The Astrological and Mystical Emblems of the Last Supper 2 ~ Humanity Healing

The Sacred Elements of the Circle

“Make a circle around a Man or a Woman; design outside of it a square and outside of the square a triangle. Again draw another circle around it and you have the Philosopher stone of the alchemists.”
~Rosarium Philosophorum

Perhaps the circle is the most ancient symbol designed by the human race. It is a simple configuration that resembles some of the shapes and cycles encountered in nature; such as the sun disk, the moon, some of animal forms and even in natural geological structures. It represents, for those who know aspects of the different mystical and esoteric schools of thoughts, the completion and the totality of the original Universe and its fulfillments. All the circular structures express these characteristics and attributes that are pertinent to the absolute ALL, the perfection, the infinite, the unlimited, the extra-temporal un-spatial, the completion and the integral.

The circle also is a symbol of the repetitive cycles of nature: the renewal of energy and elements; birth, growth and death; the process of evolution of consciousness and its consequent expansion through the spiraling point in the center of the circle.

As a geometric matrix form, from this round form many other geometrical patterns can be easily created: the philosopher stone is the synthesis of everything that came into existence and it is a key for the higher knowledge of creation. We can see this pattern through the famous design of Leonardo Da Vince.

The Twelve Chosen Disciples

“The Creation is a mirror where God contemplates eternally his own image”~ Kabbalah

In Da Vince’s famous painting The Last Supper, one may observe the twelve disciples as the main representative of a celestial order of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The Twelve Tribes of Israel follow the same basic teaching. In Revelations, the Apostle John speaks of the twelve gates of Heaven, as the gateways to the Temple of the Almighty God.

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.”
~ Luke 6:12-16

The 72 Apostles, the 72 Directions

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-twoothers and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
~ Luke 10:1-4

It should be at note that Christ Jesus had twelve disciples, but he taught and also trained a total of 72 apostles and, even according to the Bible, Christ had sent them many times on different missions. The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples (known in the Eastern Christian tradition as the seventy apostles) were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 10:1–24. According to Luke, the only Gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text.

There is an undeniable parallel with the angles of the circumference, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the 72 apostles to cover the seventy two directions of the circle (5 degrees x 72=360 degrees – a complete circle); with a Christ center as a reference point. In addition, with the same Christ center as a reference point, there are 72 different categories of the angels sent forth by the Divine to assist humanity on its path of self-realization. Each degree corresponds to one day on our regular Gregorian calendar, so each of these angels rules over five days.

It is also very curious how the act of choosing 72 apostles also coincides with the intention to re-integrate what was created again within the heart of Creation, or the Creator. When the Tower of Babel fell, it is said that Men stopped understanding each other and divided themselves in 72 different languages and they were dispersed over the surface of the earth in 72 different directions, each watched over by an angel.

Perhaps the intention to bring back the vibrational signature of the 72 broken parts of humanity was part of an effort for the reintegration of the Divinity inside the hearts of men.

Jesus, Krishna, Buddha And Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings by Richard J. Hooper

Review By – Claudia Abbott–Science of Mind Magazine—The United Church of Religious Science

~“Is it possible that the great teachers of major world religions present slightly different paths to the same destination?

~Does the wisdom of these teachings resonate at such a deep, personal level of recognition because they reveal the truth that has always been inside each individual’s consciousness?

“Too often, religions have been used to separate humanity, Richard Hooper thrives to find the common ground of connection in his comparative study of the teachings of four of the world’s great religions.Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings explores thirteen subject areas that range from “The Great Way” to “Death and Immortality.”

Each chapter has a thought-provoking introduction by the author, who asks the reader to probe the topics with an open mind and heart to embrace the wisdom that transcends the limits of dogma and examines the building blocks of world spirituality.

The Parallel Sayings are presented in four columns across two facing pages. These gems capture the perspective of each spiritual tradition and reveal the universality of wisdom. The beauty of Hooper’s work is that his comparisons do not attempt to make any tradition right or wrong. He simply finds the common ground. In doing so, he moves his reader to higher ground, a little closer to enlightenment.

The book is illustrated with black and white photographs that utilize the magnificence of nature, religious sculptures, symbols, and art to capture the beauty and elegance of man’s attempts to express a love of the divine. A delight to give or receive, this book might be a great addition to one’s coffee table collection, with the potential to spark thoughtful discussion and compassionate insight.

C O N T E N T S
Introduction
1
The Great Way
27
God, Tao and Universal Mind
43
Being One
Mind Meditation and Yoga
55
The Self
69
The Sacred Syllable
In the Presence of the Avatar
79
Cutting the Ti es that Bind
The Path of Renunciation
87
Wisdom And Knowledge
103
Love and Compassion
113
Hypocrisy
123
Suffering
133
Karma and Reincarnation
141
Death and Immortality
151
Enlightenment and Liberation
163
Final words and Sources
Including: Did Jesus Travel to Tibet?

RICHARD HOOPER, M.DIV.
General background and education

Richard Hooper is a former Lutheran pastor who received his Bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy from San Francisco State University in 1966, and his Master of Divinity from Berkeley’s Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in 1970. He was subsequently ordained by The American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1972.

Under the auspices and funding of the American Mission’s division of the ALC, Rev. Hooper founded a multi-dimensional ministry to the “counter culture” on the Monterey Peninsula of California, where he was affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) known as “the hippie priest of Monterey.”
Reverend Hooper’s mission for the Lutheran Church

Richard’s main ministry was his half-way house, Mission: Possible, which provided sanctuary for hundreds of young people with a variety of problems and needs.

During this decade, Richard also produced more than five hundred radio broadcasts, interviewing such notable personalities as Ram Dass, Timothy Leary, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Richard Bach and Dr. Stanislov Groff.

The Mysteries of Christianity Part V

Another interesting and important ritual performed by Jesus is described in the canonical gospels indirectly, as it was referred to as a miracle: the resurrection of Lazarus. In this passage, the behavior of Jesus is unusual and very peculiar, especially when it refers to the illness and death of a very close friend. Even stating that Bethany was only two miles away from the place where Lazarus was, and despite the fond request of his sisters, the Master waited more than three days to go and see the “one that he loved”.

“So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
~John11:3-4

“After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.” ~ John 11:11-13

“On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. ”
~ John 11:1-43

For those familiar with the esoteric rites from many schools of wisdom, the apparent miracle is the exterior and allegoric face to an elevated and specialized ritual in which it was required of the initiate to enter in a state of trance for three days. This is not a novelty for the Israel of that time: the origins of this ancient ritual seem to be Egyptian.

The entire ritualistic procedure was supposed to last for three days and at the end, the seeker should be awakened from the trance by the words of powers of a real master. Jesus Himself refers to the same process when he declares according to the Gospel of John (2:19) ”Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. “No wonder the disciple named as Thomas was so curious of the impact of this ritual initiation afterwards, when Jesus awaken from his “death”.

The clearest evidences of Jesus’ mysteries and miracles are referenced in the Gnostic Gospels. But this should not infer that the early fathers of the church were ignorant of the mysteries and their rituals, neither that they had not received these initiations themselves.

There are numerous references concealed in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, when he used the technical language proper of the schools of mystery:

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care”
~ 1 Corinthians 3:10

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”
~ 1 Corinthians 2:6-7

Some disciples of the Gnostic Valentinus in the second half of the second century declared they received the teachings of the Mystery of the Christ through the Apostle Paul, which were given secretly to a handful of disciples.

Among the many topics of the Divine and mysterious wisdom of God which Paul speaks about, we find the topic of reincarnation. This was a concept accepted by the majority of the people of the ancient world at the time of Jesus, especially by the Essenes and other Gnostics.

In Kabbalah, the esoteric teaching of the Jewish people, there is a concept that supposes the transformation and movement of the soul from one vehicle to another. The Pharisees accepted this concept in an interesting way, where only the just soul had the permission to return to earth to perfect itself, while the “not so good” would not have the same opportunity. Reincarnation was as an accepted concept until a council from the early church declared it a heresy.

Source: http://humanityhealing.net (http://s.tt/1aAQe)

Neurotheology: The Crucible of Religion by Hunt Henion, PhD

Those in science who look for the one principle behind all physical manifestations seek the unified field. Those with a religious orientation who want to know more about the power behind everything seek God. Both are equally slippery pursuits, and both are equally honorable when approached with honesty and openness.

A crucible is a vessel used for refining a substance, usually with the addition of extreme heat, which is exactly what I see happening to religion these days. Science, particularly neurotheology, has been turning up the heat under a crucible in which all religious experiences and beliefs are being scrutinized.

When the Church was calling the shots, during the time of Galileo (1564–1642) for example, it avoided such objective scrutiny, and many religious people continue to resist it today. But truth is in everyone’s best interest. I don’t believe any of the founders of the major religions would have a problem with looking for the essential truth behind different religious experiences—or for that matter, with any study that resulted in challenging cherished illusions that followers of the various religions have held on to since the founders’ deaths.

We might think of the Buddha as the first neurotheologist. He was a Hindu who concluded after years of rigorous study that people didn’t need to worry about much of what Hindu religion taught. The Buddha wanted to alleviate suffering by limiting study to as few variables as possible. He taught people to focus their concern on the observable present, and he insisted that the key to our well-being would be found in our (scientific-like) detachment from all things, including God.

Similarly, although Jesus was a Jew, when he was a child, his parents took him to Egypt to study science and philosophy.1 When he was older, he spent seventeen years in India and Tibet to further his learning and his search for the underlying truth of life.2

Discovering underlying truth is the goal of both religion and science; the only difference between the two is perspective. Those in science who look for the one principle behind all physical manifestations seek the unified field. Those with a religious orientation who want to know more about the power behind everything seek God. Both are equally slippery pursuits, and both are equally honorable when approached with honesty and openness.

Three centuries after Jesus Christ’s death, the Roman emperor Constantine hijacked Christianity by making the honest search for truth sacrilegious. Muhammad picked up the slack, once again probing the nature of the one underlying truth behind all things (the one God he called Allah), but it’s been 1,400 years since his death in 632 BCE. Since then, religious authority has consolidated, peaked, and been in decline.

The Christian Reformation weakened the influence of the Catholic Church on people’s minds. With religious freedom more prevalent, people again began probing for the underlying truth of things. This freedom has led to a renewed interest in discovering the roots of the major religions, and perhaps more importantly, it’s opened the door to looking for truth from entirely new angles.

Neurotheology: A Bridge

The field of neurotheology began when it was first recognized that the workings of the brain affect religious experiences and belief. For instance, it was discovered that “some people who suffer from temporal-lobe epilepsy experience religious revelations or hallucinations during seizures, even if they are atheists. Work in the field roughly divides into two types: either stimulating spiritual experience with drugs or studying brain activity during such experiences using imaging techniques to see which regions of the brain change.”3

At first, these scientists were excited because they had discovered a quantifiable trigger to religious experience, seemingly invalidating the essential nature of those experiences. However, after more analysis, it was concluded that in “showing how these deep and life-changing experiences operate in the brain…they have not explained them away. In fact, they have helped to explain the causes behind these experiences and, to some degree, have even justified the validity of religion in a secular society.”4

In other words, the fact that a change in brain activity can be recorded when someone has a religious experience doesn’t negate that religious experience. In fact, it has neurotheologists working overtime to try to determine the underlying causation and the overlying order in life—just as Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad once did.

Recently, researchers at the University of Missouri attempted to isolate the portion of the brain responsible for the measurable phenomena we know as spiritual experiences. They concluded: “Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain. Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals’ spiritual experiences.”5 [See also Mario Beauregard’s excellent 2008 book, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul.]

Isolating the primary ingredient necessary for a spiritual experience has been more successful. Paul J. Zak, a mathematician who holds a doctorate in economics and has done post-doctoral work at Harvard, has identified oxytocin as the chemical that registers as love in our brains. He recommends hugging, dancing, petting animals, and meditation as ways to increase what he has coined the “moral molecule,” which he explores more deeply in his new book The Moral Molecule. To put his discoveries into practice, Zak founded the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, which endeavors to bring oxytocin-building (feel-good) morality into economics.

Building on the idea that science can’t reduce religion to the result of brain functions, Andrew Newberg filled his book Why God Won’t go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief with the reasons why this is so. In fact, he’s demonstrated that just as visions and belief can result from stimulated brain activity, the opposite is also true—a change in brain chemistry can be caused by a religious experience. Newberg, an MD who is also the director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, has also done research to determine whether there is any difference between the brains of religious and non-religious subjects. While the practice of religion can be viewed as a mixed blessing, Newberg discovered a surprising advantage to having a religious bent, at least among a certain group of people engaged in a particular practice.

Newberg measured “changes in cerebral blood flow among Franciscan nuns as they prayed in a meditative fashion, finding a significant increase in activity in the frontal lobe,” which governs the higher brain functions. He also found that this practice actually grew the frontal lobe.6 Increased activity in this area of the brain and especially the growth of this area translate into better emotional control and judgement. Improvements in the frontal lobe also result in enhanced motor skill in activities such as writing, problem-solving, memory storage, and social interaction, as well as in spontaneity.7

This intriguing search to discover useful nuggets in the foreign soil of religion has led Professor Michael Winkelman at Arizona State’s Department of Anthropology to argue that shamanism is actually the original naturally occurring form of neurotheology. Winkelman describes shamanism as “an ancient healing practice” that supports the brain as well as the neuro-network that affects the health of the entire body. He makes his case for the scientifically verifiable objectivity of shamanism by pointing out that “the shamans’ experiences and practices have fundamental similarities around the world because they reflect innate brain process and experiences.”8

Today, serious neurotheologists are as concerned about how beliefs affect the brain, the body, and the health of both as they are about how the brain effects beliefs. The classic example of this is the observation that Tibetan Buddhist monks aren’t as moody or sick as often as most regular people.

The Dalai Lama wondered if the practices the monks engage in could be shared for everyone’s benefit. His cooperation in a study resulted in the establishment of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, which is part of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Founded in 1995 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, the clinic teaches mindfulness techniques to patients with chronic diseases of all kinds to help them better handle their symptoms.9

The documented successes attributed to Buddhist-derived mindfulness techniques include reduction in stress, chronic pain and illness, anxiety and panic, GI distress, sleep disorders, fatigue, high blood pressure, and headaches.

Also, a study by Richard Davidson, PhD, of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, found “significant increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine among subjects in the meditation compared with those in the wait-list control group.” They concluded that their “findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. These findings suggest that meditation may change brain and immune function in positive ways.”10

Bringing the Spiritual Down to Earth

Religion was originally established for practical reasons. Buddha’s teachings were designed specifically for the needs of everyday people. Moses’s commandments gave his people much-needed order. Still, somehow, over the millennia, religions have lost much of their vitally practical orientation as they’ve settled into comfortable traditions. Neurotheology is helping these spiritual traditions rediscover their practical applications. Essentially, it puts religious practices in a crucible in an attempt to refine something useful for all humans, whether their orientation is secular or sacred.

I doubt that all mystical experiences will ever be verifiably traceable to either a cause or effect relationship in the human brain. However, the pursuit serves a vitally important role. It inspires religious people to reexamine the fundamentals of their faith, strengthening their belief in what can be verified and setting cultural considerations and faith in perspective. It also isolates and verifies what is universally practical in religious exercises for the secular public.

Neurotheology’s success in calling attention to the practicality of religion for the pragmatic world serves the purposes of all. Such work reinforces what we all have in common, lowering the barriers between science and religion. It demonstrates the practicality of the sacred to a secular population and introduces objective reality to those whose religious thinking has grown fuzzy with traditional beliefs over the millennia.

As exciting as these scientific discoveries are, the really significant aspect to it all is how the field of neurotheology is introducing a worldview in which both the spiritual and the secular are proving to be simply different perspectives on the one reality that affects us all. This reinforces our common needs and interconnectedness and is bound to increase understanding among people of all kinds, contributing to a goal that makes sense from any perspective: a more peaceful and sustainable world.

Notes

1. Paul Perry, Jesus in Egypt: Discovering the Secrets of Christ’s Childhood Years (New York: Ballantine Books, 2003).

2. Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus’ 17-Year Journey to the East, 2nd edition (Montana: Summit University Press, 1988).

3. Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words website, “Turns of Phrase: Neurotheology.“

4. Ibid.

5. Jessalyn Tenhouse, “No Single ‘God Spot’ in Human Brain,” Futurity, April 18, 2012.

6. Michael W. Taft,”Hardwired for the Mystical?” Science 2.0, February 8, 2012.

7. K. L. Harting, “Frontal Lobes of the Brain: What Functions Do They Control?” Yahoo! Voices, May 27, 2007.

8.”Professor Argues That Shamanism Is the Original Neurotheology,” Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, June 5, 2001.

9. “Stress Reduction Program,” Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society website.

10. Richard J. Davidson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Jessica Schumacher, et al., “Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation,” Psychosomatic Medicine 65 (2003): 564–70.

Biography

Hunt Henion, PhD, writes nationally on practical spirituality for Examiner.com. He holds a doctorate in religious studies from Ashwood University, has authored four books, and is a reviewer of inspirational books. He can be reached at forum@shiftawareness.com.

Karen Armstrong: 2008 TED Prize wish: Charter for Compassion

As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions — Islam, Judaism, Christianity — have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion — to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine.

Spirituality With Religion Is To Be Still and to Know ~ Amy Julia Becker

There’s a verse from Psalm 46 that summarizes the relationship between the practice of religion and the practice of spirituality: “Be still, and know that I am God.” It’s a prayer, an admonition, an encouragement. The two poles of this verse — be still, know God — together they offer a different way than the frenetic pace of my daily life. They offer the promise of rest as a result of trusting in someone greater than myself.

But it’s hard to be still. My children embody (and create) this difficulty for me. We have a green and yellow painted table where Penny and William are supposed to eat breakfast. They sit in their little chairs for all of three minutes, and then one of them pops up. “I need to give you a hug,” Penny says. Or William, carefully carrying his cereal bowl, announces, “I would like to eat on the floor.” Or they want to open the microwave or feed Marilee a spoonful of baby food or run into the playroom “just for a minute.” They aren’t being intentionally disobedient. They get distracted. It’s hard to be still.

If I’m honest, I know the same is true for me. Whenever I try to turn my undivided attention to a writing project or reading to my children or praying for five minutes or even to a simple task like cooking dinner, my mind jumps around just like my kids at breakfast. I fault my iPhone explicitly for taking away some stillness in my life. I used to pray when I found myself with a few unstructured moments. Now, I pull out my phone. I can scan my e-mail, glance at the most popular articles from the New York Times and possibly even check a few blogs. Prayer takes more concentration, more energy and, well, more stillness.

Stillness is possible, of course, and the Psalmist implies that such stillness only arrives in the context of a relationship with God. But knowing God — acknowledging and submitting to God’s power and authority — is at least as hard, in our culture, as attempting to be still. For me, the difficulties start with doubt. I’ve been a Christian for decades, and yet questions and fears line up outside the door of my mind, and the less time I spend being still in God’s presence, the more space those questions and fears consume. But part of the point of Psalm 46 is to say that even when the world is literally falling apart all around us, even then, God is God.

The second form my trouble takes is that of pride. Not only do I forget that God is God, but I also forget that I am not God. I have trouble remembering that at the end of the day, whether or not I have responded to every e-mail that has come in, the world will keep on spinning. I have trouble remembering that I can’t (and shouldn’t) control other people. I have trouble remembering that even when I get it wrong, God is still good and faithful and can redeem my mistakes and my sins. I have trouble remembering that God will keep working around me, no matter what I do or don’t do.

We have three kids, and a few months back we moved William into a bed so that Marilee could move out of a pack ‘n’ play and into a crib. Over the course of the next few weeks William stayed up later and later and later. He got up earlier and earlier and earlier. One night, I held him on my lap. He was exhausted, but he refused to stay in his bed. I said, “William, what do you need to be able to go to sleep?” He turned his head to look at me and said, “Mom, I need a fence.” We put him back in his crib, and he returned to his previous pattern of sleeping 11 hours at night. In order to be still, he needed boundaries. He needed a fence.

When I think about the interplay between spirituality and religion, I imagine that religion is the fence, the boundaries that give us freedom to explore true spirituality. Or, in the words of the Psalm, knowing God is the fence, the protective barrier, that allows us to be still. Our son William needed a fence — the bars of his crib — in order to sleep, and those crib bars were good for him. Of course those bars only served their purpose as long as there was a mattress. Without a mattress, crib bars would be a terrible way of forcing him into an incredibly uncomfortable position in which being still was even more impossible than ever before. Religion without spirituality is as uncomfortable and purposeless as a crib with no mattress. But spirituality without religion offers freedom without security. We need to understand how to develop both spirituality and religion, how to be still and how to know God.

America is awash in spirituality. And again, spiritual practices — personal prayer, meditation, yoga and the like — can indeed nourish the soul even if divorced from their religious roots. The world is awash in religions, and religions other than Christianity can offer meaning, moral guidance, and other good things for their adherents and communities. What I have to offer is my experience as a Christian, and I believe the Christian story makes the most sense of the world and is the best news for all of us.

It anchors our spiritual longings — for goodness, peace, joy, justice, love, acceptance, community and rest — in a God who is love and who has demonstrated that love in a particular way through Christ. It’s an oft-quoted line for a reason, I suppose, by Augustine, that “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.” I am spiritual and I am religious because I am a Christian. Because my restless heart has found stillness in knowing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible, the Triune God of power and love.

This essay is adapted from a longer ebook, ‘Why I am Both Spiritual and Religious.’ Amy Julia Becker is also the author of ‘A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny.’

A True Refuge ~ Sharon Salzberg

From the beginning of my meditation practice in 1971, I was very moved by a sense of the Buddha as an integrated being. Most of us can easily experience our lives as somehow fragmented, split apart. We might feel perfectly filled with complete loving kindness, strongly in touch with the radiant essence of our being when we’re alone, but as soon as we’re with people, it’s very difficult. Or we might feel fine when we’re with other people, but feel terrified when we are alone. We might feel one way at work, a different way in the context of our families.

Our lives can easily be experienced as split up into these little bundles, whereas for a being like the Buddha, it is seamless. There are no parts, there’s no division, there’s no fragmentation. His life is of one piece with threads of wisdom and compassion guiding his actions whether he’s alone or with others, whether he’s wandering through India or being still; whether he is teaching or meditating, it is at the root of his being. It is all of one piece. I found that tremendously inspiring. I felt so fragmented. I knew that integration was exactly what I wanted.

The Buddha said, “From time to time, the enlightened one is born into the world an arahat, fully awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds unsurpassed as a guide to those willing to be taught, a blessed one, a Buddha. By themselves they thoroughly understand. They make this knowledge known to others. They proclaim the truth, both in the letter and in the spirit, “lovely in the beginning, lovely in the middle, lovely in the end,” abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy. What a wonderful sense of a possibility!

This Buddha, our Buddha you might say, arose in India in this world around 563 BC. He sat under a tree in Northern India and became enlightened. He came to birth as a human being, just as each of us has. This was perhaps accentuated for me by being in northern India, the land of the Buddha. I could take a short walk and be at the spot where, as bodhisattva, a being aspiring to enlightenment, the Buddha had the milk rice that fortified his body after so much extreme self-denial. And of course, day or night, I could go to the tree. The presence of the Buddha was intimate and everywhere, as though visiting the land of one’s ancestors.

As a human being, the Buddha’s questions, his very compelling questions, were about the nature of life. It’s as though he were asking, “What does it mean to be born into this human body, to be so vulnerable and dependent as an infant, to grow up, to grow older whether we like it or not, to die, unbelievably enough, even as we see all others die around us?” and “What does it mean to have this human mind which seems to veer constantly from one extreme to the other, always changing, so that we might wake up in the morning delighted to be alive, full of faith, really happy, and by the afternoon we’re freaked out, we’re frightened, we’re angry, we feel guilty, we question our very right to be happy. It seems incomprehensible to us. And then at night it’s something different again.”

What does it mean as a human being to look for happiness, peace, joy, that is not confined within the body, within that changing mind? Is there a quality of happiness, is there a kind of peace that is not a compounded thing subject to change, to destruction, as conditions change? He had questions in effect that are very similar to our own. As he phrased the call to awakening for himself, he said, “Why should I who am subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, and suffering, seeing the danger in these things, why should I take refuge in that which is also subject to change, to death, to sorrow, to suffering? Let me find that which is changeless, which is deathless, which is without sorrow, which is unborn and undying, that is a true refuge.” And in fact this is what he found. He found a true refuge.

We say a human being sat under a tree 2600 years ago, motivated by compassion, brought there, moved there on a wave of moral force. There was no other place he could be. Throughout the night as he sat there, which was a full moon night, the full moon in May, he saw the conditioned nature of suffering, sorrow, grief, loss, and death. He traced it back. He traced it back until he came to ignorance. He saw his own and others’ countless past lives stretching back over many ages and eons of the world. He saw in effect the spectacle of the whole universe, beings being born and dying in accordance with the laws of nature. He saw the cyclic path of all beings, the unfortunate and the illustrious and the rich and the poor, all beings tossed about on these waves of birth and old age, sickness and death. As the night went on, he saw the means of liberation. He saw suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to the end of suffering. At the first light of dawn, just as the star Venus broke in the morning sky, he saw through the very last trace of ignorance in himself and was completely enlightened.

And, it is taught, we too can be enlightened, every one of us. We can be completely freed from the bonds of limitation and conditioned confusion through our own endeavor, inspiration, effort and development. There is a path, and we can traverse it.

Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and has led meditation classes and retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion in a non-sectarian, inclusive framework. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

Sharon’s newest book, Real Happiness, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program, published by Workman Publishing in January 2011. She is also the author of The Force of Kindness, from Sounds True; Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, from Riverhead Books; Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World, both from Shambhala Publications; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate

Leading Meditation and Spiritual Teacher, Author Sharon Salzberg, talks about her book “Real Happiness – The Power of Meditation,” and shares insight as to what Meditation IS and IS NOT and how it can benefit one’s life.

Q&A Sample: Do you think your teaching falls into what the Dalai Lama categorized as “secular spirituality” ?

Religion can be an open door to the transcendent or it can be a closed door, depending on how it?s used.

Richard Dawkins And Archbishop Rowan Williams To Go Head-To-Head Over Origins Of Man

The Archbishop of Canterbury and atheist Professor Richard Dawkins are set to go head to head to discuss man’s greatest question.

The leader of the Church of England will meet Britain’s most famous non-believer to take on the complex subject of “The nature of human beings and the question of their ultimate origin”.

The pair – who may be unlikely to find much common ground – will be joined by philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny at the event at Oxford University.

The discussion, which organisers expect to be “invigorating and enlivening”, is fully booked but will be streamed live online on February 23.

The two men have exchanged views on evolution and the existence of God before.

In a programme broadcast on Channel 4 in 2010, Prof Dawkins asked Dr Rowan Williams if he would see God as having any role in the evolutionary process.

Dr Williams said: “For me, God is the power or the intelligence that shapes the whole of that process.

“As creator, God’s act is the beginning of all creation.”

At which point Prof Dawkins intervened and asked: “So by setting up the laws of physics in the first place in which context evolution takes place?”

Dr Williams replied: “Things unfold within that.”

In the programme Prof Dawkins said that Dr Williams uses “poetic language”, adding: “There does come a time when you worry that people are going to misunderstand it.”

In an article on his website, published earlier this month, Prof Dawkins said of Dr Williams: “My suggestion is that the best way to understand Rowan Williams is to remember that he is a poet.

“And maybe this is the best way to understand other theologians.

“When Williams speaks of ‘silent waiting on the truth, pure sitting and breathing in the presence of the question mark’, we laugh because we read it through rational spectacles.”

In the article, Prof Dawkins suggests that theologians, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, don’t really “understand the difference between literal truth and poetry; or literal truth and metaphor”.

He goes on: “And this is where I would take issue with them, because for me a question like “Does God exist?” is not just a matter of poetry or metaphor.

“It has an answer, true or false (which is not to say the answer is easy to discover: it may even be impossible).”

Spiritual and Religious: Growing Past the Artificial Divisions ~ Rabbi Alan Lurie

Rabbi Eric Yoffie — for whom I have tremendous respect and admiration — recently wrote an unfortunate blog titled “Religious But Not Spiritual.” In it he wrote,

I hate spirituality, at least as it has come to be used in these contexts. Spirituality is a weasel word, impossible to define or pin down. It can, and does, refer to pretty much anything. The only thing that it seems to mean with certainty is the absence of the disciplined, regular, organized spiritual seeking that is so essential to religious belief and moral behavior.

He concludes by proposing:

Spirituality, by definition, is an occasional impulse, while ritual, liturgy and taught moral behaviors serve to keep me in relationship with God. Spirituality is intensely personal, while only structured community can give me the language, the rites and the ethos that enable me to be in readiness for the sacred.

This blog is unfortunate in several ways. First, for a religious person to use the word “hate” in this context is perplexing at best. If it is to be used at all, “hate” must be reserved solely as a response to an action that deliberately harms another. Second, this blog proposes that religion and spirituality are at odds in some essential and divergent way. Lastly, and most troubling, it proposes that religion can exist outside of spirituality.

I think I understand why Rabbi Yoffie might have felt compelled to write this blog. The motto “I am spiritual but nor religious” is frequently heard by most clergy, and this motto more-often-than-not is presented with the implication that spirituality is somehow superior to religion — that spirituality is the commitment to exploration and personal growth, while religion is the blind adherence to dogma and the end of growth. Yoffie’s blog, I suspect, is in response to this viewpoint, proposing the opposite by positioning spirituality as self-indulgent and lacking in routine practice, while presenting religion as a dedicated community of practice and action.

The conflict between spirituality and religion has become wide (The Huffington Post has different sections for each — the Religion section, focusing primarily on ritual and theology, and the Healthy Living/Spirit section, focusing primarily on meditation and personal growth), and Yoffie’s blog, I fear, seeks to widen the gap. The perceived conflict between religion and spirituality, though, is based on a faulty understanding of both, and is a classic “category mistake” because it compares an adjective to a noun: Spiritual is an attitude, while Religion is an institution.

In order to understand this we must first understand ourselves. We are basically two-part beings: Spirit and Ego. Ego is the software implanted in us to ensure physical survival, scanning the environment for dangers, and devising strategies to avoid pain and death. Spirit is the non-physical, wise, pure, essential aspect of our being that animates our bodies and is in constant connection with the eternal flow of Love and Life (which I call God). Ego seeks safety while Spirit seeks growth and healing. When we touch Spirit we see our True-Self, and we are filled with wonder and gratitude. Spirituality, then, is the orientation toward Spirit, and something is “spiritual” when it results in the experience of a transformative connection beyond of our egos.

Religion, in its essence, is simply the institution that has been established by human beings to collect spiritual teachings and practices in order to strengthen our connection to Spirit. Spirituality is the basis of, and reason for, all religions. In order to codify spiritual practices religions rely on two components: 1) Ritual, which is the exterior form of an activity, and 2) Intention, which is one’s interior attitude while performing the ritual. Of course there are too many “religious” people who ferociously follow the first while completely ignoring the second, just as there are “spiritual” people who simply want to experience an interior feeling while refusing to surrender their egos to the rigor of routine practice and the commitment to act for the benefit of others. While a “religious” person may declare “My religion is the only, one, true way!” a “spiritual” person may proclaim, “I am more highly evolved than you!” These are both ego strategies.

The fact that both can easily get hijacked by ego is not the fault of religion or spirituality, but is a natural human inclination that must be clearly seen and healed with compassion. Ego is not bad, but it cannot be in the driver’s seat if one expects to live a fulfilled and meaningful life. And it certainly can not be in the driver’s seat in the practice of religion and the desire for connection to Spirit.

We do not need to choose between spirituality and religion, any more than we need to choose between aesthetics and art museums. While one may say, “I love aesthetics but hate museums,” such a statement misses the essential point that art museums were established in order to create an environment that fosters the aesthetic experience of beauty and passion. In the exact same way, religions are institutions designed to foster spiritual experiences so that we may live with more purpose, power, love and joy, for the benefit of all. Of course one does not need religion in order to be spiritual, but unless one is graced with a natural connection to Spirit and is in masterful control of ego, some form of routine practice is needed.

There is already far too much demonization between people of different viewpoints, who seem to need to see the other with hate in order to feel stronger about their own position. We don’t need to create any more artificial conflicts, especially on matters of Spirit, because we all share the same make-up. We were all created for a sacred purpose, and are all called to help each other grow.

Alan Lurie has a unique background. He is currently a Managing Director at Grubb & Ellis, a national real estate service firm, following a 25-year career as a licensed architect. He is also an ordained rabbi, teaching, leading prayer services, and writing on issues of faith and religion. This combination of meeting the demands of the business world while attending to the needs of the spirit gives Alan both insight into, and access to, a diverse community. He is also the author of Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected, Purpose, Peace and Fulfillment at Work. His wife, Shirona, is a Cantor, singer, and accomplished songwriter. They live in Rye, New York.