A transformational festival is more than a music festival, more than a group campout, and more than a social gathering, although it has many of the same components. What exactly distinguishes a transformational festival like Lucidity from a more mainstream festival like Coachella? It is the emphasis on transformation – both of the self, through rapid personal growth and self-realization, and of society, through a focus on sustainable living, community, education, and wellness. These are usually three to seven day events defined as “counterculture festivals that espouse a community-building ethic and a value system that celebrates life, personal growth, social responsibility, healthy living, and creative expression.”1
read moreChristianity without an omnipotent god, without a divine savior, without an afterlife? In this bold and hopeful book, theologian Daniel C. Maguire writes that traditional, supernatural aspects of Christianity can be comforting, but are increasingly questionable.
read moreIn my pocket, all my waking day, I carry a device that enables me to communicate instantly with practically anyone around the globe. I’m a cog in a vast international system of manufacturing, trade, and consumption. Sure, we’re all connected in these ways. But in our face-to-face encounters with other people, or when we walk in wilderness and commune personally with other living beings, we sense this connection in a much deeper way.
read moreOn the subject of GMOs Pope Francis states; “It is difficult to give an overall judgment on the development of genetically modified organisms (GMO), plant or animal, for medical purposes or in agriculture, since they can be …
read moreDisillusioned with organized religion, some people escape into New Age movements, and others retreat from spirituality altogether. A more satisfying and transformative option is to embark on a quest to discover God on your own. Using time-tested tools of spiritual investigation, you can examine your present beliefs, explore the nature of God and your sense of self and ultimately expand your identity.
read moreWhat I love about the book is that Thresher writes it with a mystic’s consciousness. At times you can practically catch the twinkle in his eye as he writes. But make no mistake, he has attained a mastery, and the accompanying sense of humor, that only somebody who has tasted Spirit directly and knows in heart that all manner of things shall be well. The book is full of wisdom, insight, and most importantly very practical tools for transformation. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.”
read moreI think we got off on the wrong foot, believing that death came into the world because of sin. If there is something divinely providential about our lives, there must be something divinely providential about our deaths. In the language of the previous post, “The Universe in Your Soul,” the cosmos that begat life must have also begat death.
read moreWe’re overusing the earth’s finite resources, and yet excessive consumption is failing to improve our lives. In Enough Is Enough, Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill lay out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth—an economy where the goal is not more but enough.
read morePeople accuse each other of cherry picking sacred texts, as if the term was an insult. But for those seeking to honor the quest of the Bible writers or to raise healthy children within a Christian tradition, that is precisely the right approach.
read moreHumanity is not inherently evil, or sinful, or broken. Creation has been groaning for billions of years so that we might evolve. Creation continues to groan as we continue to evolve into all that we can be.
read moreAlbert Einstein’s maxim, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind,” takes on new meaning. Without the insights and empathetic values that come to us through spirituality, science is reduced to a cold and dehumanizing worldview.
It is my hope that all who read these pages will be left with a deeper appreciation of the emerging intersection of modern science and spirituality.
read moreThis interfaith conference addresses the issues and challenges of maintaining a sustainable planet. Focused on ways to engage, panelists examines the overlapping moral issues of climate change, sustainability, social justice, and mindfulness through the lenses of many of the world’s religious traditions.
read moreStudents will gain an appreciation for the characteristics of Forest life and develop a relationship with a local ecosystem
read moreA week after the short film What’s Possible opened the U.N. Climate Summit, producer Lyn Lear and director Louie Schwartzberg are back with a sequel that expands on their vision for climate change solutions.
read moreAll human effort is navigation. Human striving—confronted by the wreckage of the past moment, the state of the soil, the demands of both—finds orientation from a compass with two arrows: moral and physical. I was always interested in ethics, but it took a while for me to notice that the moral spins out from the physical more often than the reverse. “Each of us is made by—or, one might better say, made as—a set of unique associations with unique persons, places, and things,” writes farmer-poet Wendell Berry. “The world of love does not admit the principle of the interchangeability of parts.”
read moreThe film tells the story about Mayflower United Church of Christ’s work to become carbon neutral by 2030. It offers powerful insights into what it takes to move a community into a more harmonious relationship with the natural world.
read moreTHEME: The unravelling that relates everything to each other.
read moreThere is an exquisite diversity and beauty that can be found in the ‘Sacred Paths’ people choose to walk. This is a book that explores those paths. Women and men from a broad range of faiths, from Buddhism to Bahai, Christian to Pagan, Jewish Rabbi to Muslim, are asked five essentials questions; What Is God? What Is Faith? What Is ‘Evil’? What Is Contemplation? And finally, What Happens When We Die?
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