by SNS Guest (This article is by guest writer Leigh Anderson. For a short bio, see below.) When we look at what it takes to have compassion for others we must first look at what it means to be a compassionate being. That starts with self-compassion and our own well-being. My mother has dementia. We’ve known it for the past five years, but it’s only been in the last year and a half that the symptoms have affected her enough that... Read more
By Thomas Schenk Providing a means of salvation is a central value of many religions. At its most general, “salvation” means deliverance from an undesirable to a desirable state of being. Deliverance from sickness to health, fear to security, pain to comfort, grief to acceptance are common forms of salvation. These are the kinds of things for which people make sacrifices or pray to the gods. The religious myths of the world are replete with “superheroes” who bring salvation to... Read more
by Thomas Schenk If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. – Ludwig Wittgenstein The idea of timelessness is encountered in many, perhaps most, religious and spiritual traditions. Often it is presented literally as a special realm apart from Nature – heaven for instance. This is probably the understanding which most people have of it. But in the writings of many mystics, philosophers and saints,... Read more
by DT Strain Often in SNS articles we are discussing our spirituality as a practice. Spiritual Naturalism is not merely some laundry list of opinions and, if your opinions, match the list, then you’re a Spiritual Naturalist. I would call this a ‘Spiritual Naturalist enthusiast’ or ‘fan of Spiritual Naturalism’. But by a practice, we mean something we apply in our lives regularly so that we continue to grow, learn, become wiser, and happier. It’s not just ‘positions’ or ‘opinions’ but something... Read more
by Gregory Gronbacher With this article, I’m hoping to start a conversation with readers here at SNS. The dialog I’m interested in engaging centers on a question — can one be both a naturalist and postmodernist? I believe thinking about and answering this question can help us better understand our naturalism and our spiritual naturalist leanings. Living in a “Post” World We live in what can be described as a post-age. By this, I mean we live in a period of human history characterized... Read more
by Thomas Schenk Spiders give many people the creeps. Yet with their ability to construct intricate webs out of fibers spun from their own bodies, we also find them fascinating. A spider’s web is sticky. Insects that fly into it become stuck. Their struggle to get free informs the spider and it moves easily over the web to put an end to their entangled victim. The spider does not get caught in its own web. This isn’t because it has... Read more
by Daniel Shkolnik There’s an idea in various metaphysical traditions that “thought is causative.” That is, our thoughts have a direct, metaphysical influence on the world. This is supposedly the principle on which The Secret functions: what we think about, we attract—whether fortune or disaster. In other words, our thoughts manifest our reality and simply by thinking we can heal, become wealthy, solve marital problems, and generally recreate our reality. Some New Age writers reach into the obscure world of quantum physics for... Read more
by Eric Steinhart Science Spirituality Angel Binary Monitor Spirituality and technology have an uneasy relationship. Many people often think that technology and spirituality are opposed. The more you’re into technology, the less spiritual you are. Or they may even think that technology is anti-spiritual. At the extreme, they think of technology as evil or dehumanizing. But more and more people believe that technology and spirituality belong together, that they help each other and make each other stronger. You can see... Read more
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom (Article is by guest writer Hiram Crespo. See bio below. Hiram is the curator of the Epicureanism section on the “Traditions of SN” area of this site. You may find his introduction in that section helpful in providing additional context for this article. ) On Holiness “Holiness” shares semantic roots with wholeness (the state of being healthy and complete, safe and sound, uninjured, entire). The Scottish word hale (a related word that shares semantic roots) implies health, being... Read more
by Brock Haussamen Here in suburbia, next to a glassy corporate office, sits a Hindu temple, its ornate façade surrounded by parking lots. Curious, I pulled in one day, removed my shoes at the temple door and walked into a large open space. Instead of chairs or benches, I saw a room glowing in gold, white marble, and carved pillars, with altars placed throughout. Worshippers strolled from one garlanded deity to the next, circling them several times or standing before them... Read more
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