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The Spirituality and Practice e-newsletter is a regular update from Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat with teaching stories and links to new posts on the site.

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Spiritual Literacy Blog

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat read the "book of the world" for spiritual meanings.

 

Japan Cracking U.S. Pop Culture Hegemony

In a report on global pop culture for the Christian Science Monitor, Amelia Newcomb writes that Japan is "setting the trend in what's cool." Japanese women are experimenting with blogs and cellphone novels but the big news is in serial cartoons. "The American 20th-century ideal of the individual superhero is wearing thin," says Roland Kelts, professor at the University of Tokyo. "The Japanese model is of self-denial and the sublimation of selfish desires for the sake of group harmony. This is becoming a multipolar world. The desire to be part of something harmonious rather than the leader of the pack is growing." Manga creators Shin Kibayashi and his sister Yuko believe that the way we perceive villains and good guys is also changing: "Now the world has changed. Nobody is sure who is good or who is evil . . . The whole world is becoming borderless and unstable. The manga world's ambiguity has become realistic."

We have noticed this Japanese contribution in the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) where there is no simplistic division of "us" versus "them." Humans, demons, sorcerers all demonstrate moments of goodness, selfishness, and folly.

Japan's pop culture creators deserve to be commended for advancing our appreciation of the interconnections of all beings, no matter how strange or unappealing they may seem at first!

(Posted 11/18/2009) Permalink

 

Ani Pema Chodron

Nanci Rose-Ritter, a writer and student of world religions and philosophies for over 35 years, pays tribute to the life and writings of the American-born Tibetan Buddhist monk Pema Chodron. She, as we do, appreciates her unique blend of Tibetan wisdom spiced with personal stories and practical suggestions for spiritual practice. Rose-Ritter singles out Chodron's emphasis on the eleventh century lojong (mind training) teachings which spark the cultivation of compassion. Equally important are her tonglen exercises which open our hearts to others. Chodron teaches regularly at Gampo Abbey, Nova Scotia.

(Posted 11/16/2009) Permalink

 

Must We Have Bad Music in Public Spaces?

The "Idea of the Day" column in the New York Times quotes an article in Travel & Leisure by Peter Jon Lindberg, He complains about the noise pollution in public spaces — not people talking, but the omnipresent bad music in shopping centers, elevators, fancy resorts (even underwater in pools), airports, and on and on. He makes a whimsical point that if he has to listen to music, he would much prefer Mozart to Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Bob Dylan to The Eagles.

We concur with his affirmation of "the right not to listen to music." Why do we have to have some kind of noise always besieging our already fried brains? Can't we do anything without a soundtrack? And what does this assault on our ears say about our fear of silence?

(Posted 10/27/2009) Permalink

 

Shines of the Times

On his official website, the prolific and always entertaining Robert Fulghum notices that in these economically depressed times, shoe shine stands have proliferated. Many of those doing this work are now old men. Fulghum recalls that when he was a freshman in college 50 years ago he landed a part-time job in a shoe repair shop in Boulder, Colorado. Meryl, the owner, gave his customers 100 per cent attention and always knew what they needed just by looking at their shoes.

Fulghum remembers his experiences there and muses on the importance of taking care of your feet, shoe maintenance, the realization that no job is small or unimportant, and that you can apply creativity and imagination to everything that you do. He outlines what it means to practice spirituality at work.

(Posted 10/21/2009) Permalink

 

A Short Manifesto on the Future of Attention

In this thought-provoking piece from Design Observer, Michael Erard reflects upon the future of attention in a time when people are overwhelmed by information coming at them from all directions. He suggests making things more brief and then goes on to imagine "attention festivals" where one tent would show 30-second films, guitar solos, haiku, and in another tent you could listen to ringtones and read tweets. He foresees a retail sector for cultural products where the aisles were organized around the attention span required. Pricing would be different too; single TV episodes would be more expensive than the whole season of shows. Erard also advocates software to help us audit our attentional expenditures.

These ideas pump up the importance of the spiritual practice of attention and its many roles in our life as we consider the information culture, time, and creativity.

(Posted 10/08/2009) Permalink

 

Three Ways You Can Turn Panic Into Happiness

In an article for the Huffington Post written in August, Ed and Deb Shapiro observed: "We are witnessing an outbreak of panic and fear as people in the US respond with misunderstanding and ignorance to falsely perceived threats to their welfare. There is a tremendous fear of and resistance to change, which cause further suffering." We recalled this piece when we heard that a U.S. Senate committee had rejected a public option for health care; it appears our elected officials are afraid of making real change.

The Shapiros take a cue from Tibetan Buddhists and suggest that panic can be turned into happiness by three steps. This process forms the basis of meditation and offers us the opportunity to empathize with all others who experience panic just like us. In this confrontational period of our history, understanding those who are fearful is more important than ever.

(Posted 09/30/2009) Permalink

 

The Day's First Stop Is Online

In this fascinating article by Brad Stone, we learn that whereas families used to gather to eat breakfast, maybe look at the newspaper, and talk a bit; parents now check their e-mail and Facebook or Twitter accounts, and kids start each morning with text messages, video games, and Facebook. Some parents even text their children to get them up.

Technology has altered the once predictable rituals of the morning. Liz Perle, a mother in San Francisco is quoted as saying of her two teenage children: "They used to have blankies; now they have phones, which even have their own umbilical cord right to the charger. If their beds were far from the power outlets, they would probably sleep on the floor." The surge of early risers going online is reflected in heavy duty Internet traffic patterns.

Starting the day with technology is not a bad thing. This ritual could become a spiritual practice by the addition of a few flash prayers, gratitude practices, or mindfulness exercises. In the weeks ahead we'll provide some suggestions and resources.

(Posted 09/21/2009) Permalink

 

We are All Hindus Now

Although 76 percent of Americans continue to identify themselves as Christian, more and more of them are coming to think like Hindus in terms of God, ourselves, each other, and eternity. In a Newsweek article, Lisa Miller points out that in a 2008 Pew Forum Survey, 65 percent of Americans believe that "Many religions can lead to eternal life" — including 37 percent of white evangelicals who were taught that Jesus is the one and only way to salvation. Hindus, of course, believe that there are many paths to God.

Miller also points to the phenomenon of people who now identify themselves as "spiritual, not religious." These individuals have no qualms about doing yoga, going on vision quests, or meditating. This kind of experimenting with whatever works for you also sounds Hindu. According to a 2008 poll, 24 percent of Americans believe in reincarnation and there are many more cremations than ever before. Yet more Hindu practices and another sign of the changes taking place in beliefs about important matters. Although only about a million Hindus live in the United States, their understanding of things is gaining ground.

(Posted 09/14/2009) Permalink

 

Look

We always like to keep up with what Robert Fulghum is writing about in his online journal. He has a knack for finding delightful things in the ordinary experiences of everyday life. In an entry for May 31, 2009, he shares an encounter with a group of little children out for a stroll after a rainstorm. One of the children steps out of the line because he's seen a rainbow — not in the sky but in a puddle of water. His act of wonder opens the eyes of the other kids and the teacher to the path of imagination. This teaching story reminds us of the boy who, when asks the color of apples, says "white." The teacher says apples can be red or green or yellow, but the boy has looked inside them.

(Posted 08/31/2009) Permalink

 

A Celebration of the Life of Ted Kennedy

On August 28, 2009, we watched on television the over three-hour wake for Senator Edward Kennedy. The service was called "A Celebration of Life" and was filled with magical and memorable moments of praise, insight, laughter, song, and tears. The speakers and guests included a formidable collection of family and friends, aides and constituents, local politicians and national leaders from Congress, starting with Paul G. Kirk, Jr., chairman of the Kennedy Library where the event was held and ending with Vice President Joseph R. Bidden.

We already knew about Ted Kennedy's extraordinary work as a liberal Senator committed to justice, peace, and the welfare of the poor and the powerless. But in this deeply moving service we learned much more about the spirituality of this father, husband, brother, uncle, grandfather, and friend.

Here was a man who walked his talk about doing good in the world. We heard about the ways in which he was present as a surrogate father for the Kennedy children who had lost their fathers; the countless times he visited friends when they faced sickness, crisis, tragedy, or loss and relied upon his counsel and concern; the special relationships he developed in the Senate even with those who disagreed with him vehemently; his remembering and honoring of birthdays, anniversaries, and other personal details of friends and family; and the vibrancy he brought to others with his wild sense of humor and his vital love of laughter and singing.

There were stories of the public man, but just as many of the kind deeds he did when he was off-camera and nobody but those directly affected knew about it. Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, told how after the funeral of Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin, Kennedy spread soil from the graves of his brothers Robert and Jack on the new grave. "No publicity," observed Patrick, "just a good man doing a sweet thing."

We've long known that Ted Kennedy was a practicing Catholic who went to mass and prayed in churches during moments of crisis. But what came through during the wake was his deep and expansive spirituality. He was all about the spiritual practices of love, compassion, hospitality, joy, justice, kindness, nurturing, play, and zeal (which means having a zest of life). We can't remember when we were so moved by the shape and spirit of a memorial service built around such a incredible human being who so broadly and deeply impacted the lives of those around him!

You can watch the memorial service at TedKennedy.org.

(Posted 08/29/2009) Permalink

 

On Vacation? Send in Your Prayers via Twitter

In an article for USA Today, Cathleen Falsani writes about the variety of technological services for sending prayers. For example, you can tweet a prayer on Twitter and then send it to a fellow in Tel Aviv who will then have others take it to Jerusalem where it will be tucked into the Western Wall for you. She also notes that The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin College has set up six separate "prayer feeds" on Twitter. Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus also provide comparable services for prayer wheels, five-times-a-day prayer, and devotional songs. You can also visit any one of thousands of online prayer rooms or light a candle at our sister site, Gratefulness.org.

(Posted 08/18/2009) Permalink

 

We Are All Immigrants

In her blog for the National Catholic Reporter website, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes gives an incredibly moving plea for our spiritual identification with immigrants from South America who are trying to make their way to a better and more fulfilling life in the United States. She sees them as the brother who can't swim crossing a dangerous river, a sister who is ill and facing a slow death-sentence, the workers exploited in cities by unscrupulous employers, the day laborers who are mocked and harassed, and all the other illegal émigré brothers and sisters. Estes challenges us to appreciation a soul connection with them and their struggles. She closes with: "We are not separate from one another nor from El Cristo, He, first and foremost, an immigrant without papers fleeing Egypt under cover of night, across all national boundaries set against He and His family."

(Posted 08/16/2009) Permalink

 

Old People on Facebook and Twitter

In an article in Everyday Christian, Peter Elliott reports on teens telling him that they are upset by old people who are "ruining Facebook." He quotes a study by eMarketer.com that in the first three months of 2009 the most common demographic to start a Facebook account were women 45 and older. Additionally, 22 percent of the folks on the web are women 45 and older. Sixty percent of baby boomers aged 43 to 63 are regularly populating Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Social networking is no longer only the domain of youth! (To connect with Spirituality & Practice via the social media networks, use the links in the left column of this page.)

(Posted 08/10/2009) Permalink

 

The Unhappiness Gap

Karen Maezen Miller has noticed the flourishing happiness industry in America. She googled "ways to be happy" and found 129 of them on just the first page of returns. But ask people about happiness, and they will most likely they will talk about how difficult it is to hold things together in these hard times. Miller points to the novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie) and her grandmother's struggle during the Depression as truly hard times. She wonders whether much of the unhappiness lies in the mind's ability to come up with judgments, fear, and darkness when asked about happiness.

August is "Happiness Happens" month and on Twitter Frederic Brussat is presenting a quotation each day, which he's calling A Mini-Course on Happiness. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/FredericBrussat or read his feed here.

(Posted 08/05/2009) Permalink

 

Laughter and Learning

Jos Houben celebrates the humanizing, educational, spiritual, and transformative powers of laughter in this sprightly article in Ode Magazine. He points out that "an infant's smile is the universe's seal of approval. 'Being' goes with 'laughing' from the start." Children learn best when they are playing or having fun. Even adults follow this pattern when they experience joy on a vacation or when they are having a great time.

We see the world afresh through laughter. All the world's religions have individuals (tricksters, fools, shamans) who reveal to us the human condition of impermanence and vulnerability through humor. Houben concludes that comedians are popular when they connect us with our humanity.

(Posted 08/03/2009) Permalink

 

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About This Blog

Life is a sacred adventure. Every day we encounter signs that point to the active presence of Spirit in the world around us. Spiritual literacy is the ability to read the signs written in the texts of our own experiences. Whether viewed as a gift from God or a skill to be cultivated, this facility enables us to discern and decipher a world full of meaning.

Spiritual literacy is practiced in all the world's wisdom traditions. Medieval Catholic monks called it "reading the book of the world." Muslims suggest that everything that happens outside and inside us is a letter to be read. Native Americans find their way through the wilderness by "reading sign." From ancient times to today, spiritually literate people have been able to locate within their daily life points of connection with the sacred.

The Spiritual Literacy Blog is our attempt to read the book of the world as revealed through articles and images available on the Internet. We hope you find it interesting and inspiring.

Earlier Posts

Japan Cracking U.S. Pop Culture Hegemony
Ani Pema Chodron
Must We Have Bad Music in Public Spaces?
Shines of the Times
A Short Manifesto on the Future of Attention
Three Ways You Can Turn Panic Into Happiness
The Day's First Stop Is Online
We are All Hindus Now
Look
A Celebration of the Life of Ted Kennedy
On Vacation? Send in Your Prayers via Twitter
We Are All Immigrants
Old People on Facebook and Twitter
The Unhappiness Gap
Laughter and Learning
God Is Still Spanking. . . . Lou Dobbs? Sergeant Crowley?
The Dharma of Celebrity Death
To Be a Pilgrim
God and the Recession
Inspiration Stew
Michael Jackson
More Better Faster!
Saying It With Silence
Elegant Simplicity
The Joy of Less
Why Have We Stopped Talking about Guns
Thomas Berry's Contributions to the Western Spiritual Tradition
Paul Hawken's Commencement Address to the Class of 2009
The Century of the Rights of Mother Earth
Do Everybody a Favor: Take a Sick Day
Obama on Empathy
Will The Planet Be Saved in 10 Easy Steps?
The American Way
Compassion for Pirates
Lessons in Empathy for Gossip Girls and Boys
Information Age Prayer
Earth Hour
When the Economy Sours, Tootsie Rolls Soothe Souls
An Interview with Karen Armstrong
Jewish Nones
Better Cheer Up
Is the Future Going Down the Drain
Making Room for Miss Manners Is a Parenting Basic
Five Post-Valentine's-Day Reflections
Outer Critics, Inner Adversary
Repossessing Virture
Terrain.org Interviews Scott Russell Sanders
Humility and Awe
Lazarus sits up and goes on and on . . .
The End of Solitude
Thomas Moore on the Economic Crisis
Lottery Sales Are Rising in Recession
It's a Dog's LIfe for Pets in Hard Economic Times
Radical Rest
As the Rich Get Poorer, Teenagers Feel the Crunch
Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008
For Craft Sales, the Recession Is a Help
Downturn Spurs Survival Panic for Some
Trickledown Downsizing
Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds to Churches
Surviving Winter
The Law of Giving and Receiving
How Crying Can Make You Healthier
Blessing of the Waves
Dealing with Anxiety
Home, Sweet Home
A Leaf Ritual to Celebrate the Season
Some Pointers for Dealing with Financial Meltdown Stress
Food for the Soul
Sharing Ramadan
Working with Your Enemies
Scoping Out the Best Places for Books
The Sounds of Silence
The Other Book of God
Pico Iyer Is Lost
When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans
The Myth of Multitasking
Complaining to God
A Life Saver Called Plumpynut
Taming Your Inner Hulk
Let Us Try to Think of Ourselves as a Community
The Power of Kindness and Emotional Intelligence
Conversation with J. Brent Bill
Cultivating the Heart
War on Bottled Water
When You Wake Up
Ichigo Ichie, One Time, One Encounter
MInistering Angels
Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert
U. S. Supreme Court Upholds Use of Lethal Injection
The Work to Free Tibet
The Cost of War
Blessing
The Problem with Praise
How I Found the Farm
My Favorite Pastime: Complaining
A New Religious Landscape in America
Australia Apologizes to Aboriginal Population
Robotic Lives
Honor Your Father and Mother
Spiritual Perception
New Year's Message from Reb Zalman
How Big Is Your Family?
Feeding the Spiritually Hungry
We Don't Need No Supervision
Reading the Sky
Thinking about Tigers
Goodness Revealed
Why Giving Makes You Happy
Anselm Grun: We Should Be Asking Ourselves What We Can Learn From Islam
The Secret Library of Hope
John Hopkins Civility Project Makes Peace Person to Person, Then Nation to Nation
On Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh
One in Four Read No Books Last Year
The Shared World of Gate 4-A
A Palestinian Pastor Speaks
We Brake for Ducks
Iraq Vets Bear Witness
The Evolution of Dance
A Good Day
Shadows
Meditations on my mother, failing
A Journey of Self-Forgetting
Love Thy Neighbour, for He Is Me
We're No. 1! America Leads the World in War Profits
An Ideology of "Gunism"
Shift Happens
The Damaging Export of Electronic Waste
The Wisdom of Kindness
RIP: Maha Ghosananda
Hollywood's Insatiable Appetite for Torture Porn
The World's Happiest Man
Urban Gardens
Deeper in Prayer, and Quieter
The Paradise We Seek
In Search of Silence
A Time for Anger, A Call to Action
Speaking of the Faults of Others
Run for It
America's Homeless Population
Sermon of the Weak
The Daversity Code
Morality: Is It a Many-Splendored Thing?
U.S. On List of UNICEF'S Worst Countries for Kids
Phantom of the First Grade
Kid Turns 70 and Nobody Cares
Top Ten Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2006
100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year
Non-violence, More Than a New Year's Resolution
Rust Belt Rembrandt
Letting Go and Daily Life
Four Days of Thanksgiving
The Power of (Every) One
The Most Important Minutes in Your Lives
What the Amish Are Teaching America
Three Responses to Pope Benedict XVI
A Weekend with Nobel Peace Laureates
Ethics and Reality TV
Mahatma Gandhi: A Century of Peaceful Protest
The Modern Successor to the Slave Trade
The Joy of Working
True Dharma Confessions
The Ecology of Magic
How Much Longer?
The Baby Bump Is So Hot Right Now
Healing by Design
Robert Coles and the Moral Life
Oh, Please: This Is Not "Defense"
This Is the Buddha's Love
Give Me That Old-Time Feminism
Mensch and Mitzvah
A Hug Above
Arundhati Roy: Back in the U.S.A.
Of Loss and Hope
Don't Give Up
Iraq in the Heart
Answering Questions about a U.S. Department of Peace
The Journey from Fear to Faith
Remembering William Sloane Coffin
Is Morality a Wild Thing?
Taking the Gay Insults Personally
Failed States, Rogue States and America
Global SOS: Save Our Sacred Sites
No One's Laughing at This Deja Vu All Over Again
Gunning for Wolves in Alaska
Exploring the Common Ground Between the World's Great Religions
Islamophobia Worse in American Now Than after 9/11
Dearest Friends
Can We Do Better Than Our Present Prison System?
When the Loser Is a Winner
It's Not Sexy Being Green
Confessions of Crimes Against the State
Misunderstanding Muslims
The End of the Internet?
The Unintended Politics of Brokeback Mountain
The Other Side of the Coin
Mother and Activist, Clare Grady, Sentenced in Federal Court
One Death Every Minute
Top Ten Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2005
After the War
Peace on Earth Means No More War
The View from San Quentin Village
Hungering for the Serious
The Rebel Jesus
The Heresy of National Narcissism
A Season of Remembrance
Spirit Rising
Hedge Funds Against Malaria
Practice Compassion and Someday You Will Become It
None of us have the right to avert our gaze
A Heretic for Our Times
Working Hard or Hardly Working
All God, All the Time
The Market in Fear
Kicking the Plastic Bag Habit
In Pan-en-theism, God Exists in Beings Everywhere
When Maxims Mislead
No Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame
A Mother's Plea
What the Waters Have Revealed
U. S. Leads the World in Sale of Military Goods
Tears Are for the Soul
Sucker's Bets for the New Century
I Am a Homeless Man
Hiroshima Spirits, Nagasaki Voices
For Whom the Cell Tolls
The Border Mentality
Mysterious Connections that Link Us Together
Martin Marty on the Religious Right
Complaining
Entering the Mind of Nature
A Sufi Online Oracle
Escaping Michael Jackson
Frustration as the Doorway to Daily Spiritual Practice
Looking for Signs
Save the Libraries
Understanding the Universe On Its Own Terms
Confessions of a Listener
Social Security
A Prayer for Our Persecutors
When the Going Gets Rough
Mapping the Moment
A Planet on the Brink
What's in a Name
Living By Faith
Calling Evil By Name
Take Up Your Cross
Boundless Qualities of Mind
The How and Why and What of Prayer
Lost Is a Place, Too
Working for Peace, Living in Hope
What Practice Is
Throwing Things Away
Where Was God in the Tsunami?
Focus on Kabbalah
The Power of Service
Billion Children Under Threat
The Revolutionary Practice of Gratitude
Christian Hospitality Too Controversial?
Calling All Abolitionists
Mindfulness in Daily Life
Reading the Book of Nature
The Truly Offensive
Practicing Inner Citizenship
The Power of Reconciliation
Not Hateful but Grateful
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Lift Every Voice Declaration
Eyes Wide Open
2004 Parliament of the World's Religions
Greed Is Not Good
From Waste to Wonder
Genocide Alert
The Little Boy in the Bright Red Shirt
Praying the News
Arc of Activism
Air's Job
Suffer the Little Children
Readers Needed
Unequal Nation
Economic Practice
Zen Writing
National Hunger Awareness Day
Grappling with Greed
The World According to Kurt
Schoolyard Bullies
Speaking Truth to Power
Daring to Believe
Politics as Practice
Back to the Basics
Sanctuary from Information Overload
Follow the Money
Bucket Brigades
Terrorism as a Seductive Emotion
Catholicism's Clerical Divide
The Face of Love on Death Row
Daily Internet Use
Opposing Worldviews
Angelic Leaders?
Goodbye American Dream
Disconnecting Via Cell Phone
State of the World
Overhyped, Underreported, Misreported, and Overlooked
Keep Hope Alive
Post-Tsunami Questions
Dreaming of a White Christmas?
New Security Culture
Third Cinema
Who Does That Work?
Be an Artist
Free Speech
Hope Dies Last
Spirituality in the Workplace
Positive Peacemaking
Turkey Talk
Lost Scripture
The Meatrix
What God Has Joined
Negative Seeds
Warring Economies
Time Theft
Corporate Theft
Beauty on Campus
All One People
Makeover Mania
Giving Blood
Open-mindedness Mentor
Forgiveness
The Kingdom of Singlehood
Environmental Terrorism
Insulting God
It Gets Worse
Shopping Locally
Newsworthy
Toxic Junk?
Glorified Violence
Sacrifice
Ethical Choices