Spiritual Literacy | Blog | Spirituality & Practice

Posted by Frederic Brussat on July 2, 2014

Amma is in New York City this weekend (July 5 - 7) so we are revisiting our resources about her incredible service.

Amma, meaning "Mother," was born in India in a small fishing village in 1953. In the late 1970s, this "God-realized soul" set up an ashram in her childhood village. She is known around the world as the "hugging saint" who in one day may embrace 10,000 people. She has given 32 million hugs worldwide, according to Amanda J. Lucia's book Reflections of Amma: Devotees in a Global Embrace. In Sacred Journey, Swamini Krishnamrita Prana notes that Amma is seen by millions of devotees in India and elsewhere as the reincarnation of Ramakrishna or the incarnation of the Divine Mother Kali.

We thought of this Indian saint . . .

Armed Drones and Perpetual War

Posted by Frederic Brussat on June 30, 2014

Carrie Johnson in npr.org sums up a report by the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan Washington think tank that includes a number of former Pentagon and C.I.A. officials. It contends that the U.S. policy of using armed drones to carry out attacks on suspected terrorists "rests on questionable assumptions and risks increasing instability and escalating costs."

The year-long study reveals that after a decade of using armed drones, the American government has not carried out a thorough assessment of whether or not these secret killings are stemming the tide of terrorism. The report calls for greater transparency about drone operations and a listing of militants and civilians killed in the strikes. The Stimson panel also indicated grave fears about the dangerous precedent being set by the United States in conducting lethal strikes outside areas of active hostilities. Other countries may follow suit and target those who oppose them wherever they are.

From a spiritually literate perspective . . .

Heroes Who Practice "Mercy Medicine"

Posted by Frederic Brussat on June 23, 2014

Here in the U.S., we hear a lot of complaints about medical care, especially for poor people. Even with the option of "Obamacare," many people are not well insured and are relying on emergency rooms. Elsewhere in the world, especially in war zones, health services are few and far between.

This is a spiritual as well as a medical emergency. That's why we sit up in admiration when we come across moral mentors such as the doctors in two documentaries.

In the bold and . . .

Car Miracles and Prayers

Posted by Frederic Brussat on June 20, 2014

God appears to be very active in our cars. Christine Wicker, in an article on pyschologytoday.com, shares some of the "miracles" people have told her about their automobiles. Some talk about angels helping them find parking spaces whereas others have been speeded to their destinations by a force beyond their knowledge. Wicker notes that believers in the United States keep quiet about their car miracles whereas Christians in Africa love to share their stories.

Ebenezer Obadare, a professor of sociology at the University of Kansas,
looks at car prayers for spiritual fortification against dangers and perils on the road. A Nigerian prayer goes: "May we not travel on the very day that the road is famished." This prayer acknowledges that death is part of the cost of driving. Nigerians spend a lot of time beings stuck in traffic jams which they call "go slows," so they turn commuting into communing. Obadare writes: "An ordinarily desperate situation becomes a moment for sustained reflection, and anarchic time becomes an opportunity for quiet time."

Using traffic jams as a time for devotional practice is a good idea. For more ways to practice your spirituality in your car, see our feature.

Silence as a Luxury Product

Posted by Frederic Brussat on June 9, 2014

In an excerpt from Robert Reich's book The Future of Success, we spotted a trend: attention has become another commodity in the new economy. In a world of so much speed and tension, having someone pamper and lavish attention on you is a marketable good. Now in an article in The New Republic, Chloe Schama writes about how silence has become a luxury item in New York City and elsewhere. Many urban dwellers identify noise as their major complaint. In national surveys, a growing number of people complain about the high level of noise in restaurants.

We have already saluted . . .

Exit Stage Right: The Baby Boomers. Enter Stage Left: The Millennial Generation

Posted by Frederic Brussat on June 4, 2014

Full disclosure: I consider myself part of the Baby Boom Generation (born 1946 - 1964), even though I was born a little before them. (Mary Ann makes the cut.) I have always had high hopes for this generation.

In the 1960s, many of us dreamed of reshaping the United States with the ideas and ideals of the counterculture. There were protest movements against the Vietnam War and the ticky-tacky way of life in suburbia. Later, Baby Boomers led the women's rights and environmental movements.

Not that there were not serious challenges . . .

Skimming & Sharing

Posted by Frederic Brussat on May 29, 2014

In an article in The New York Times, Karl Taro Greenfield is quite astonished to discover that more and more people are not reading books, newspapers, or magazines anymore but instead are picking up bits and pieces of information from Facebook, Twitter, or emailed new alerts. Then in order to prove to others that they are keeping up with the latest happenings around the world, they share their opinions on all kinds of things via social media.

Greenfield states: "According to a recent survey by the American Press Institute, nearly 6 in 10 Americans acknowledge they do nothing more than read new headlines — and I know this only because I skimmed a Washington Post headline about the survey. After we've skimmed, we share. Commenters frequently start their posts with TL;DR — short for Too Long; Didn't Read — and then proceed to offer an opinion on the subject anyway."

We are overwhelmed by data . . .

The Next Revolution in Digital Technology: Part 2

Posted by Frederic Brussat on May 21, 2014

The Spiritual Implications of The Internet of Things

According to the Pew Research Center Internet Project in collaboration with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, we are entering the "Telemetric Age" where we create and share information about everything that we do through a web-connected Internet of Things (IoT). We summarized the report in Part 1 of this blog post. "The rise of embedded and wearable computing will bring the next revolution in digital technology," notes Janna Anderson, director of the Elon University Center. "Experts say that the upsides are enhanced health, convenience, productivity, safety, and vastly more useful information for people and organizations." This is expected to be widespread by 2025.

But there are downsides . . .

The Next Revolution in Digital Technology: Part 1

Posted by Frederic Brussat on May 19, 2014

We are entering the Telemetric Age.

The Internet is 25 years old and always evolving. The Pew Research Center Internet Project in collaboration with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center have released a report on the development of an Internet of Things, "a catchall phrase for the array of devices, appliances, vehicles, wearable material, and sensor-laden parts of the environment that connect to each other and feed data back and forth." More than 1,600 experts and stakeholders responded to this question: "As billions of devices, artifacts and accessories are networked, will the Internet of Things have widespread and beneficial effects on the everyday lives of the public by 2025?"

A majority answered "yes" . . .

Skyrocketing Prison Population Devastating U.S. Society

Posted by Frederic Brussat on May 6, 2014

On Commondreams.org Sarah Lazare shares the dire impact of four decades of massive imprisonments in the United States. This report by the National Research Council (an arm of the National Academy of Sciences) was commissioned by the National Institute of Justice and the MacArthur Foundation. Here are some of the findings after two years of data review:

2.23 million people are currently locked up . . .

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