What should be the purpose of any religious tradition?
RABBI RAMI: Ideally, to free people from their sense of separateness and superiority; to provide them with the tools for awakening to the nondual reality of which all life is a part; and, as it says in Genesis 12:3, the skill for living as a blessing to all the families of the earth, human, and otherwise.
STEVE HAGEN: Religion is uniquely situated to help us wake up, to see reality directly, to realize it. And nothing more than that. And this is why belief is so injurious to religion. It keeps religion from fulfilling its ability to help us realize Reality.
One of my favorite verses from the Bible, Psalm 46:10, says, “Be still and know.” This is when we can truly know— when we’re still. Still within our minds, within our hearts, and open to what is taking place, no matter what it might be.
Religion can teach us to just sit down and shut up and pay attention. Then we can discover that we already know; we’re already enlightened; we already realize Truth.
RR: I agree, and to do this, religions need to listen more to their mystics than their clerics. Mystics teach us to use tradition to move beyond tradition, whereas clerics make a fetish of tradition and teach us to die for tradition—and, worse, to kill for it. Mystics know that beyond tradition there is what Rumi calls the field…
SH: Beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field; I will meet you there. We have that poem over our front door at Dharma Field, the Zen center where I teach and practice.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July/August 2023 من Spirituality & Health.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July/August 2023 من Spirituality & Health.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
MY BODY IS A WONDERLAND
If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit. —Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
MOMENTS THAT CHANGE THE WORLD
THIS PAST SUNDAY I CRASHED MY BIKE so hard I flew over the handlebars, landed on my head and back, and broke my helmet. Thankfully, my 16-year-old son Patrick was there to make sure I did not try to move my neck or body or let anyone else move me. It felt good that his words were so solid, helpful, and calm with so many people wanting to do something before the ambulance guys took over—and then a CT scan showed nothing broken.
DEBUNKING PROSPERITY MYTHS
Adopting a holistic view of prosperity brings true wealth, which has little to do with your bank balance.
A Hilltop of Happiness
I recently went to the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina, a spectacular hilltop retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains that opened 10 years ago. But I've been curious about the Art of Living and its leader, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, for decades. I first encountered followers of Gurudev at the International Spa Association convention in Las Vegas, where I met the creators of Shankara, an Ayurvedic skincare company that is now the heart of the Shankara Spa at the retreat center in Boone. Amidst the bustling Vegas convention, these followers of Gurudev created an island of calm.
HOW TO HOLD OUR ANGER WITH WISDOM
IN UNITY, WE HONOR JESUS AS THE WAY SHOWER. In The Revealing Word: A Dictionary of Metaphysical Terms, Unity cofounder Charles Fillmore expressed that Jesus “came to awaken us to the possibilities of his own nature.” He noted that Jesus “had an insight into those things that are ever mysteries to those immersed in the sense consciousness,” including “judgments based on outer appearances” that “produce discordant thoughts, jealousies, and a host of limiting beliefs.” Fillmore further stated that Jesus was the “representative of a thoroughly organized plan to help humanity into a higher realization of God and its relationship to Him.”So what about that time in the temple when Jesus lost his cool? Was that part of the “thoroughly organized plan” or “a higher realization of God”?
Point of View Is Everything
You're not stuck in your story.
GOLD FROM THE Bhagavad Gita
What ancient traditions can teach us about our modern-day health challenges
THE POWER OF NAMING AN ANIMAL
“YOU NAMED HIM BOOGER?” I asked the shelter volunteer. My husband and I stood by a cage, already in love with the tuxedo cat it held. Although introduced to us as “Bub,” his official paperwork read: “Booger, 4 years old, special needs.” The text “Booger” was struck through, “Bub” written in its place. “We can always rename him again. He’s coming home with us,” my husband asserted, settling the matter.“Are you sure you want to take him? You know he’s special needs,” the volunteer queried.“So am I!” I declared. “What do we need to know?” We learned the cat had respiratory issues.
SPLINTERED PIECES
Seeing her father in the psych ward seemed all wrong—until her inner guidance helped her see it as exquisitely right.
ANCIENT HEALTH SECRETS
How ancient wisdom teachings align with cutting-edge health science
