Differences between the two main branches of the Muslim faith go back to the very beginnings of Islam. The origins of Sunni and Shi’a began as a political dispute over who the rightful successor should be to follow the Prophet Muhammad as the head of the Muslim state and community he founded. Muhammad’s senior followers were called the Caliphate. There are […]
There is power in place to move us and feed our spirit. Nature has the perennial power to return us to ourselves and find unity and harmony in nature. Lots of places are people made places built especially for worship, for prayer and meditation. Houses of worship with their spires, their domes, their minarets. Inside, there are altars and […]
Today’s word of the day is worship. It comes from roots of words sprung from the West Saxon and Anglican languages (very close in their etymology) meaning the condition or state (ship) of being worthy, of having honor or merit (worth). It a primarily used as a verb and involves action. Traditionally, we think of worship as a noun/verb. It […]
In some ways we are often engaged in the process of practicing religion, even if that’s not what we’re calling it, or its not about our formal theology (God talk). The most basic notion being that we are all human and from that perspective, we are bound together by our collective experience of being human. Movies have a particular […]
Growing up as a child in a liberal but devout Roman Catholic household, I lived somewhat of a dichotomy. We sang our kumbayas with guitar strumming folk masses on Saturday afternoons (Vatican II being brand spankin’ new) and then switched gears when it came to time to discuss the “Holy Sacraments”. Not only did they sound solemn and […]
After my March 24 and 26th posts, I was feeling frustrated by my inability to find a cool head in the middle of this turbulent and sometimes scary time in our country as we to try to discern what National Health Care will REALLY mean for each of us individually and collectively as a nation. Then […]
This morning, I woke up before my dog, to attend one of our local church’s annual Sunrise Easter service. I am not a member of this church, but have lived in this little hamlet of 4500 souls for 18 years. It’s an everyone knows everyone kind of place. And yet, for one reason or another, I’d never […]
Sometimes it feels like we need a crowbar to pry out and break apart some of our deepest held resentments. The anatomy of a grudge begins as anger and hurt that sometimes weeps silently, and other times oozes wrecklessly like steamy black pitched tar, obstructing our clean air, suffocating the surfaces of our heart. And when that tar hardens, our soul freezes in a way, […]
Continuing on our theme of mindfulness, our title today is taken from a book of the same name by ground breaking author and founder of the University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Center Clinic (1992), Jon Kabat-Zinn. The book (long since dog-eared and worn by its continual use by me as an invaluable personal instruction manual), reflects “his major research interests which include […]
