Spiritual Literacy | Blog | Spirituality & Practice

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on February 18, 2022

In a Wall Street Journal article dated February1, 2022, "Still Feeling Pandemic Miserable? There Are Ways to Dig Out," Alex Janin takes a cogent look at the findings of the General Social Survey conducted by the research organization NORC at the University of Chicago: 24% of Americans reported that they were "not too happy" in life in 2021, up from 13% in 2018, and the share of those who said they were "very happy" declined to 19% from 31% over the same period.

As we move into the start of the third year of the COVID pandemic,

Gratitude to Robert Bly

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on November 29, 2021

Robert Bly, who died November 21, 2021, at the age of 94, had a tremendous impact on our spiritual lives and, we suspect, on the spiritual journeys of many of our website visitors. Here's a profile of his amazing contributions in our Remembering Spiritual Masters Project.

And here are some specific reasons why we honor his life and will miss his presence:

Director of Nomadland Salutes Compassion

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on March 5, 2021

Our favorite spiritual film of 2020 is Nomadland which we summed up as "the remarkable odyssey of a feisty woman who finds community and her true self in her home on the road."

At the Golden Globes . . .

50 Years of the Same Street

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on December 20, 2020

In our book Spiritual Literacy, we recounted a scene from the movie Smoke. Auggie owns a cigar store in Brooklyn and every morning at 8 a.m., he takes a photograph of his special place on Earth from across the street. He has over 4,000 of these pictures collected in albums. One day, he shows the albums to Paul, a regular customer, who pages through them rapidly. He is puzzled by Auggie's pictures and complains that they are all the same.

But, of course, they aren't.

Words of 2020

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on December 4, 2020

The deluge of events, the velocity of change, and the upheaval of our lives are mirrored in the language we use. Words, as a result, have both cultural and spiritual significance.

Every year, the Oxford English Dictionary's expert lexicographers choose a "Word of the Year" . . .

America's Moment of Reckoning

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on June 5, 2020

Dr. Cornel West is an author, social critic, and democratic intellectual. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. He is well-known for his assertion that "Justice is what love looks like in public."

In the week following the death of George Floyd,

The Call to Service

Posted by Frederic Brussat on May 22, 2020

In his May 7, 2020, opinion column for The New York Times, the visionary David Brooks states that all young adults should have the chance to serve those around them — especially now during the coronavirus pandemic. He describes those just graduating from high school or college, or taking a break from college: "This is a passionate, idealistic generation that sees the emergency, wants to serve those around them and groans to live up to this moment."

There are many opportunities to serve . . .

The Pandemic as Portal

Posted by Frederic Brussat on April 21, 2020

I often return in moments of questioning to a quote from Arundhati Roy: "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing." Roy is an Indian novelist, activist for anti-globalist movements, and a vociferous critic of U.S. capitalism and foreign policy. African-American activist Cornel West has called her "one of the few great intellectual revolutionaries in our time."

Now as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world . . .

Moving Less, Staying Rooted

Posted by Frederic Brussat on March 2, 2020

Americans are not moving as much as they did in the past. They are staying in the same house for years on end. Henry Grabar reported in an article on Slate that just 11% percent of the U.S. population changed residences in 2017, down from 12% in 2013 and 13% in 2006. Not only are people not moving from state to state, they are not moving from house to house locally.

What are the reasons behind this phenomenon? . . .

The Oxford Word of 2019

Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on February 7, 2020

The word of the year for 2019 is "Climate Emergency," according to Oxford Dictionaries. Last year, that honor went to "Toxic."

Climate emergency is defined as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it."

Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian . . .

Spirituality & Practice