Calling All Artists!

Last updated on: April 30, 2021 at 1:34 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

By DT Strain As you may know, the Spiritual Naturalist Society exists to (1) develop, educate, and promote naturalistic (non-supernatural) forms of spiritual practice; and (2) foster and support Spiritual Naturalist communities. To that end, we have always wanted to support the arts. Art, music, poetry, and other artistic forms approach our hearts and minds in ways that transcend mere intellectual understandings of life’s essential concepts. Simple assent to a profound truth or a wise teaching is insufficient for a real... Read more

The Ritual of Deep Reading

Last updated on: April 30, 2021 at 1:35 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

By Roger Hackney If you have spent any amount of time reading about Spiritual Naturalism you will know that Practice and Ritual are key to being a Spiritual Naturalist. Further study will reveal a few of the rituals and practices such as: meditation, drumming, contemplation, introspection, and visualization. The article “What is Spiritual Naturalism” from the website for the Spiritual Naturalist Society, states the following: “The focus of Spiritual Naturalism is happiness, contentment, or flourishing in life, and a relief... Read more

The World We Should Want to Live In

Last updated on: April 30, 2021 at 1:35 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Jeff Worthy I am a truth-seeker. My beliefs are altered as I encounter new facts. Though I do not consider myself an atheist, I can respect the ideas and arguments of public intellectuals who claim to be. Evaluating arguments of those we may disagree with is what keeps our wits sharp. We can’t just read and listen to those with whom we agree—then we never get to have our minds expanded, and we can’t grow. On September 30, 2007, a... Read more

The Ecological Implications of Spiritual Naturalism

Last updated on: April 22, 2021 at 12:32 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Gregory Gronbacher The longing for a heavenly, other worldly paradise is humanities longing not to be human. ― Milan Kundera Most forms of religious naturalism stress the importance of the ecological dimensions of our anthropology – our natural status and connectedness to the natural order. From nature we arise, are sustained by nature through our lives, and at our death, we return to nature. Developing an ecological vision of the human person is therefore essential to a proper anthropology, and... Read more

Heroism for the 21st Century

Last updated on: April 15, 2021 at 12:05 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

Daniel Shkolnik Rosa Parks What society is and always has been,” wrote Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death, is “a symbolic action system … designed to serve as a vehicle for earthly heroism.” Each culture has different scripts for achieving heroism. It might be the heroism of a liberator like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi. There is the scientific heroism of Charles Darwin, or the literary heroism of Virginia Wolf. Not least of all is the mythic heroism of figures like... Read more

The Inside View

Last updated on: April 6, 2021 at 3:02 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

By: Thomas Schenk (cc) Mackenzie Greer. Does the worldview presented by modern science devalue the world? A few hundred years ago, the Romantic Movement arose as a reaction to science and what the Romantics perceived as its soulless, valueless world view. New understandings of the world, particularly relativity and quantum mechanics, have made the scientific view more nuanced than the one the early Romantics reacted against. Yet, many still feel that the scientific view devalues. Is this view justified? Let’s... Read more

Mindfulness and Memory

Last updated on: April 13, 2021 at 1:17 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

(This article is by guest writer Leigh Anderson. For a short bio, see below.) I’ve lived in the same place the last seven years and I now observe specific things as “signs of change”. A slowdown in the daily breeze indicates a forthcoming change in the weather. New buds forming on the pear tree indicates a change in the seasons. Deer which were once seen all day and are now disappearing, indicates that hunting season is near. This morning I... Read more

Introduction to Bodhidaoism

Last updated on: April 6, 2021 at 2:58 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

Jay N. Forrest I. What is Bodhidaoism 1. The Definition of Bodhidaoism Bodhidaoism is a personal non-religious worldview, built upon the foundations of philosophical naturalism and current scientific consensus, which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Stoicism, and Humanism into a coherent and evidence-based philosophical system. Bodhidaoism was created by philosopher and author Jay N. Forrest in 2017. Bodhidaoism is derived from the Pali word bodhi, meaning “awakening” and the Chinese word dao, meaning “way”. So Bodhidaoism is the way of... Read more

April Fool

Last updated on: April 6, 2021 at 2:54 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

Thomas Schenk It is early spring in Minnesota. Much of the snow is gone, but there are still piles here and there, particularly in the shady spots. Every year at this time I become a child, wishing that the snow would hurry and melt, longing for the return of green grass, leafing trees, and comfortably warm days. “Do not like, do not dislike and all will be perfectly clear, make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart,”... Read more

Using Cannabis Philosophically

Last updated on: March 29, 2021 at 4:08 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Eric Steinhart As a result of the 2020 elections, many states voted to legalize cannabis. They either voted in medical cannabis or full adult-use cannabis. It is arguable that this pattern of increasing legalization will continue, and that, perhaps after a few more election cycles, cannabis prohibition in the United States will be lifted. But given that it has been lifted in many places in America, it’s a good idea for spiritual naturalists to think about how cannabis might be... Read more