from commentary, as I have previously done, so henceforth there will be no formal separation.

Our sense of touch never turns off, it is always at work helping us to explore our world, and make meaning of things. Touch opens us, heals us and ultimately brings profound peace and broadens the depth and texture of life. When was the last time you put your hands on the face of a loved one? Or leaned into someone, having your foreheads touching each other, as though encountering an anointing with love and compassion? Have you spooned with your partner or massaged a loved one’s feet?

Police arrested three protesters calling themselves “Raging Grannies” on Wednesday after the women blocked BNSF tracks to protest oil and coal trains.

“We were willing to be arrested to stop climate change,” said Nancy Nelson, dressed in a blue floral dress with a matching hat. “With the oil and coal trains coming right through our city, this is a very serious issue, which we have to address.”

The women – all grandmothers – were the last of about 20 people who blocked rail lines near Trent Avenue and Napa Street.

Born in 1967, Charles Eisenstein is a father of four, has a degree from Yale in Mathematics and Philosophy, is a public speaker, and is author of The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible (2013), The Ascent of Humanity (2007), Sacred Economics (2011), and The Yoga of Eating (2003).