Stoicism’s God: The God of Nature

Last updated on: June 6, 2021 at 12:35 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

By Kai Whiting (Today’s article is by guest writer Kai Whiting. For brief bio, see below.) The ancient Stoics would not have recognised the modern distinction between religious thought and scientific inquiry. This is because the Stoic God, as the very essence of Nature, was envisioned and arrived at through a naturalistic and rational framework that, apart from forming the basis of Stoic virtue ethics, provided practitioners with the rationale to study the natural world and the wider cosmos, including... Read more

Sense of the Sacred

Last updated on: May 27, 2021 at 5:29 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by DT Strain Last week Thomas Schenk wrote an excellent article on the sacred. This week Daniel Strain adds some more thoughts on this topic… I’m walking in the woods on a brisk, sunny morning. The golden light shines through the branches, splitting beams of light in a slight morning mist. Reddish leaves crunch beneath my feet in early fall. I take each step slowly, deliberately. Looking all around, trying to take in every detail; every insect, every quiver of a tree in... Read more

The Spirituality of Starting Again

Last updated on: May 27, 2021 at 5:27 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Eric Steinhart The pandemic has transformed our lives in many ways. Some of us have tragically lost loved ones. Others have suffered from covid or lost jobs or had their social lives upended. Some people struggling with addiction or other difficult conditions have relapsed. Our medical troubles have gone untreated. The pandemic has drastically changed so many lives. To use a phrase from the philosopher Laurie Paul, it’s been a transformational experience: we were changed by it in ways we... Read more

The Spirit Tree

Last updated on: May 19, 2021 at 1:50 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Thomas Schenk In the Grand Portage Indian Reservation on the North Shore of Lake Superior, there is an old, stunted tree known as the Spirit Tree (pictured here). The tree was given its designation by the Native Americans living in the area. It is a northern white cedar, Thuja occidentalis. These trees have the ability to grow out of the basaltic rock of the area where there is seemingly no soil. With their roots cleaving to and penetrating the rocks and... Read more

Mind Over Matter

Last updated on: May 23, 2021 at 3:19 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Jeff Worthy We are living in difficult times. There are signs of recovery and the resumption of some activities as we ever so slowly begin to gain the upper hand on the pandemic. Though there are no guarantees as to what the future may hold, there is hope for optimism. There is also the assurance of lingering after effects, particularly in the area of mental health. Depression and anxiety have escalated. There will be a need for something that... Read more

Spiritual Lifehacking

Last updated on: May 13, 2021 at 10:25 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Eric Steinhart A naturalist affirms that every human person is exactly identical with his or her body. You are your body, which is a strictly physical thing. Our bodies are naturally animated by physical energy. But the energy in the body does not flow randomly. On the contrary, it is shaped by all the feedback loops in the body. Shaped by those loops in the body, it drives the body away from some of its possible states and towards others.... Read more

The Evangelical Blindspot: Racism

Last updated on: May 13, 2021 at 10:21 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by SNS Guest (Article is by Ed Kelly Jr. For brief bio, see below.) As a former Evangelical pastor, I spend a great deal of time reviewing and examining my theological ideas. In the process of doing so, I routinely check my mental filter to make sure my beliefs correspond to reality. I agree with Henri De Lubac, a Catholic theologian in France who explained: Everyone has his filter which he takes about him, through which, from the infinite mass of... Read more

Experiences of Awakening

Last updated on: May 6, 2021 at 2:08 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Daniel Scharpenburg We have the potential to experience moments of awakening, temporary experiences of enlightenment. This is related to the third noble truth, the truth of the way out of suffering. Experiences like this are unique, individual results may vary. These experiences are usually very short and rare. But it’s possible, through our practice to make them last longer when they do occur.These enlightenment experiences are real to us, not some understanding, but an actual lived experience. All at once... Read more

Reading a Spiritual Text

Last updated on: May 6, 2021 at 2:05 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Thomas Schenk Over the years I have read and reread many of the central writings of the world’s spiritual traditions. With most books I read, whether fiction or nonfiction, I want to be stimulated. I seek books with interesting ideas, a good story, or just really creative use of language, all of which I find stimulating. I read spiritual texts, however, for a different reason: to be quieted. There is an old tradition in Western hermeneutics that the Bible can... Read more

Four Spiritual Naturalist Poems by Dennis Oliver

Last updated on: April 22, 2021 at 12:39 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Dennis Oliver A Moment For a moment “emptiness” made sense, strange tense: more than present, neglectful of what might come, bereft of oughts no regrets, nor noticing the past, yet in its way the fullest that I ever was (or wasn’t, as I sensed a deeper truth). But – here’s the thing of it – then, as now, I could not, cannot say, or care to say, I cannot, and see no reason why to try to tell you what... Read more